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Old 06-05-2021, 07:20 PM   #29
cdb95z28


 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountain View Post
So, overall, not a big difference in ride feel between the FE4 and FEA link. I found myself easily getting used to the FEA and sorta losing any sense of a difference.

What I did notice, as immediate, initial impressions is:
-Ride harshness over bumps, bad road surfaces is about the same between the two links.
-In "Touring", but seemingly not "Sport" or "Track", over uneven surfaces between the right and left of the car seems to cause more of a bouncing ("pogo") effect, side-to-side, I don't remember as pronounced with the FE4 link.
-Call me crazy, but I think there is a slightly better steering feel/feel of the front tires. It is pretty minor.
-Also, call me crazy, but the front end definately feels... more in-tune to the ride frequency of the car, at least in "Touring". I did most of my driving in "Touring". I specifically remember the last time driving my car, noting I did not like the front damper tuning in "Touring" as it felt a bit over-active compared to the rear. With the FEA link, the car definitely feels more in-tune with the rear. The front just seems to feel a bit better damped or controlled than what I remember with the FE4. Not something you'll notice not thinking about it and just enjoying the drive, as I caught myself forgetting, but there when I payed attention.
-Brake dive seems a touch reduced.

I wish I did a better back-to-back comparison, with driving much sooner on the FE4 link to when I switched to the FEA.

I could be off on my impressions, but those are the thoughts I had within the first 30-45 min of driving.

Curious to hear others feedback when they do the install.
Concerning your ride and handling impressions with the new arms, did you torque the mounting bolts while the car was at ride height?

These type of arms with rubber bushings need to be torqued at ride height so the rubber is at a neutral state. Otherwise they will be in a constant state of bind, creating some of the effects you mentioned in your feedback.


This is known as timing the bushings. And it should be done any time an arm is removed or if there is a ride height change due to lowering springs.
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Old 06-06-2021, 09:14 AM   #30
carguy55

 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdb95z28 View Post
Concerning your ride and handling impressions with the new arms, did you torque the mounting bolts while the car was at ride height?
These type of arms with rubber bushings need to be torqued at ride height so the rubber is at a neutral state. Otherwise they will be in a constant state of bind, creating some of the effects you mentioned in your feedback.
This is known as timing the bushings. And it should be done any time an arm is removed or if there is a ride height change due to lowering springs.
Probably is always better to torque at ride height. However the service manual doesn't explicitly say anything about torqueing at ride height.

It does say to use a new bolt as it's TTY and install in the opposite direction than the bolt was originally installed to make it easier to remove in the future.
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Old 06-06-2021, 06:27 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdb95z28 View Post
Concerning your ride and handling impressions with the new arms, did you torque the mounting bolts while the car was at ride height?

These type of arms with rubber bushings need to be torqued at ride height so the rubber is at a neutral state. Otherwise they will be in a constant state of bind, creating some of the effects you mentioned in your feedback.


This is known as timing the bushings. And it should be done any time an arm is removed or if there is a ride height change due to lowering springs.
Yes, they were torqued at ride height. The FE4 arm bushings, from what I could tell, were about where they should’ve been at ride height as well.
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Old 12-07-2021, 07:13 PM   #32
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Mine too! Is it safe??

Damn it, I got it too!!! Only on driver side, upper control arm that meets the car. I just hit 31k, no track use just daily. Yeah Doesn’t seem to have any adverse effect; I’m out of warranty so wonder how long I should wait? Anybody have any insights? Way back when I thought bushings had thick grease, so hydraulic is new to me.
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Old 12-11-2021, 09:07 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by chudc69 View Post
Damn it, I got it too!!! Only on driver side, upper control arm that meets the car. I just hit 31k, no track use just daily. Yeah Doesn’t seem to have any adverse effect; I’m out of warranty so wonder how long I should wait? Anybody have any insights? Way back when I thought bushings had thick grease, so hydraulic is new to me.
I wouldn't get too worried. The link nor the rest of the bushing should have any accelerated wear concerns from the bushing fluid leaking out. There is still quite a bit of rubber bushing in there for support... The hydraulic fluid is in the mostly for some kind of ride harshness or road-input tuning. Replacement isn't too terrible - just get it done when it makes sense to you.
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Old 05-11-2022, 04:00 AM   #34
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I recently replaced mine with the FEA arms. From what I've read the fluid is there to reduce NVH. I haven't had a track day yet to try out the FEA parts. Also upgraded to some SPL parts and camber plates.
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Old 05-12-2022, 11:01 AM   #35
Mountain

 
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I didn't notice anything on track. Maybe they help in front tire wear (inside edge), but I cannot confirm; I say this because the bushing design is stiffer on the FEA vs the FE4, which means more control of how the wheel is placed in a turn. I did notice a very small difference on the street though.
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Old 11-02-2022, 01:13 AM   #36
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I finally got around to installing my FEA links. Hoping it fixes the excessive inner tire wear that I have been seeing lately...last set of fronts had almost half of their tread life remaining when they corded. Or maybe it is just because I have been doing thousands of miles of straight line highway driving with -2.8 degrees of front camber (but 0 front toe which should help).

