Racing control arm, good or no good? need opinion

[Jeremiel5]

long story short, a drift/autox racer friend of mine referred me to a shop in the city of Industry in LA county. PASSracing built a road racing e30 M3 machine from scratch that is hella sick and quick that it gives me a boner all day, please go to

http://passracing.com/project_e30_m3.htm

while building this e30 M3 race car, he decided to build his own racing control arm just like many of the other parts in this e30 m3 (notice the custom rear suspension kit; they want to use my car as an example to build coil-over kits which they plan to sell later): please review photo below








what do you guys think about this racing control arm? the best part about this is that it is one piece so it's a straight bolt on and easy to install, however, as you notice, there is no rubber or urethane control arm bushings, so he said that it is not recommended for daily driver because there is no way to absorb the noise when i hit a bump or a dip on the streets... do you guys think i can still use this on the streets and just sacrifice the noise that i hear whenever i hear bumps? or do y'all feel that the way this looks and is built, it will not last long in the streets?

[Farbin Kaiber]

Go for oe's or worst dollar cost the alum. e30 m3 units. they are like 3 bills a piece.

[Jeremiel5]

Go for oe's or worst dollar cost the alum. e30 m3 units. they are like 3 bills a piece.

what's that, bro?

[Eric]

waste of money.

this is a racing control arm

[E30 Wagen]

no, you absolutely do not want to use those on the streets...

[reelizmpro]

Jeremiel, that is a stock aluminum M3 control arm. The only thing "race" about that picture is the adjustable mount/bearing. Looks like you can change the castor angle with these. What are they charging for those? Looks like a cool part but that's pretty hardcore for a streetcar. There's a whole bunch more to be done to the suspension before you get to that point.

[CorvallisBMW]

You will hate those on the street.

[Jeremiel5]

thanks for the replies...

waste of money.

this is a racing control arm

dude, i want that! how much?

Jeremiel, that is a stock aluminum M3 control arm. The only thing "race" about that picture is the adjustable mount/bearing. Looks like you can change the castor angle with these. What are they charging for those? Looks like a cool part but that's pretty hardcore for a streetcar. There's a whole bunch more to be done to the suspension before you get to that point.

well, he just wants $175 and that ain't shit to me... should i just get it and try it out or where should i go to look for these?

my car is a daily driver, but it is a drift/autox/road race car as well and i don't care if i hear noises from after-market parts. my IE sways 25/22 alone makes squeaky noises already anyways, so i don't care about ride comfort...

my current control arm bushings are shot and i need to replace them before the scca autox event next month and the drift race next month, what kind of control arm would y'all recommend and which URL should I visit to purchase it?

[rs4pro3]

Don't get them for daily driver. I made something almost identical for my car about 3 years ago. Nice thine is they allow caster adjustment, but on the street you feel and hear everything. I yanked them off and threw on a pair of urethane bushings instead. Unless it's a pure track car don't use them, and if daily driving I'd replaced the bearings at least twice a year

[FredK]

That's a race-only part that Eric posted. Probably they'd run around the price of an E30 in reasonable condition for a pair.

[Jeremiel5]

sounds good so far... IE sold me M3 control arm bushings for the front cuz they didn't have urethane, only solid or m3... i guess i'll just go to pelican parts and buy the control arm or any suggestions? ebay?

[E30 Wagen]

so, are you posting in the project forum because you are actually going to build a car?

If not, maybe you should learn how to use r3v before buying anything, no offense.

[FredK]

:nice:

[Jeremiel5]

so, are you posting in the project forum because you are actually going to build a car?

If not, maybe you should learn how to use r3v before buying anything, no offense.

no offense taken and I do need to put more time in reading about R3V...

as for my car, it is constantly being built and it will eventually turn into the project car, but i'm still daily driving it until i get another e30. i have plenty of parts installed: IE sways (front/rear) 25/22, IE 2.5 race springs, kyb gr-2, ESU strut bars (front and rear), 3.73 rear end, z3 1.9L short shifter, e30 M3 shift links, IE urethane motor mounts, IE urethane tranny mounts, 15x8 0 offset @ (4)-195/55/15 , R1Concepts front and rear dimpled/slotted brake rotors with quiet stop ceramic brake pads, k&n cone air intake, and I need to think about what else is in there 'cuz there's plenty more...

needs to be installed parts:
ESU shorty headers, urethane rear subframe bushings, urethane rear trail arm bushings, M3 control arm bushings, steel braided brake lines, 19-lbs injectors, M30 air flow meter, 153 chip, ESU muffler, ESU carbon fiber hood and trunk, and much more... stay tuned...


eta wagen

per my signature, SCCA, SOLO2, STS class ... it is also used for drifting and road racing at willow springs, CA or sometimes it's at El Toro, CA...