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Wide wheels rubbing your trailing arms? A solution!

17K views 142 replies 31 participants last post by  rand49er 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, if you are willing to cut up your stock trailing arms that is :) I had a problem with the linea corsas rubbing on the trailing arms on my lowered car. It was annoying and was destroying the inside lip of my wheels. Initially, the solution was to toe the wheels out a little bit, but that destroyed my tires in no time (a couple months of driving and the inside was worn pretty badly). BMR trailing arms were on backorder and the MAP ones are too expensive for my taste, so I went ahead and modified the stock ones.

In the first pic, you can see where the wheel was depositing some aluminum on the trailing arm. Not a nice noise!!!

In the second pic, you can still see where the wheel was touching and how much extra room I'm giving it. You can also see how I cut it at an angle so I could lay one piece on top of the other. The idea here was to have the arm come off the spindle at the exact same angle as stock, but to have the bushing end deflect more towards the center of the car. I used the other arm as a jig when I did the welding. This way, I maintain the same length as factory. When I finished welding the first one and verified it was the same length as the other one, I used it as the jig for the second arm. It actually worked out pretty well.

In the third pic, the initial gusseting is some 1" square bar (cant remember the gauge). It was mostly to establish the angle.

I forgot to take more pics, but I added some additional gusseting and reinforcement with some 1/8" steel plate and a lot of welding. Now I have about an inch more room on the inside of the wheel. I took the car out and did some launches (which I'm assuming would be the hardest on the arms) and they're still in one piece, so I think it was a success.
 

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Discussion starter · #3 ·
They shouldn't. The only other thing that is in that area is the head of the bolt for the shock mount. I have about 1/2" clearance on that bolt head. Everything else has plenty of room, especially the wheels :)

One thing to note, This took me pretty much all day. Most of that time was spent lowering the subframe to get the arms out, then re-installing them. I put the bolts in the bushing end the wrong way the first time because I hate how they drop in from the top. I figured out why they did that. They are too long and would hit the body of the car with any kind of subframe deflection. In hindsight, I should have just cut the bolts shorter and put them in there how I want them. It only took me about an hour to actually do the modifications to the arms. If you are a mechanic and you are a good welder/fabricator, this isn't too difficult a modification.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Another thing to note, I'm pretty sure this will only really work on 19"+ wheels, unless I could get a set of wide 18"s and see where they rub. There may not be enough room for the modification for 18s.


I wouldn't mind getting a group buy started. Does anyone have BMR or MAP trailing arms and would like to sell your old trailing arms?
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
I didn't realize MAP arms were out of production. If that's the case, I may start building bulletproof fabricated arms for the car out of square steel tubing and a spherical ball joint as well as the modified stock ones. I would need a set to start building a jig as a start, so I'll take you up on your offer. If you can give me your paypal, I'll send you some shipping monies :)
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Fair enough. I'll start getting stuff together to get this done. I'm thinking a set of premium arms that are totally fabricated from heavy wall square tubing with johnny joints instead of bushings and a set of widened factory arms. This way, we have an option for people who want to keep the stock rubber in the suspension and save some $$ and an option for those who want something bullet proof and stiff.

I still need to start with a set of arms to build jigs.
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Would you guys rather have me modify stockers or fabricate new arms? I could do either or both, depending on what people want. I still need an initial set to start making the jig though, if anyone wants a freebie set made just mail me your parts :)
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Is your car going to be down for the duration I'm making jigs for the arms? I don't want to be pressured into hurrying this project along because someone sent me the arms from their DD :)

Also, do you have Do you have 19" wheels or larger?
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
Just bought a set from a forum member for $30. Once I get them in, I'll build a jig and then a custom set of fabricated arms and then we'll see what the interest is in modified stock arms.
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Lol that's funny. I could have swore you said free set for whoever offered. So much for that deal I guess.
I did say that, but I decided it was less stressful for me to just buy a set instead of possibly taking a while to get a jig made and have someone's car down for a while.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
As for the 18" wheels: it may still work, we'll see how the clearances turn out. I may be able to squeeze them in there if I get the angles just right.


