Help picking LCA brackets

Phil1098

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After installing my lowering springs I now need to get the geometry back for the LCAs. I am down to the following three considerations.

1. BMR - $129 and they offer three mounting points (instead of two) and three height choices for LCA attachment.

2. Maximum Motorsport - $199 and they only have two mounting points, but a significant appearing mount where the panhard bolt goes through. Has three height choices and claim to be stronger than anyone elses.

3. J&M - $159 and they have the three mounting points and the significant appearing mount where the panhard bolt goes through. This one also has three height choices for the LCA.

I have a feeling that any of the three would be fine, but I thought I would ask. I'm sure I could get 1,000 responses of "I have X and it's great", but what I am looking for is any failure stories of any of these three.

With the low HP output of my car, I suspect all three are probably overbuilt, but just don't want to be sorry. One last thing, bolt on only, not going to have them welded.
 

skwerl

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I went with BMR for everything on both my cars, mostly because of the customer service as well as the quality of their products. And they are semi-local to me. They have had very few limited failures on a couple of their items, all of which were resolved quickly and then redesigned and strengthened to eliminate future issues. I recall an issue with some of their early front A arms and also the first design of their radiator support.

I'm probably in the minority on this but I'm not fond of the 'drop the suspension to the ground' look and I thought the BMR LCA brackets hung a bit too low. I cut mine off even with the top of the third hole and used the second hole. Hit the exposed metal with a shot of black Rustoleum and good to go.
 

07 Boss

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^^^ Yep, BMR is the only company I buy from. Even my 2nd gen F-Body is getting all BMR suspension parts.
 

ox white

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Maximum Motorsports. Proven over many years. I have used many of their products. They don't do GM or other off-make parts.
 

RocketcarX

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I have BMR on my car, as well as daily driving on 15 inch drag radials. If I ever catch a flat on the rear i'm screwed because the LCA relation bracket is so low hanging that it will contact the ground. Most folks use the center hole and call it a day. Were I to do it again I would run the Whiteline units, they have one hole, plenty of ground clearance and are as stout as the BMR product.
 

Pentalab

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I have BMR on my car, as well as daily driving on 15 inch drag radials. If I ever catch a flat on the rear i'm screwed because the LCA relation bracket is so low hanging that it will contact the ground. Most folks use the center hole and call it a day. Were I to do it again I would run the Whiteline units, they have one hole, plenty of ground clearance and are as stout as the BMR product.

This. The whiteline version only has one hole..and that provides for a 3" drop..... which is identical to using the BMR version on the MIDDLE hole. The BMR version has 3 x adjustment holes, which provide for a 2"-3"-4" drop. The whiteline version (other than only having the 3" drop) is a 100% copy of the BMR version.

The advantage of the whiteline version is.... no requirement to chop off the excess metal at the bottom, like skwerl did. If you cut the bottom portion off, below the middle hole, the piece you cut off was seam welded. What u are left with, no longer is welded at the bottom... which is probably not an issue.

The big advantage of both the BMR + whiteline versions is they are bolted in THREE places.... hence no welding required. Both the BMR + whiteline units have this tongue coming up the back side that gets the 3rd bolt. And both versions use 1/4" steel plate, laminated and seam welded on top of 3/16" steel plate... = 7/16" thick steel in total.

The Steeda version has 3 x lca adjustment holes, BUT it bolts in only place. With the steeda version, you bolt it in, then carefully baby the car over to the welding shop..then get em welded in, as per steeda instructions. And you had better have the lca's precisely aligned, front to back, b4 u weld anything. Screw up, and you will have to then use adjustable length LCA's to get it right. Steeda makes some good stuff, but their LCA brackets are not one of em.

The FRPP version only has the 3" drop, but is only bolted in 2 places, and no tongue coming up the back side, it's no where near as strong as the BMR / Whiteline version.

I use 18" rims in winter.... and now use a 19" rear rim in summer. I use the BMR version + middle holes, and wondered IF I had a rear flat with 18" rear rim, would the bottom of the LCA relocate bracket hit the ground or not, it would be damn close. It's a non issue with a 19" or 20" rim. It would be an issue with a 15" or 17" rim.

Blow out a (15/17) rear tire..at speed, and the LCA re-locate hits the ground, you are toast.. flying off the road.

Get the whiteline version, call it a day. Nobody uses the top hole in the BMR version...nor the very bottom hole.
 
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07 Boss

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Though I have the original 2 hole BMR bracket I went ahead and welded them in when I had my tubes welded.

 

Speedboosted

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BMR is proven time and time again. I would not even consider anything else, especially for the price. Only negative I can think of is that they hang down slightly more because of the extra adjustment points.
 

Pentalab

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BMR is proven time and time again. I would not even consider anything else, especially for the price. Only negative I can think of is that they hang down slightly more because of the extra adjustment points.

With a 15-17" diam wheel, (and I'm certain a 18" as well) they will bottom out on the road if you have a rear flat. Unless you are hell bent to use the very bottom holes on the BMR (4" drop), instead of cutting the bottom portion off in a bandsaw, the Whiteline version is identical to the BMR, but shorter, and only a 3" drop..(same as BMR's middle holes). I have never seen anybody use the very lowest holes on the BMR version. Get too low, and the opposite of wheel hop is brake hop. If a 19 / 20" rear wheel used, the BMR is a non issue with a flat rear tire. Going over speed bumps in any config is a non issue, the rear wheels will rise / fall... and ditto with the LCA re-locate brackets.
 

pass1over

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CHE braces on my car, but LCAs are in the stock location. For some reason, on my car, if I put the LCAs (Steeda Billets) in any of the other holes, it pushes the rear-end too far back and pulls the rear CV joint apart on my 1 piece driveshaft.

They offered to make me a custom set with the mounting holes where I need them, but I never pursued it.
 

Sky Render

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BMR > Whiteline

BMR has much better customer service. If you search here and in the Corner Carvers' sections, you'll also find numerous instances of failed Whiteline parts, though their relocation brackets seem to not have any issues. (Probably because they just copied BMR's design and removed the adjustability of having 3 holes.)
 

Pentalab

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BMR > Whiteline

BMR has much better customer service. If you search here and in the Corner Carvers' sections, you'll also find numerous instances of failed Whiteline parts, though their relocation brackets seem to not have any issues. (Probably because they just copied BMR's design and removed the adjustability of having 3 holes.)

The only whiteline product I own is their watts link. Zero issues since day 1. Everything else is BMR.
 

Unexplodedcow

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I spent a very long time (years) looking at various parts, hearing rumors about new ones coming out, and thinking about exactly what I wanted to do with my car.

Ultimately, I went with the MM relocation brackets, as I chose Steeda sport springs (1.25" drop in the rear), and didn't need an excessive amount of relocation (top hole), as I'm not into drag racing (at all, other than watching someone else do it). I was mostly trying to correct the angel of the LCA. They seemed a bit thicker than the BMR ones I've seen, and I liked the mounting method. They also don't hang as low, but have 3 adjustment holes.

They've held up well in my uses (bumpy midwestern roads and some hard cornering). The rest of the suspension is Koni STR.Ts (yeah, I'm cheap), urethane bushings/mounts up front, and UMI roto-joints for LCA, UCA, and panhard. 295/35/18 Nitto NT05s on all four corners (no rubbing), and I've been quite happy with the results as a whole.

I know...this was only about relocation brackets, but each piece works with the next.
 

beefcake

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bmr and j&m both make a quality product, hit me up with any suspension questions you have and well help get you dialed in
 

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