Actually it's the upper that sucks. Both my 07 and my 11 had/have stock LCA's and a Roush Stop-the-hop UCA and mount with ZERO hop. My '11 hopped like a mother- almost as bad as a Terminator- till I did the upper.

Roush on the right and back in these pics. The bushing in the stock 2011 is marshmallow.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/CIMG2387.jpg

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/CIMG2394.jpg

Also, on the 2011's you don't have to screw with the gas tank to get at the mount anymore. Install on these is cake.

There isn't any additional NVH with the Roush UCA and mount that I've noticed.

 

Funny enough, I was JUST looking at this on their site.

So aside from this was there anything else needed to reduce the wheel hop?

And - stupid question here - is it 1 of these or 2 of these that are needed?

 

It's all I needed and only 1.

 

Nothing against Roush, but I'm waiting for Steeda to produce one.

 

What are those made out of Sam?

 

1035's are 1.5"x.120" wall mild steel.

 

Thanks.

 

First and foremost the axle does not Hop (up and down motion). It is actually "walking" (eliptical motion).

Please see the video below of me using a pen at my desk to illustrate in a VERY exaggerated manner what the rear axle is actually doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJDMaNzb1Ls

Proper LCA's will by themselves eliminate tramp 95%+ of the time. You basically have to a do a burnout over a rail road track to upset them.

UCA with LCA will equal a complete elimination of the tramp under all conditions. HOWEVER the NVH concern of the UCA's is staggering.

Gear Noise and other drive train and road noise will be transmitted directly into the body of the car and where the UCA attaches is the highest noise path in the car and terminates basically right behind your right ear.

UCA's don’t really do anything for handling either (our Grand-Am and NASA race cars all have stock UCA's).

However taking the vast compliance out of the LCA's is critical both for planting the axle for straight line and serious cornering.

NONE of our race cars have ever required the relocation brackets (please note NONE of our cars drag race, so I can not speak to that application) and our cars are as "planted" as the come.

We recommend the FR-500-C LCA's ($189.95) and these are made in the USA.


In the other thread there is a post about LCA's with a three piece bushing, (two cups and a poly ball inside) this is the LCA's design we run on my car. I do NOT recommend this bushing style for a street car. The NVH concerns out weigh ANY benefit provided by this design. My car has them as my car is a track rat. I am aiming for a national championship in my class and need that extra 10% they provide and am willing to sacrifice the major NVH increase.

 

I picked up A LOT of NVH with just my Steeda LCAs. Gear whine on throttle between 60-80 mph is VERY annoying!

 

are they the billet ones?

 

No, the chrome-moly ones (blue).

 

wow thats crazy. Th FR500's and our own brand (with the crazy bushing) dont transmit any gear noise (other noise sure but not gear).

thats wild. Poly bushing?

 

Yeah, poly bushings. I was expecting some more noise but not any gear whine.

Sad thing is they did nothing to help with my wheel hop.

 

What tires are you running and how cold was the track? It's easy to get wheel hop on a cold track.

I've been 1.31 short times on my Steeda suspension, and mid 1.6's on the S197's with 17" wheels and road race suspension.

 

Running the stock Pirellis. Temps ranged from 50-70 degrees throughout the day.

 

At one point I experienced quite loud gear whine between 60-80 MPH in 6th gear (3.73's) with the stock LCA's, so it wouldn't come as a shock to me.

 

Well stock tires is a hard one. Because they are very prone to wheel hop. They are not meant for hooking at the track like a drag radial. Those are also some pretty cool temps if it was in the 50's.

You can add all the suspension in the world, but if you don't have a good tire your gonna get wheel hop or tire smoke.

 

Tubular control arms act as sound tubes. They connect to the rear axle and the body both--it's just a harmonics thing that they can transmit some axle noise to the body of hte car. Think about it, the 2010 and newer car have <drum roll please> a *TUBE* that runs from the intake to the body so you hear more of what's happening. The same thing happens with tubular LCA's. In fact a billet arm, or any arm that isn't enclosed is quieter than the any kind of tubular arm. So my take and Shaun's take on this is different and it's a not uncommon complaint when going to tubular LCA's.

Where we agree is on the relocation brackets. I also don't run them and for handling purposes not only find no need, but prefer the car without them.

Where we again disagree is on the critical nature of having to change the LCA's. Is it a terrible idea? But in the classes I race I'm not allowed to run aftermarket arms (can run aftermarket bushings. But when lowering the car the hop is pretty well taken care of, and stability isn't an issue. And I toss my stuff around hard with the slaloms and such we see autocrossing. There are video's and such showing this. I have video of the right rear wheel that shows plenty of lateral (left and right movement) which is the tire and PHB arc/bushings flexing) but really not any fore-aft movement due to LCA bushing deflection (and that is on a car with bone stock Ford LCA's). I'm looking for it, can't seem to find it right now... Wonder where that went..... Hmmm.

As for the type of bushings. If you are after the most free articulation then you want rod-ends or my preference, roto-joint ends :
http://www.stranoparts.com/data/images/p70325123116.jpg
http://www.stranoparts.com/data/images/p70325123123.jpg
Normal urethane bushings are stiff and not at all compliant and don't allow the axle to articulate freely relative to the body. There are 3-piece urethane bushings that are better in that regard-sort of half way to a roto-joint style end, but they still have some level of bind in them. More as you rotate them. urethane is sticky, even hard urethane (that's why you have to lube urethane sway bar bushings on a hard metal bar. When you have multiple pieces of urethane contacting each other, there is friction there. And the outer cups, while being softer urethane, still add some rate as they are flexed (which has to happen as the bolt is rotated). In the end they are a compromise, better and mor flexible than a normal polyurethane bushing, but not as free as a spherical bearing/rod-end/roto-joint type end.

 

Thanks guys. For now I think I'm going to put the factory LCAs back on just to get rid of the whine.

Will be lowering the car soon, so hopefully that helps as you mentioned, sam!

 

I also have been experiencing quite a bit of wheel hop lately. Further I know just a little less than nothing about resolving this. Sam has steeda billet with the spherical bearing combination
Part #: 555-4406
Brand: Steeda
Price: $299.00
which appear to be pretty much the premium piece. Is this the best recommendation for eliminating or drastically reducing wheel hop without hurting cornering performance???. Is this likewise the best piece for doing so with minimal nvh??? Would anything else be recommended for occasional somewhat aggressive street driving???