If someone with a set of arms wants to help me out, could you measure the diameter of the bolt hole on the bushing? Also, whats the depth of the bushing's hole? I'm shopping for spherical bushings right now and need to know the size.
 
Discussion starter · #31 ·
Got a set of arms on the way, I can begin mocking and jig building as soon as I get the arms in. I've sourced the parts for the spherical bearing and the square tubing as well as a place to get the spindle side of the arm water jetted out. I should have a prototype built within the next couple weeks, then I'll start accepting orders.
 
Discussion starter · #36 ·
Finally! My welder finally came back from being serviced.... I guess they gave up and just sent me a brand new one :)

I ordered the parts to make a preliminary set. This first set will be a basic modification of the OEM arms - with a twist: I am also going to be welding on some high quality, greasable, polyurethane flex joints where the rubber bit is. The set I received in the mail is showing the first signs of dry rot on the rubber bushing. This is probably going to start becoming a problem on the car eventually, so replacing them with a rebuildable joint is probably wise. They will add around $100 to the cost of a modified set of arms, but I think they'll be worth it. These are from ballistic fabrication and are generally used on hardcore jeeps and stuff, so they are plenty strong. From what I hear on the 4x4 forums, they are quiet and reliable too so they should stiffen up that linkage pretty good. That goes especially if you get the other trailing arm bushing from Turn In Concepts.

After a little more measuring, I should be able to make this work with 18" wheels as well. When I get this first set done, I'll do a little measurement to see how much wider a wheel we can get under there. I'm hoping for 11" under stock fenders :)

These are the joints in question: http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/263-Heavy-Duty-Ballistic-Joint_p_1226.html

So I want to get an initial head count on who wants what, that will determine the pricing and how much the core fee will be. Products are:

Stage 1: Stock arm, modified for wider wheels, stock (used) bushing. I won't use junky cores for these, just the best ones I get in. These will be painted because you can't bake on powder with the factory rubber joint in place.
Stage 2: Stage 1 arm with a Ballistic Fabrication rebuildable and greasable flex joint. Powder coated.
Stage 3: Beefy fully fabricated arm with Ballistic joint and powder coated.

All joints will be TIG welded by a pro - me :) In all seriousness, I'm a damn good welder for someone who writes code for a living.

If I get enough interest in this thread, I'll start up a new thread to keep track of orders, notify you guys on build status, core status, etc.

So post up, who wants in?
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
What are you charging?
I'm not sure yet, it depends on the demand. If I have to do one set a week for a few months as buyers trickle in, then it is going to be more than if a dozen people line up and I can do this in one shot. It is definitely going to be reasonable, though. Probably $75 + core for the stage 1, $200 + core for stage 2, and $350 for stage 3 (no core needed, but I would probably still want to buy your stockers.)

Prices will probably vary for the cores as well, depending on what the demand is. I'll have to bust out a calculator when I get a rough estimate on how many people are interested.
 
Discussion starter · #40 · (Edited)
I'm in for the stage III's depending on the questions listed below.

Will the stage III's fit with stockers?

What's the widest wheel I would be able to fit with the stage III's?

Can you post up pics of the various sets?
1. Stage 3s should fit with stock rims and wide 18" rims.
2. I don't know, I'll have to build a set first :) I assume the limitation will be something other than the trailing arms when I'm done. The MAP arms only had a slight kink to them, plus you needed to grind the spindles to make them clear. These arms will be fabricated with a substantial notch to give the wheel clearance. The notch can be as wide as you want (within structural limits).
3. Whenver I build the first set :)
 
Discussion starter · #46 ·
Ok, just got back into the swing of things from Christmas. I should have a lvl 1 set to demo this weekend, then a lvl 2 set whenever ups delivers my goods from ballistic.
 
Discussion starter · #49 ·
Good to hear. I plan on getting started on the first set of lvl 1s tonight, snap some pics, then convert them into lvl 2s. I just got the flex joints in from ballistic today. Oooh wee they are nice!!! I think you guys are going to be super happy with the finished product.
 
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