A look at BMR's current S197 Tubular A-Arm Offering

[BadPiggy]

Just so you know, I had a customer call yesterday to order some A-Arms.....and said that he saw some guy online that wrecked his car, destroying a Koni - but the BMR arm didn't have an issue. He said he did the same, with the stock arm, but his stock arm is tweaked beyond alignment acceptance......so he got ours.

No, you are not getting commission.

Not even a fucking tshirt!
LOL

Actually, I'm hoping to go meet Brian (skwerl) not long after the New Year.
I'll let you & BMR buy us lunch when we come meet you!
I'd rather accept my tshirt in person.

 

[BMR Tech]

That sounds good, as long as you let me drive your car like Brian let me drive his. I took it easy on his car.........lol

 

[BadPiggy]

That sounds good, as long as you let me drive your car like Brian let me drive his. I took it easy on his car.........lol

Drive it til it blows!
I don't give a fuck.
It's just a chunk of repairable/replaceable metal to me!

You're paying the tow bill back to BMR, though!
LOL

I gotta get to my pies, bro.

 

[WILECYOT]

It was caused by the center gusset being compromised by the crack. I made a picture to help explain better. I apologize, I may have been able to express this more clearly. This specific incident was confirmed. The center gusset crack was present BEFORE the sharp corner crack - for a few months, actually. We have never seen an arm with a crack at that corner, and not a compromised gusset. I hope this clears things up.





Because it is much harder than it sounds. This is where people who see pictures, simply do not understand some of the reasons behind our design.

Example. Due to our latest design A-Arm....wheel clearance has been compromised now. At full lock, the odds of the wheel hitting the gusset are now much greater - especially when the customer has wide wheels up front...or inset wheels, etc.

Here is a picture of said example. This is a BMR/Griggs set-up road course car.....with the current version BMR A-Arms.

I assure you, we don't just throw stuff together and ship it. There are many reasons behind our decisions. No offense to anyone reading this - but, it is extremely easy for people to look at these occurrences on a computer, and feel that they know how to "do it" better. It is similar to when I watch my favorite football team playing on TV, and cuss Romo for being an idiot and not hitting an open receiver.

We are not perfect - no suspension company is. But instead of accepting our designs, we are ALWAYS looking for ways to improve them - regardless if the only issues are on race-cars, etc.

I meant what I stated previously - there is a very good reason that many companies have tried to make these pieces over the years, yet only 2 companies offer a version that is street-able (the other company, has a higher failure "rate" than ours, btw. Way higher..). They are a tough design to "perfect" based on the factory design and clearance issues.

Hope that helps.

That definitely clears some things up for sure. I wasn't talking about multiple tubes to go between them, that's not economically feasible. The gusset is a fine design, I just ask why not use thicker material. Also, that crack in the lower portion isn't caused by the crack in the upper. It is an isolated event. Both cracks are caused by fatigue. The reason I say this is due to their separation by the tubing. It appears that area experiences bending loads and over time is causing the gusset material to fatigue. To increase your fatigue life you could simply add more material to that area. I understand you are limited by wheel clearance so you're doing the best you can under the circumstances.

My post wasn't to be condescending just to offer some insight. If you guys had no idea what you were doing you wouldn't be in business very often.

 

[WILECYOT]

Also, why would you cut your BMR logo into the gusset? That sort of defeats the purpose of the gusset does it not?

 

[BMR Tech]

It doesn't defeat the purpose, one bit. It does make it more prone to failure, and weaker. The BMR in the Gusset having an issue, was not from having BMR in the gusset. It was due to the stress concentration on the corner of the B, in combination with the amount of material from the stressed area, to the edge of the gusset.

We confirmed this in several manners of testing. One was even 3rd party.

We still make some specific pieces with cut-outs in the gussets, and they work just fine. The cut-out isn't "BMR" though.

 

[BMR Tech]

So anyways, WILECYOT - as you can see, those designs that you are choosing to discuss...or as you say "offer some insight"....they have been gone for a long while now.

I have posted our current off the shelf part, above.

If you see an issue with that specific item, let me know. The old design(s) - well, I have discussed everything that needs to be known already.

If you want to show your skills off, or make an impression, we may be hiring soon. You could send a resume over my way if you want to move to the sunshine state.

 

[WILECYOT]

So anyways, WILECYOT - as you can see, those designs that you are choosing to discuss...or as you say "offer some insight"....they have been gone for a long while now.

I have posted our current off the shelf part, above.

If you see an issue with that specific item, let me know. The old design(s) - well, I have discussed everything that needs to be known already.

If you want to show your skills off, or make an impression, we may be hiring soon. You could send a resume over my way if you want to move to the sunshine state.

That would be quite the opportunity but I can't tell if you're being serious or facetious....

I think I've come across as a dick, again, unintentionally. I don't do so well over the forum. I'm much better in person.

 

[one eyed willy]

I think I've come across as a dick, again,

I thought you were just being the normal dick you usually are.....

 

[WILECYOT]

I thought you were just being the normal dick you usually are.....

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[BMR Tech]

Here is a quick look at the difference between the Adjustable, and Non-Adjustable A-Arm rear pivot point brackets.

As you probably concluded, the left most bracket is for the adjustable A-Arms. The non-adjustable piece (right) basically duplicates the factory A-Arm rear mount. (holes / spacing)

 

[Weou09]

I just realized i do not have a single stock suspension part left on my car and I'll give you a guess what brand 90% of it is lol.

 

[JoshK]

I ain't scared. Remember these Kelly? Paul brought them by your shop a couple months ago because one of them had a bad boot.

