BMR Upper/Lower Trailing Arm & Upper Control Quick Review
 

Good morning folks,

About a month ago I installed the BMR upper/lower trailing arms along with the upper control arm on my SS. I went for these modifications for one primary reason. When laying down a decent amount of power to full throttle I was getting some serious wheel hop causing the cars rear end to sway pretty hard when launching. I initially thought the issue was the stock tires and was going to trade them out. After the installation, the difference was night and day. I have 0 issues going WOT on stock tires and I honestly feel a good deal safer with how planted the rear end is. In regards to NVH(noise, vibration, harshness) I would say that each setting represents a step up now. Touring feels like sport, sport feels like track, and track feels like track+ or one of those cheap back massagers if you're on some poor streets.

I know this is a short review but I wanted to write this as I know people like myself check out these posts to determine what they want to do to their car. I talked with BMR and Texas Track Works in regards to what I wanted to accomplish and these parts did the trick. If you have any questions I can attempt to answer.

Sweet, mainly I want to do upper and lower TAs and cradle braces. Thinking of lowering springs too, but still on the fence...

I've been on the fence with these because it seems to me the arms really only locate the wheel and define the geometry of suspension movement. All wheel hop should originate from rotational movement of the diff case transferred by the axle due to soft diff mounting in that axis of rotation.

Something like an old-school long-arm "pinion snubber" seems like the most efficient solution but I haven't snooped around the area to see if this is doable, or even to see what the diff mounting looks like. The size and the mass of the subframe/bushings shouldn't be a component because the hop frequency would be too high.

Any thoughts on this theory?

:thumbsup:

this is what a lot of us have been saying since we installed em. some are just so reluctant to indulge cause "gm said everything was stiffer..."

stiffer in relative terms is true. but its still a car made for the a range of people, including those that want a comfy compliant ride.

once you start modding and throwing it in corners and adding power, you'll see how soft the stock stuff really is.

enjoy!

It's addicting, I know the main concern with people including myself is are the products researched and do they bring the results that people want. I actually recall reading one of your posts regarding doing the trailing arms and having a positive impact. Now I need to do some research into sway bars and if there are benefits to replacing the stock toe rod.

I am looking into this as well. Thanks for your review.

Same review here...they are a must have for anyone adding power. One thing I'd also recommend you try as a test if you're comfortable doing it (before and after) is kicking out your rear-end and then bring it back in. You'll really notice the difference in how well in snaps right back into place when you straighten up. I feel like I have much better ability to regain control with them.

Automakers purposely find the limits of how squishy they can make suspension components for a very compliant ride. This can lead to unwanted effects in the performance department. The trailing arms are a must have for anyone that wants to track or drag their car. Even a stock A8 car can really feel the benefit from them.

I would get the toe rods as well - they're a big point of deflection and contribute the the jiggly feeling during hard acceleration. They also make fine alignment adjustments very easy.

Honestly the whole rear end of the Camaro is soft, very effectively tuned, but still soft - they had to save money somewhere.

Will these help with wheel spin too?

Nope. The problem there is more torque than grip. The cure for that is wider & stickier tires.

Well I have wide sticky tires. I don't get much wheel hop, but I think there's a small amount happening that turns into wheel spin. I'm going to give them a try and report back with my findings.

Sounds like I'll give BMR a call when I get my next paycheck.