catchme76

Normally I'm in the C2 section posting about my Grand Sport, but I figured I'd share!

Installed a pretty trick setup the other day on my racing buddy's C6 Z06 with ZR1 brakes. All nickel plated, tubular, monoball control arms and RAFT JRI double adjustable shocks. The tubular control arms are lighter than the factory suspension! He has LG drop spindles and the control arms cleared with no grinding like I've had to do with stock arms. His old arms had been ground down to clear the spindles and wheels in spots.

Both mono-leafs were broken. And yes there is oil on the front spring but that was only from removing the engine. The spring cracked under normal racing conditions.

The monoleafs can be fast but you lose tunability and the ease of easily changing spring rates, so I really like the new coilover setup. The control arms get rid of the yoke adapter and make the upper and lower perch double shear. Two 1/2" bolts and you can pull the coilover.

The heated shop was pretty nice too

rabrooks

Nice set up. Do you know how much lighter this set up is compared to stock. Are bushings already installed?

JimmyS5600

Very nice, look forward to learn how it handles compared to OEM

catchme76

Rabrooks-20 pounds less than the stock suspension. The spherical monoballs are already installed. Its not a screw in style rod end either. It is a NASCAR style monoball. Full range of motion, zero deflection, and barely any friction. Its insane how much preload, bind, and deflection are in the stock rubber bushings.

Jimmy- I installed the same kit on a C5 Z06 last year the night before Cruising the Coast autocross. That car without even being dialed in went out and set fast time for the weekend, beating my car and the blue z06. Its basically the whole reason my buddy with the C6 bought the kit lol. The blue c6 Z06 in the pic came in 3rd or 4th overall at LS Fest last year, so it is no slouch!

The arms also come with a screw in style serviceable lower racing ball joint which is nice. You can set the preload in the ball joint and service it. The stock ball joints have plastic liners which crap out due to heat.

timd38

Who makes them?

The GT2 C6 Pratt Miller cars used stock control arms because they said that there wasn't any weight savings. i really like how these look!

Whis9

Curious also who makes these

catchme76

Tim/Whis-I have been under the C7R(awkwardly at PRI ha) and that car has tubular arms with monoball ends and coilovers. Not sure about the GT2 cars, but I could almost bet they were running a different bushing. The nickel plating is freakin trick I think. Joe got them from Finch I think. Just google Finch Performance.

Unreal

There was a long interesting facebook post on these basically concluding they are basically a complete waste of money.

catchme76

Unreal-lol uh no. Ive seen several posts. Kinda humorous to me because I'm the guy crawling under these cars tuning at the track. If you are a regular mall crawling Joe it may not make sense. If you race, they make perfect sense. Price a set of monoballs, shocks, monoleaf springs...and I guess I fool around with this stuff so much i know just about every upgrade kit out there(and I know the best kits! not talking about vs a set of QA1), I know exactly what it takes to be on the next level of competitive, so It makes sense. $2k for monoballs, 2500-$3500k for shocks, $1200 for monoleafs, $3k for drop spindles. Your'e in 6k-7k and you haven't even addressed the ball joints, you still have crappy adapters that aren't quickly removable and you have a POS monoleaf that will more than likely only last 2 seasons and you can't change spring rates.

If you autocross or road race you need the ability to change spring rates quickly. These arms have two bolts and the coilover is out and you can change the spring rate. The ball joints are proven race ball joints that aren't plastic oem crap. The monoballs are in a steel housing instead of aluminum sleeves which will last wayyy longer. Zero deflection minimal friction. You drop 20+ pounds. For guys running drop spindles which by the way is another $3k+ , you don't have to mutilate your stock arms. The front lowers are kinked to clearance 315s and deeper offset wheels. You get more shock travel and you can run a standard body shock with 2.5" spring instead of small body or 2.25 springs. Logically when you break it down by the numbers you begin to understand by cost comparison on the competitive level.

For Hot rod guys that are buying control arms off ebay it makes even more sense. Brand new nickel plated arms for their custom chassis that has a normal double shear shock mount.

Unreal

It was only places like LG, and builders of the ALMS cars/etc saying they were useless and all their race cars use stock control arms.

schpenxel

They don't know nothin'

timd38

It was the C6, I went to Road America with them to test in 2010ish and they had stock ones then.

Don't care, I think they look cool, so who makes them. I have a whole car full of parts I don't need, whats 8 more going to hurt.

How did you like fake Porsche Le Mans car in the Mobil booth at PRI?

catchme76

Proof, links, arguments, reasoning, logic? or just making claims? based on what information? Have they held the arms, tried them, tested them? Was it LG that directly stated? Post the reasoning behind the conclusion and allow for debate. It's really actually hard to dispute the tubular arms.

So the C7R with tubular arms is wrong? What if LG started carrying tubular arms, would that change your mind?

catchme76

The stock arms are great, don't get me wrong! The geometry on the tubular arms is basically dead on, with a few tweaks. Basically improved on the stock arms, by adding serviceability, dropping weight and make them accept standard style coilovers and of course the monoballs. Google Finch Performance. The nickel finish is sexy IMO.

timd38

$3,800 for 8 control arms. http://www.finchperformance.com/

Unreal

Plus ball joints and coilovers.

catchme76

2k for aluminum monoballs retrofitted into a cast aluminum arm.
still have adapters for lower arms which ups your shock price
still heavier

plus unserviceable ball joints, plus coilovers, or eggshell mono leaf springs

Lets say you buy a complete tubularsystem with coilovers, so youre at 6900
Pfadt suspension kit- 5k-6.5k
Van steel package- 7400 for full performance suspension kit.
LG suspension package 6k with no monoballs

All the price points are right there at each other for each company's ultimate suspension kit. The way in which each derive their performance is unique.

timd38

For about the same money I can buy a used Spec Miata and not worry about wrecking it like I do the Vette at the track. Plus I am such a poor driver, I would probably be faster in the slower car!

catchme76

tim lol...That can't be debated haha. I'm building a 1972 240Z currently.. Im sure ill dump too much into it as well!