 

[AndrewNagle]

Installed my new red A-arms & support over Christmas ! !

too bad I can't get it aligned until Monday (Ughh)

more photos to come when it is on the rack at the ailgnment shop

Andrew

 

[skwerl]

Andrew, I hope you paid for the lifetime alignment. It sucks throwing down $100 every time you put it on the rack.

 

[Benjamin T]

bringing this back from the dead... got so many questions:

- are the ball joints maintenance-free or do they need to be greased regularly?

- is there a significant increase in NVH?

- what is the best way to adjust for camber? adjustable top mounts or adjustable lower a-arms?

- what is the bmr warranty policy in the unlikely event there should be a failure?

thanks kelly.

 

[BMR Tech]

bringing this back from the dead... got so many questions:

- are the ball joints maintenance-free or do they need to be greased regularly?

- is there a significant increase in NVH?

- what is the best way to adjust for camber? adjustable top mounts or adjustable lower a-arms?

- what is the bmr warranty policy in the unlikely event there should be a failure?

thanks kelly.

1: The ball joints have grease fittings. That said, they do not need to be re-greased very often at all. If you fill em up real good from the get-go, you should be fine for quite a while.

*If you use the Amsoil Grease found here: http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-produ...-and-equipment-grease-nlgi-2/?code=GPTR2CR-EA - you should not need to re-grease them for a long time. That Amsoil grease that I linked, resists "push out" about as much as possible.

2: Increase in NVH is subjective. The Adjustable versions would add a slight amount more NVH, compared to the non-adjustable poly version. Either way, "NOISE" is not really bad, or common....it is mainly the rigidity you will notice. You feel everything much more - this is a direct affect from the more rigid bushings and steel.

I cannot really promise anything, in regards to NVH. I can tell you, I've got 60+ year olds who could care less about performance, running our A-Arms on the newer cars because of the issues with the OEM pieces (TSBs)

3: I don't really want to say any way, is better than the other in terms of camber adjustment. There are several ways to adjust for camber on these cars, and these arms assist greatly in adding negative camber...or gaining some positive camber. To best answer this, I would say the best way IMO is to use adjustable arms, AND adjustable camber plates. If looking for more than that has to give, then modifying the struts, strut tower, and arm mounting points is also an option.

4: We basically have a no hassle policy on every part we make, of 2-years. It covers the part. If you are racing, we do not care - we will cover the part if it fails. Like any other aftermarket suspension manufacturer, or aftermarket company in general, we do not cover incidental costs affiliated with a failure. Just as, if you road race your S197 and snap a ball joint...Ford will likely not cover anything other than the part itself. Or if a turbocharger fails, the company will not cover your damaged engine.

That said, we stand behind our products. If someone were to have an issue outside of our 2-year warranty, I do my best to take care of them in any way I can. If someone has multiple issues with a part from BMR, then we try to cover the part in the most practical and realistic way, as well. There have been a few occasions where, it was deemed our product simply would not work for the end user. It's unfortunate, but it has happened. Those occurrences typically lead us to better our product and processes.

We rarely have issues outside of our 2-year warranty. Very rare, actually. Those that have occurred, we almost always make the customer happy when it's all said and done.

 

[Benjamin T]

As you know from the EPAS failure thread, I hit a small rough patch with Steeda and their X11 ball joints and later their front LCAs. Things seem to be tentatively okay for now...

1: The ball joints have grease fittings. That said, they do not need to be re-greased very often at all. If you fill em up real good from the get-go, you should be fine for quite a while.

*If you use the Amsoil Grease found here: http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-produ...-and-equipment-grease-nlgi-2/?code=GPTR2CR-EA - you should not need to re-grease them for a long time. That Amsoil grease that I linked, resists "push out" about as much as possible.

The Steedas I have puked a lot of excess onto the inside of my wheels and made quite a mess. I went to an indie shop to get them looked at and they used a Motul product I am not familar with and it puked again.

I will look for Amsoil ASAP.

2: I cannot really promise anything, in regards to NVH. I can tell you, I've got 60+ year olds who could care less about performance, running our A-Arms on the newer cars because of the issues with the OEM pieces (TSBs)

My original OEM front LCAs gave me hell because of the loud squeaking from the bushings. This was before Ford started replacing them under warranty, but at that point i was deep into the Steeda LCAs... I just don't want to go back to those noisy bushings again. It's embarassing sounding like a giant squeaky toy over speedbumps.

3: I don't really want to say any way, is better than the other in terms of camber adjustment. There are several ways to adjust for camber on these cars, and these arms assist greatly in adding negative camber...or gaining some positive camber. To best answer this, I would say the best way IMO is to use adjustable arms, AND adjustable camber plates. If looking for more than that has to give, then modifying the struts, strut tower, and arm mounting points is also an option.

My problem is the frame alignment on my car. It's never been in an accident, and both the dealer and a frame alignment shop said it's because my left strut tower is slightly misaligned from when Ford built the car. As a result, after lowering the car and doing a front end alignment, my left front wheel looks more inset than the right side. I was wondering if your adjustable arms in conjunction with the adjustable Steeda camber plates I (or yours?) have can help me fix this (ie. widen the track a bit).

 

[Sky Render]

BMR builds their stuff to a very tight tolerance. That majorly cuts down on NVH.

 

[Benjamin T]

BMR builds their stuff to a very tight tolerance. That majorly cuts down on NVH.

My Steeda rear control arms are noisy as hell. I've had them out and regreased once already but after a few months or a good rainfall they get loud again.

I still have yet to find the Amsoil product Kelly recommended. Again, does BMR need so much maintenance? I'm seriously contemplating going BMR if it's maintenance-free.

Kelly, are you out there?