jahudso2

I think it varies car to car. I got NVH from installing the poly/poly J&Ms, and the spherical bearing will surely add more NVH than those control arms.

JDWalton

Maybe they were installed wrong? I would have to think that if you got NVH from that, they faced the offset the wrong way or something.

Riptide

I have poly/poly and they were installed fine. There is still some more NVH over stock. It's like this whirring noise you get out of the rear of the car and it's more noticeable at higher speeds.

replica

I've got some J&M LCA's I haven't gotten around to installing. Based on this thread should I even bother?

Norm Peterson

Rob's experience was that they're still better than the OE LCAs at minimizing wheel hop.


Norm

JDWalton

yeah, like most things you can usualy make a triangle. In this cas it would be Price, Stiffness, and noise. You can pick 2 but sacrafice 1. There are exeptions to it, but the J&M IIRC are on the really cheap end.

VRFlip

In regards to aftermarket LCAs and wheel hop... My concern is going into a ditch due to binding, and additional vibration resonated and magnified by a 1 piece drive shaft.

With both of those considerations in mind, what do the resident experts in this thread recommend for LCAs?

replica

These were only $110. At least they look cool. They're red. Nothing is cooler than red.
I'd get the Gt500 LCA's. I've seen them a few places for about $130.

90stang5.0

I am no expert, but I have BMR lowers with poly/poly. The rest of my rear suspension is UMI and they are also nice and a little cheaper. I really didn't notice any additional noise or vibration.

Norm Peterson

As long as you don't drive like a moron, you'll be OK. It's when you get up into the high lateral g's or attempt violent maneuvers that rear suspension "bind" can get you into trouble. At half a lateral g or less you probably won't notice a whole lot (other than a bit more side to side head toss when crossing drainage depressions at an angle). And on the street, it's a pretty rare driver that intentionally goes much past 0.5 lat g to get into any unpleasantness. I would recommend a little extra caution when it's wet, though.

I have experimented a bit with modifying poly for less bind, and never noticed any additional NVH myself. Just so you know, that was on the '79 Malibu, which is a body-on-separate-frame design rather than a unibody so there is still a little more isolation (even after the body bushings were swapped out for poly as well).


Norm