subject: A Better Control Arms A Better Performance [print this page] In order to improve your cars traction and/or braking ability and make you drive your car more comfortably? I will explain a cheap easy way to drastically improve your cars traction out of the hole with bolt on parts that most people can install in there own garage with basic tools and knowledge.
A good set of aftermarket high performance upper and lower rear control arms and a higher ratio ring and pinion set will make all the difference in the world when your ready to get serious at a stop-light.
If you drive a rear wheel drive car equipped with coil spring rear suspension, in most cases you have what is called upper and lower control arms holding your rear axle in place under the car. the control arms maintain the pinion angle of the rear axle and keep your axle housing from twisting when accelerating or decelerating. The pinion shaft in the rear axel is set at an almost horizontal position in the housing, if you adjust the pinion angle towards the ground a few degrees you can substantially improve your grip during hard acceleration.
The drawback of installing control arms that turn the pinion shaft towards the ground is that u lose some of your rear braking power because your rear axle becomes a few degrees over center in the wrong direction and can hamper effective braking, it can cause your rear axle to skid or hop under heavy breaking. On the other hand, if you turn the pinion angle up away from the ground you can increase your rear braking power slightly but lose traction under heavy acceleration, so its important to know what kind of driving you do, so you can buy the correct control arms for your car.
Most people who are looking to buy rear control arms are looking for more traction under acceleration than braking, because they believe a minor loss in rear axle braking is worth the trade-off. I have bought and upgraded a lot of fast street cars in my life, mainly Mustangs and Camaros and I have learned a few valuable lessons along the way. I think the most important thing I have learned is that you do not make the car so fast you can not stop it. So do yourself and everybody else a favor, spend money on brakes, control arms and any other equipment that keeps your ride safely on the pavement when you are going a little faster than you should. I am sure we have all heard the saying, "speed doesn't kill, its the sudden stop that usually does it!"
