to weld or not

[bunits19714]

was wandering if most of you that are running relocation brackets for your aftermarket lower control arms are welding them or not? car is 60' 1.59 's now looking to get 1.55 or slightly better. a6 with a 5c converter.

 

[07 Boss]

I would. I only pull a 1.7's and I welded mine. Might think about welding or pinning your axle tubes too.

 

[Weou09]

Absolutely weld them. I spun one of mine with an n/a 3v. Cut around 1.7 60'. Luckily i only lost a tire and bent the inner fender slightly. Agree on the tubes being handled as well.

 

[Grabber Blue 5.0]

I run BMR relocation brackets. No welding required on them per Kelly @ BMR.

 

[travelers]

Welding will keep the bolts from all that stress and also stay tight

 

[Brezick]

I have not weld either of my BMR sets. My 2007 has been 1.4x with them. I do make sure to check all bolts when swapping the racestars on though.

 

[tjm73]

Weld the brackets and your axle tubes. Piece of mind.

 

[DTL]

I welded mine when I did the tubes and 9" ends. There's not much reason NOT to, IMO.

 

[Weou09]

Agreed ^

 

[Mystickeith50]

Pretty sure JPCs bullet has them bolted in lol.

 

[bunits19714]

all right then - I think I will bolt them on for now run this one event- 6 passes tops with test runs- and when I am having the mufflers and catback, put on weld them then -

 

[07 Boss]

 

[Kylar]

Very nice welding!


I say weld them, its worth the peace of mind.

 

[07 Boss]

Very nice welding!


I say weld them, its worth the peace of mind.

Not me, local driveline/driveshaft/4x4 shop. They had a jig too. It was a bench job. I did all the prep, actually stripped the whole thing, replaced the upper bushing and got to paint the whole thing. Did that while I was swapping out the differential and gears. It actually looks pretty decent under there now.
















Sorry for the car porn, got carried away when I started looking at the pics.

 

[Kylar]

Not me, local driveline/driveshaft/4x4 shop. They had a jig too. It was a bench job. I did all the prep, actually stripped the whole thing, replaced the upper bushing and got to paint the whole thing. Did that while I was swapping out the differential and gears. It actually looks pretty decent under there now.
















Sorry for the car porn, got carried away when I started looking at the pics.

Looks great man!! I hate seeing mine on a lift, looks like a rusty piece of crap....lol

Whenever i finally upgrade the rear end ill do the same.

 

[Pentalab]

I run BMR relocation brackets. No welding required on them per Kelly @ BMR.

Both the BMR LCA relocation brackets and the WL brackets require no welding. Both brands are bolted in 3 places. The steeda relocate brackets do require welding..as they are only bolted in one place. The BMR has the extra piece of steel going up the back end of the bracket.

I just can't see breaking 3 bolts simultaneously on the bmr /wl version.

 

[DTL]

I just can't see breaking 3 bolts simultaneously on the bmr /wl version.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that they may break. My concern was with the amount of movement that was possible with the bolt-on design. When I had my rear end out, to weld tubes and do ends, I jigged and measured everything. The factory LCA brackets were mis-aligned by nearly 1/4" and the BMR brackets (with the hardware loosened) had the ability to move about 5/16". I chose to weld my BMR brackets (with everything measured as perfectly square as I could) in order to: 1) Have everything properly aligned and 2) to prevent anything from moving after I had aligned it.

Interestingly enough, we found similar mis-alignment on a friends gt500, when we were trying to diagnose a launch problem. (car would always move right). He had non-adjustable LCAs and we found a thrust issue with out of line LCA brackets. He chose not to weld his, so we just loosened the hardware, moved the brackets into alignment, and tightened everything down. Everything's been fine for a few months, until the other night when the car randomly went right again. I'm guessing it's going to be time to bust out the welder.

I'm not trying to say that a "bolt-on" design is bad, or inferior to a welded part. I'm just sharing what I found and why I did what I did.

 

[Sharad]

I agree with welding, ESPECIALLY THE AXLE TUBES, for peace of mind. Actually there's a whole thread about this.

 

[07 Boss]

You don't have to weld them but I would. I thought when I bought these (they are the older 2 hole design) that BMR suggested welding them if you were going to pull 1.6 60's or better. Maybe not, that's just what seems to pop into my head. It is going to be stronger with no chance of movement if you weld it. It will spread the load out from the three bolt/mount points.