would MOOG FE5 control arms or ZZP controls offer better performance?

 

Keep the stock arms and replace the bushings. Unless you're getting serious (sponsorshiped) racing just replace the bushings. If you want better bushings get Powells.

 

^ 2nd this

 

Those are 200 dollars. they dont even come with control arms. JUST the bushings. why are they so expensive? 200 bucks for some bushings man. damn. what about them makes them so good though? i see there is no rubber. would ZZP bushings even compare?

 

Solid bushings ride like **** and are worse for handling than stock. They are designed to move so putting solid bushings kills that.
Powels bushings are spherical (basically a ball joint) but solid. Sonthey are better than stock and solid by a long shot. Stock ones barely last 10k most of the time. Powels are also lifetime warranty.

So you can either save money and just replace the shitty bishings with shitty bushings or spend a bit of money and never change them again.

 

honestly, you cant improve on the factory aluminum control arm, they have the best combination of rigidity and light weight, i would take them over the zzp fabricated arms any day.

now the downside to the factory arms is the rear control arm bushing, really its just a bad design. you can replace the bushings with something from moog, however they will fail again in a short time. the powell spherical bushings are the ultimate fix, they take out the mushy handling created by the stock bushings and last far longer. my set has been in my car for almost 4 years now and ive never had an issue.

i to had a hard time shelling out the cash for them, however they are worth every penny.

 

Moog sells a spherical bushing, and it works wonderful. Had them on my car for a few years. No issues with them at all.

They def made an improvement over the stock bushings.

But like others said... keep the stock control arm, and just replace the bushings if needed.

 

I also am using the spherical bushing by Moog and it works great. I did notice a little bit more road noise on bumps but that is to be expected when you replace to a more stiff bushing.

 

Will those same aftermarket bushings be ideal for a lowered cobalt vs. stock height(blahh!)?

 

well my car is lowered about two inches or so. so could i use those aftermarket bushings? i dont see why it would batter though.

 

My car was lowered.

 

Running moog cabs on my cobalt also

 

what do you mean by cabs?

 

Cabs= control arm bushings. Their are 2 sets of bushings on control arms. The rear ones which are prone to tearing are the ones that everyone changes. The t bushings which are under the struts hold up pretty well. Most don't replace the whole arm unless all the bushings and the ball joint, are trashed. The rear cabs if worn out can hurt handling a lot, make noise, and throw off alignment. They can also make it easier to have wheel hop on acceleration.

 

Control Arm Bushings