Steeda Boss Front Control Arms

[2013DIBGT]

Hello,

Does anyone have the inside skinny or use these Boss Front Control Arms offered by Steeda? Are they any good or are they a cheap knock off?

http://www.steeda.com/11-mustang-front-lower-control-arms-with-bushings-777-4900/

Visually the arms themselves appear to be the same as the real deal 302S replacement units but the Ball and Bushing parts are definitely different between the two. Can one install a HOWE Balljoint into the Steeda Arms?

For me, having a threaded Ball Joint hole in the arms is a requirement. I have Negative ZERO interest in going thru the hassle of burning out the puss filled factory bushing used on the OEM FCA's just to install better Urethane units while still being left with a stretched out Ball joint hole that will eventually end up requiring tack welding so the fucker doesn't fall out.

Surely I could call Steeda and ask them these things but I would rather get an unbiased report from outside parties instead on how these things stack up.

Thanks

 

[csamsh]

Looks to me like a stock A Arm with energy suspension bushings and Steeda's own X11 joints

 

[2013DIBGT]

Hrrmm....unfortunately I think you may be right.

I found a good picture of the 302S unit below and can see the Steeda unit is missing the additional meat where the provision to allow for threading of the Balljoint is located.

Damn shame, guess I'll have to open the wallet a bit wider after all.

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[JPC]

I understand the OEM arms are strong as hell
Look at (I did this) is to replace the beer car bushings in the front arms
Thus no front deflection

Email Terry Fair @ Vorshlag

 

[jayel579]

This has been done and someone here had a pretty thorough thread on it... I can't find it though.

 

[SwissBoss]

I had these arm for a year. They're stock one with polybushing and X11 balljoint. Very good but the balljoint suck. After a year and 10 track day the driver side got play. The passenger seems fine.

They worked good and the bushing are fine.

I converted my stock one to Howe balljoint and poly bushing.

I have the Steeda for sale on SVTP if you're interested (same username) just have to change the ball joint. Very easy to do.

 

[2013DIBGT]

I had these arm for a year. They're stock one with polybushing and X11 balljoint. Very good but the balljoint suck. After a year and 10 track day the driver side got play. The passenger seems fine.

They worked good and the bushing are fine.

I converted my stock one to Howe balljoint and poly bushing.

I have the Steeda for sale on SVTP if you're interested (same username) just have to change the ball joint. Very easy to do.

Thanks for the details on this. I think if I'm not required to use the Motorsport Bushing Kit while using the real 302S arms I will go that route instead since I know they are threaded.

The Motorsport bushing kit in combination with the 302S arms push the price above what I can stomach for FCA's so I would definitely be looking to go with something like what Vorshlag offers in terms of bushings for the arms to keep the total cost more acceptable.

I've got a clunk up front that shows its ugly head on occasion with the current factory arms which only have about 15K miles on them. The arms are the newer revision ones also which were swapped in back at the 5k mile marker when the car was still stock. I knew they would be short lived after I did all the suspension work on the car but ultimatly I'm looking for solution that has a bit more longevity and is also rebuild able when the time comes again. Hopefully the new setup will last at least 20K miles before needing rebuild again.

 

[SwissBoss]

Here's the parts I used to convert my stock arm

Prothane 6-220-BL (Big rear bushing)
Prothane 6-218-BL (Small front bushing)
Threaded collar (Need 2) http://shop.watsonracing.com/HOWE-BALL-JOINT-THREADED-COLLAR-ONLY-p/wr-22340f.htm
Howe ball joint (Need 2)http://shop.watsonracing.com/HOWE-EXTENDED-BALL-JOINT-BALL-JOINT-ONLY-p/wr-22409.htm
Dust boot (Need 2) http://shop.watsonracing.com/product-p/wr-22399.htm

Removing the stock bushing was a huge PITA

To make the threaded ball joint work just remove the stock one, then slide the collar in and weld it in place and screw the ball joint in. Easy.

 

[Whiskey11]

When I did my control arms, I learned from when I did my stock rear LCA's... What I did was take the blow torch, set the LCA on the ground where there isn't anything flammable nearby. Turn torch on and let it sit inside the metal sleeve, pointed at the metal sleeve, and go do something else within visual sight range of the torch.

That got the inner sleeve and arm out of the bushings pretty quickly. The rest of the bushing, I ended up using a similar tactic on the thin metal sleeve and then pressing the bushings out with whatever I had handy and a hammer. Worked out quite well actually...

 

[Sky Render]

Front-end clunk? Re-torque all your bolts before you lighten your wallet...

 

[2013DIBGT]

Thanks again for the info folks.

Front-end clunk? Re-torque all your bolts before you lighten your wallet...

Unfortunately I'm not that lucky to get off so easy.