Lower control arm angle

Hello everyone,

I recently had LCA and brackets installed. I haven't noticed this in any other pictures which is why I'm starting to question this. Is it normal for my LCAs to be angled like this?

Looks normal to me. What's your concern?

are you talking about the way the heim joint is cocked to the right at the axle?

@Wes06, correct. Both of them were are aiming inwards.
Well I appreciates all the responses.

Last weekend I gutted the car and have just the two front seats and dash. That shit you hear... let me tell ya lol. Trying to track down this annoying loud vibration which almost sounds like my license plate bouncing back and forth off the car rapidly, sound like a thin piece of metal plate only when the damn cars exhaust drones and getting this super awkward grind which almost sounds like worn brakes against the rotor while I give gas. Think the rear end is making all sorts of grinds which I just had repaired at ford a few months ago. Voided the warranty so im screwed there.

You're using rod ends. You are NOT going to have a quiet ride.

Oh ya that's understandable. Not expecting a quiet ride but this specific noise doesnt sound normal. The metallic sound bouncing back and forth I can live with. Mainly trying to pin point the loud metal hum. Gonna check every thing tomorrow morning.
Just want to make sure it isn't going to take a dump on me somewhere at random.

Good luck finding it. I've had the same humming/vibration coming from the right rear quarter. It sounds exactly like the "license plate vibrating" you are describing. Some times I'll go weeks without hearing it and then, outta no where, it'll pop back up.

Good to know it isn't only me. So I don't even care about that vibration, figured it would be something simple. The one getting my attention is the rear end humming which kind of sounds like bad rear end bearings. I tried to record it but the car is so damn loud I can't get it

The hum is likely just gear noise being transmitted through the bearings and into the chassis. You'll get more of that with bearings over poly or rubber.

BMR Tech 2 said:

The hum is likely just gear noise being transmitted through the bearings and into the chassis. You'll get more of that with bearings over poly or rubber.

Click to expand...

Yep. I've got all rod ends. With the windows up and the radio off, you can hear gear noise. Kind of sounds like static.

I have rod ends at the axle and poly on the body and it's still loud, except I get squeeks and creaks from the poly as well. I don't regret the modification, but it kind of highlights how little sound deadening there is on these cars. I'd install Dynamat or something, but I don't really want the weight gain.

OK, may be way off base here but I had an issue like this once where the muffler hanger was actually rubbing against the metal bumper in the back. Wouldn't happen until the exhaust system warmed up and expanded and sometimes it wouldn't happen at all.. It's worth a shot to look at it.

Just an FYI. I've tested a LOT of different control arm setups, and here's how rod-ended control arms affect NVH:

Lower Control Arms with rod ends affect NVH when going over bumps/potholes/rough roads. You'll hear a significant CLUNK when you hit a bump. It almost sounds like a loose sway bar end-link. LCAs transmit very little gear noise.

Upper Control Arms with rod ends have very little impact on transmitting NVH from a rough road, but they transmit a LOT of noise from the actual gears. You can hear the gears meshing (sounds like static or a whine), and if you have a worm-gear-type differential, you can hear the backlash from the gears during deceleration.

I have also found that a good set of polyurethane-bushing-equipped control arms gives you 95% of the performance of rod ends with none of the added NVH.

I appreciate everyone's response. I was definitely expecting the the noise coming thru specially being gutted. Just wasn't sure if the whine was supposed to be that loud. The car is extremely loud and the whine is easily heard over it.
The other grinding type of sound which sounds like badly worn brakes on the rotor started happening at random. If I'm not mistaken, it was after a burnout.
Checked out the brakes, rotors, all suspension this past weekend and everything was good. Threw on some hawk HPS 5.0s just for the hell of it. Same deal but i haven't noticed a negative impact in performance or anything. I'll take it that it's just noise transfer.

Again, thx everyone

Pinion gears failing or installed with the preload set to heavy will create some really wild noises. Just went through that. Wish I had a way of describing it other than it sounds like a high pitched four wheel drive tire slowing down and speeding up inside the car...but it never goes away only changes pitch as you speed up or slow down, and is there during accel/decel in my first hand experience. In my case the preload was measured at 94 in/lb 9should have been closer to 18 in/lb preload on a broken pinion bearing preload measurement (26-28 in/lb when setting up a new bearing set).

I had a similar problem as described with the muffler hangers rubbing against the back bumper after the car warmed up. You'd be surprised how much those things can grow.

good luck with it.

I drove my car to and from the shop with the interior gutted for my rollbar install and the combination of noises that you could hear without the interior was staggering. I got lost trying to pinpoint which noise was from what and dismissed it all as "normal for the modifications made" and called it a day.

Made me realize that losing weight by removing the interior-or parts of it is not for me, at least not for my street car.

I hope to god i dont have to go through that crap again. Had to wait a decade for Fords master mechanic to come in my area to work on that rear end which wont even be covered this time around.
Not to mention i had to take time off work to go over there and show them the whine because they kept playing stupid. They stalled the work for weeks!! By the time it was complete everyone at Ford knew who i was because i made a huge fuss about it. Might end up just taking it over to GTR Performance in Ontario CA unless anyone else has any suggestions.

Any decent speed shop can work on an 8.8" rear.

You'll hear the ring and pinion, it sounds like shears running, or sort of metal on metal white noise. Honestly exactly what I imagined a ring and pinion would sound like, lol.
The impact harshness of bumps and road joints is intense, but livable.