Part critique please

[Calum]

Hey guys,

As any reader of this forum I've heard many harp on the lack of quality of stance coilovers and while I don't have any first hand experience I can understand the points being made. I'm wondering what those with the knowledge to make such judgements think about these?

Originally Posted by FT-86 SpeedFactory

"Stance Adjustable Lower Control Arms for the Scion FRS and Subaru BRZ are made from billet aluminum for strength and durability. The Lower Control arms are used to adjust camber and the range achieved with these is negative 1deg - 6deg. Stance also implements Aurora Rod ends on these arms. The most important part of aftermarket suspension links are the rod ends. Aurora spherical rod ends are one of the most expensive and high quality rod ends on the market, and for good reason. Aurora ends are used in both military and NASA Applications, so their quality pretty much speaks for itself.

Stance actually uses Aurora's 3pcs billet rod end bearings to be exact. Aurora bearings use a sintered steel ball to handle extremely high loads. The Rod ends feature special chemical bonded PTFE liners for smooth operation, less noise, and long life. The rod end housings are heat treated and zinc coated for strength and durability as well.

The Stance Lower Control Arms are designed to raise the hub mounting point about 20mm when compared to stock, which lowers the car about 25mm. This allows for longer stroke dampers found on the Stance FR-S application, and have more height adjustment range. This design is especially helpful for 1-way height adjustable coilovers like KW, which lose stroke as you lower the car.

These look like a well thought out part, using high quality materials & bearings, which seems at odds with the reputation stance's other parts have here. Are you guys seeing the same thing?




I stole the image and info from @ft86speedfactory.com's listing. If you want it taken down just pm me and it'll be gone ASAP.

[Sccabrz192]

You REALLY don't want Hiem Joints in dirty environments. As soon as they ingest any dirt at all they will rapidly wear out, start to chatter, clunk, and eventually fail.

[armythug]

I am curious about these as well. Seems interesting how they are designed to lower the car a bit.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by Calum

Hey guys,

As any reader of this forum I've heard many harp on the lack of quality of stance coilovers and while I don't have any first hand experience I can understand the points being made. I'm wondering what those with the knowledge to make such judgements think about these?



These look like a well thought out part, using high quality materials & bearings, which seems at odds with the reputation stance's other parts have here. Are you guys seeing the same thing?




I stole the image and info from @ft86speedfactory.com's listing. If you want it taken down just pm me and it'll be gone ASAP.

Aurora is a good company, but they have a range of products.

Something like a loaded slot rod end would be better than a 3 piece design. (They are more resistant to dirt. )

Also with the plating colour they are probably carbon steel as opposed to alloy steel.

The description not correct either, there will usually be sintered bronze (like Oilite) pressed in not steel, and the zinc plating I'm familiar with isn't gold coloured. It's probably cad (not that it's really a major deal).

A side-by-side with a factory piece would be helpful, too.

(I'm assuming the piece is machined 6061 aluminum...)

[Pete156]

Originally Posted by Sccabrz192

You REALLY don't want Hiem Joints in dirty environments. As soon as they ingest any dirt at all they will rapidly wear out, start to chatter, clunk, and eventually fail.

Seriously? Is that why Jeeps use them in every aftermarket control arm?

[Supermassive]

I saw these the day they sent out pics to all the dealers and at first I was a little put off by the name associated with them but they definitely look better than most offerings at the moment. The single greatest thing about these over every other option is the ability to drop your car about an inch without losing any suspension travel. I have seriously considered buying these as a replacement for my Agency Power ones. I dont think I will actually replace them but these and the Whitelines would be my only other picks.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Pete156

Seriously? Is that why Jeeps use them in every aftermarket control arm?

or any decent endlink for a sports car

[ZDan]

The design is inherently structurally inefficient. Right where vertical loads are introduced and bending moment is greatest, the part is reduced to two vertical walls. Making it more of an inverted hat section like the OEM (which has holes in the bottom of the "hat" in places, making it more like symmetric Z sections) would be more structurally efficient, putting more material further from the neutral axis.

For all I know, they're structurally fine/adequate, but the basic layout is far from optimal from a strength/ or stiffness/weight standpoint. As a structural engineer, it bugs me...

[Nitro22]

Originally Posted by Dimman

The description not correct either, there will usually be sintered bronze (like Oilite) pressed in not steel, and the zinc plating I'm familiar with isn't gold coloured. It's probably cad (not that it's really a major deal).

FYI, zinc plating can be gold, black, or clear. Cadmium and gold zinc plating can look similar to each other. =)

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by Nitro22

FYI, zinc plating can be gold, black, or clear. Cadmium and gold zinc plating can look similar to each other. =)

I'm familiar with blue zinc (silvery) plating. Either way, the plated rod-ends I've used tend to have a gold finish for their lower grade carbon steel and silver (not sure even if it's zinc) for alloy steel. (My experiences are with Alinabal and QA1.)

[Calum]

Originally Posted by ZDan

The design is inherently structurally inefficient. Right where vertical loads are introduced and bending moment is greatest, the part is reduced to two vertical walls. Making it more of an inverted hat section like the OEM (which has holes in the bottom of the "hat" in places, making it more like symmetric Z sections) would be more structurally efficient, putting more material further from the neutral axis.

For all I know, they're structurally fine/adequate, but the basic layout is far from optimal from a strength/ or stiffness/weight standpoint. As a structural engineer, it bugs me...

This was my biggest worry. I wondered why they didn't just make them straight but 'deeper'. If they had, they could have made the drop adjustable and in the process opened themselves up to a larger audience. But I have much less ability, to examine if their strength would be sufficient. I guess we'll just have to see what happenes when someone hits a rear tire off a curb or goes over a rumble strip.

Thanks for chiming in.

[King Tut]

I don't think I would buy any control arm before the Whitelines come out.

[EarlQHan]

I know the engineer who designed this piece very well. The biggest concerns he had when designing the piece were making sure the geometry and camber curve remained unaltered with the ride height difference. Then making sure it was able to handle the loads was the next concern. It was originally designed to withstand 4G's of loading as the SF, but the piece was deemed too heavy. This design is meant to withstand in excess of 2.5G's of loading. Just like with any other design, this has its compromises, but it a good option for those who run out of bump travel at their current ride height.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I don't think I would buy any control arm before the Whitelines come out.

Good choice but pricey. I didn't need the fancy adjustment and weight savings of aluminum so I went with SPC steel arms. Not fancy and probably not as strong either, but I'm not competing...just want equal and not overly high negative camber.