lower control arms?

[ericrapp]

Howdy folks.
I have not been posting as i my car is down for the summer and lost my zoom zoom. But it's coming back little by little.
So anyone have any comments about replacing lower control arms with an upgrade? Has any one gone so far as to swap and mod to Focus bits, or even better maybe tubular arms instead of pressed steel like stockers. I am going to replace mine and am just starting my research. Probably a question for track guys mostly.
I have a couple options and some are pricey so any advice would be welcome and details would be appreciated.
Next post will be about battery trays and relocating. be warned.(flash)

 

[HaggisSP3]

I have a couple options and some are pricey so any advice would be welcome and details would be appreciated.

One of my front LCA bushing is leaking, so I'm interested in those options. Could you give some more details?

 

[ericrapp]

i will tell you what i can. Both my boots are torn and i could not find any options besides mazda parts or junkyard last year. Now it seems there are some low buck options like advance auto. Just make sure you are getting speed 3 specific because they are differnt from regular 3.
I have been looking for along while for performance ones. The custom fabricated ones i am looking at are pricey but seem to be what i was looking for. actually they are kinda trick. But if you are not tracking the car or dialing in suspension bits the oem style would be good. I never did find replacement boots for the leaky joints. i started to pursue it a little with energy suspension but never followed through and my ball joints are shot now anyways. any way ours are very similar to the focus Dominant Motorsports in Texas seems to be doing some work with the Focus platform and some of that spilled over to Mazda speeds. Send me pm and i will try to link you/\.
Heavy duty energy suspension inner bushings and HD ball joints with adjustable camber at the joint which is a nice feature and powder coating is included for the price.
I have wanted adjustable tubular arms since i decided to build my car so these are exactly what i need, but i better start saving my monies LOL.
as i said please feel free to pm me
eric

 

[WillD]

I replaced one of my rear LCAs this Spring. During the course of my research I didn't really see any replacement control arms or anything like that.

 

[ericrapp]

why did you replace it Will? I mustve buggered my boots up front when we put the cobb springs on and i did not notice till i was swapping axle : (

 

[WillD]

The bushing was totally shot and when I tried to remove one of the bolts to change my springs it got bound up in the bad bushing. It sucked.

 

[ericrapp]

learning is sure fun sometimes!

 

[ericrapp]

whats nice about the design or the tubular ones is not just that they are stronger but the camber adjustability is at the near the wheels so as you add negative camber you are creating slightly wider track width between front wheels and that can be a performance advantage. For those us who have coilovers with upper camber plates, it 's fairly challenging due to Mazdas upper strut mount attachment design. Original design makes it difficult and a compromise is needed. Thats my experience. i am using the whiteline strut tower brace too while still tied in to firewall as originally designed. It just does not seem much real race stuff is easily available although it is still trickling along.