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steal lower arms, alloy, and late model alloy lower arms


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So i plan to do some googling later tonight, but is there any places people can point me to do find the differences.

Curently have steal lower arms, thinking of either moving to alloy from a GC or even alloy arms from GD (apaprently they fit).

has anyone had first hand experience with doing this, and could provide seat-o-meter experience of the difference?

Do the GD ones actually give any benefits of the earlier ones?

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 funkytown said:

sorry also meant to say.. is there any benfits in terms of front end geometry?

Not sure if there is any geometry difference if you swap them straight in. Buuuutt, if you unbolt the stub that is mounted into the rear bush and rotate it 180 degrees, it pushes the front balljoint forward marginally and gives a slight increase in castor. Apparently can space the alloy arm out from the stub by ~3mm to get even more castor i.e. extra 1 degree or so.

Antilift kit will also give about 0.5 degree extra castor.

All of which is good ;D

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Yea GD control arms are 0.7kgs lighter than the GC steel control arms. Installing them gains camber, caster and 8mm of track I've read.

Do some searching on RS25.com, I'm sure there will be alot of info on this as lots of members swap out GC parts for GD when doing their swaps.

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No, its a plus, it will help reduce understeer a little. Only thing to worry about is clearance, although 4mm wider a side is nothing and should easily fit unless your really close to the fender already. Just double check that the GD arms fit a GC wagon though cause i'm not 100%.

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if GD fits GC then itl fit a GF as all Gc/f share the same chassis...

4mm is nothing huh.. well nearly... lol my 18*8's are close in every dimension as it is

In thinking about it.. and please someone confirm if your just replacing the lower arm.. and wheel track increases then by inference this should increase the camber in the front yes?

Reasoning: as in the ball joints are pushed further out and the top stays the same then camber increases (as well as castor but less so).

 stance said:

No, its a plus, it will help reduce understeer a little. Only thing to worry about is clearance, although 4mm wider a side is nothing and should easily fit unless your really close to the fender already. Just double check that the GD arms fit a GC wagon though cause i'm not 100%.

Does ALL GD (i.e from version 7 on increase front track..?) as i found some version 7 lower arms.

edit: i found this http://www.rexnet.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=109631&st=0.. interesting read

edit 2:

so how does the "front pivot bush" need altering on the GD control arms..

and i notice the sway bar mounts are different on the ally arms from either era.. What do they look like (how do they mount) as i think my sway bar end links will need changing.

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 funkytown']

In thinking about it.. and please someone confirm if your just replacing the lower arm.. and wheel track increases then by inference this should increase the camber in the front yes?

Reasoning: as in the ball joints are pushed further out and the top stays the same then camber increases (as well as castor but less so).

Yes that is correct...... but, I have put GD arms in my GC and when I was swapping them over there was no difference in the length of the arms when I compared them to my original ones - unless there are different spec arms for the GD and some are actually longer?

I am also using the late model GD (V9/10 5x114) front hubs and these did increase the track by 10mm each side - which seems to go with what others overseas have suggested - that the extra track is actually in the hubs (for that model anyway).

[quote name='funkytown said:

edit 2:

so how does the "front pivot bush" need altering on the GD control arms..

On the GD arms, the tube (which the bolt goes through) on the front bush is a few mm longer, and where it sits in the GC subframe is not wide enough to accomodate it. All you need to do is shorten one side of the tube so it fits.

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 funkytown']

[quote name='boostin said:

Note that you'll need the steel inserts for the ball joints too, if the arms don't come with them...

/quote]

oh ok.. i dunno which bit those are.. Couldnt i just use the ones of my steel arms?

And / Or i if i got a centre roll kit wud they come with the bits ..?

i have the part number somewhere, i had to buy these as well

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Given this thread is heading down the path of talking about geometry.

From what i have been told, GDB spec c's have alot more caster than any CG8,

Is this somethign that is true with all GDB's, in other words its the chassis.

Or is it a geometry setup with spec c's, in which case what is it that they have different in them?

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 NotAWhiteGTB said:

Given this thread is heading down the path of talking about geometry.

From what i have been told, GDB spec c's have alot more caster than any CG8,

Is this somethign that is true with all GDB's, in other words its the chassis.

Or is it a geometry setup with spec c's, in which case what is it that they have different in them?

from the literiture i have read to date, its do to with the Spec C subframe. The Spec C was the first time it was (dramatically) changed and was then shared with Version 9 sti and on. Not normal Version 8's or 7's.

What i cant find out and what Tony alluded to is whether the normal V7/8 front end set up is also better than the GC, his measurements of lower arms show no differences. I suspect there are marginal gains to be had replacing front arms, and replacing hubs will also net changes in the front end geometry.

ME wonders whether finding a complete V7/8 front subframe wud be fun, experimental if nothing else

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 funkytown']

[quote name='NotAWhiteGTB said:

Given this thread is heading down the path of talking about geometry.

From what i have been told, GDB spec c's have alot more caster than any CG8,

Is this somethign that is true with all GDB's, in other words its the chassis.

Or is it a geometry setup with spec c's, in which case what is it that they have different in them?

/quote]

from the literiture i have read to date, its do to with the Spec C subframe. The Spec C was the first time it was (dramatically) changed and was then shared with Version 9 sti and on. Not normal Version 8's or 7's.

What i cant find out and what Tony alluded to is whether the normal V7/8 front end set up is also better than the GC, his measurements of lower arms show no differences. I suspect there are marginal gains to be had replacing front arms, and replacing hubs will also net changes in the front end geometry.

ME wonders whether finding a complete V7/8 front subframe wud be fun, experimental if nothing else

Thats what im starting to think

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My 2cents - The steel arms bend nicely, alloy ones just snap/crack and ruin your day. Huge difference in weight between them tho. My alloy arms use a standard swaybar drop-link like so;

suspension_e39_rear_sway_bar_link_528i_5

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