I have been thinking of doing the spherical control arm bushings to maybe improve handling a little. Right now, my suspension is stcok for the most part. Will dropping in the spherical bushings make much of an improvement, or are they intended for a much more upgraded suspension? Do these change the ride quality at all?


On the site it says that they are designed for the FE5 control arms. I am guessing that is SS TC only, correct? If so, looks like I'd have to buy control arms also. What do you all think, are the spherical bushings really worth dropping about $300 on for the bushings and control arms for the performance improvements they offer?

 

The bushings fit SS/NA, SS/SC and SS/TC control arms. In other words, any of the aluminum control arms.

Steering response will be improved.

 

i wasn't aware the FE3 suspension had aluminum CA's? The bushings also help to fight wheel hop.

 

Yes sir.

 

Well by golly. they do. That's good news.

 

Ugh, looks like I will have to get FE5 control arms if I were to get them.

Are the FE5 control arms a direct replacment for those on a FE3? Will anything else need to be changed out when doing so?

 

If you have FE3 suspension you have the right arms. Or did you mean FE1?

What car and model do you have?

 

nothing needs to be changed. If you have cast aluminum arms, you can use the bushings. If you have stamped steel, you have FE1. What trim level cobalt do you have?

 

Ion Redline

It has the FE3 suspension, but I am not for sure I GM used a different control arm for the SS or if they are the same

 

look under the car, haha, are they silver or black?

 

This is news to me, anyone have a link to these?

 

I will have to take a look at them

Silver = good for bushings, and black = replace with FE5, correct?

 

http://www.ottperformance.com/store/...l-Arms-c41.htm

correct.

 

they will not work for us. we need to get ss arms.

 

That sucks. I guess I'll hold off for now on this and do it all at once when I start upgrading to the FE5 swaybar, sturts, and shocks

 

Thanks for the link, OTTP has some amazing deals.

 

You can find Fe5 control arms all day salvage for around $45-$100. Check out car-part.com. Just make sure you look up the arm for the Cobalt. As you already may know the RL Fe3's are steel.

 

have you looked at the chrome moly LCA zzp is in the prosscess of testing, maybe worth looking into.
http://www.zzperformance.com/cobalt_...new1.php?id=57

the set they sell for the grand prix is about 500 bucks so the bushings are cheaper...

 

ehhhh I would say its hard to recommend the zzp ones.
1. the ottp cabs are from the time attack SC/SS. tried and tested on a track car...and pushed hard.
2. the stock control arm is one hell of a solid piece.
3. testing on the zzp piece probably isnt as extensive as the ottp.
4. theres going to be more stress points on the zzp since its tubular and welded, the stock arm is all solid, but chromoly is strong.

 

agreed ;the biggest issue of all (#5) spherical joints are not weatherproof...thats a problem...and poly makes a lousy joint for the leading bushing... the OTTP ones are different...

 

From ZZP's site: "Pair sheds 5 pounds of weight"

I don't know how you would save 5lbs off the stock arms. Maybe the stamped steel, but the cast aluminum can't weigh anymore than 5lbs each.

 

The weights are somewhere on here, the LS arms weighed 2.2 lbs more than the SS counterparts.

 

Valid points, just throwing it out there ,Im actully looking into the LCA busshing, im running my traction bars for now, but i have to keep them lubed after it rains and what not, plus some people say traction bars tend to fail (out of rond eylets) with extended use on daily driven cars. is that price for 2 or just one , if its for the pair , then its not a bad deal at all.

 

yeah blackfriday sale was $150 a pair so I bought them hahah

 

Chromoly is also more britle.