The job was a major pain for me. The ball joint tool that I borrowed from AutoZone didn't fit and no amount of hammering on the knuckle/arm with a sledgehammer would pop it out. Even jacking the corner up on both the threaded stud and the arm didn't help. I was afraid to use heat in case the grease might catch on fire. The pickle fork that I owned also would not work in spite of using a jack handle for leverage to wiggle it and hitting it with the sledgehammer even when I cut 1" off of each side of the fork with an angle grinder and then another 1/2" trying to get it to apply more upward pressure. I was surprised by this because I replaced the other front arm on one side a while back after I bent it on a curb and it came out easily without a ball joint tool or pickle fork. After some research, I found the method I should have used to start with on the Corvette forum.
I popped the ball joint out in a minute or two per side after buying the Harbor Freight ball joint tool and grinding the material away with my Dremel 9903 Tungsten Carbide Cutter at 20k rpm (same one I used for elongating the strut to knuckle bolt holes for more front camber) in the spots mentioned in the link above. The U shaped part goes on the nut (see attached picture). With the nut tightened closer to the knuckle, grinding material away from the U to make it wide enough to fit on the nut might be the only modification required. You need a 6mm allen key to hold the threaded stud when tightening the new nut on each side. The CH-42188–B separator recommended by the service manual is not stocked by any local stores that I could find online.

Also the sawzall blade that I bought to cut the bolts wore out before I even cut through the first bolt (6 in. 8/10 TPI Steel Demon Bi-Metal Reciprocating Saw Blade for Thick Metal Cutting) and was so dull that I couldn't even finish cutting through the second bolt so I finished with the Dremel 9903 Tungsten Carbide Cutter. Maybe 3 or 4 of those sawzall blades would be needed. I guess a different type of higher end blade might last longer for cutting grade 10.9 bolts but I am no expert on that. There's a wiring harness (protected by a black plastic sleeve) that is in the path of the blade so I picked 6" instead of a longer blade. Laying on my back pulling the sawzall towards my face while watching the metal shavings fall onto my face shield was not comfortable but it was the only option I could come up with to cut the bolts. In hindsight, maybe the Dremel 9903 could have done it without the sawzall but I don't think that is really what it is meant for. My angle grinder and Dremel cutoff wheel would not fit in that area due to limited space. My arms were sore after torqueing the new bolts since I was on my back with all 4 wheels on rhino ramps so there was not much room to exert the required amount of force. I think the weight of the car's weight needs to be on the tires before tightening these arms up even though the service manual does not mention that. I tightened the other front arm I replaced a few years ago with the corner in the air and this caused the ball joint to wear out in less than 2 years so I had to replace it again (tightening it with the car on the ground the 2nd time) while the original ball joint on that arm on the other side still has not worn out.

Torque:
74 lb ft + 90-105 degrees for the new nut/bolt replacing the bolt that you cut. (use 18mm wrench(es) and/or socket)
30 lb ft + 120–135 degrees for larger steering knuckle nut (use 6mm allen key to hold threaded stud in place against rotor until it is hand tight with a 21mm wrench [or adjustable wrench], then remove the allen key and torque with a 21mm socket)

The service manual says the nuts are reusable but I replaced them with new ones.

I used the torque wrench on the bolt head instead of the nut due to more space on that side and had an 18mm wrench on the nut pressing against the metal bracing to hold the nut in place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountain View Post
-Call me crazy, but I think there is a slightly better steering feel/feel of the front tires. It is pretty minor.
...
Curious to hear others feedback when they do the install.
I noticed a big difference but mine leaked a few years ago and I just recently got around to installing them. Within the first few minutes, I noticed that you can feel uneven road angles on left vs. right side of the car through the steering wheel with the new FEA links when straddling a seam or changing lanes over one. If you are not holding the steering wheel, this would cause the steering wheel to turn slightly. The weight of the steering wheel now feels better and more natural while turning on the street. I have another track day coming up and expect I will have a better feel for the front end of the car based on this.

I put a screwdriver into both the old FE4 and new FEA bushings where the bolt goes and pushed on it to compare them and the new ones were significantly stiffer than my old ones. I could also see where the rubber ripped releasing the fluid when I took the cap piece off of the old ones.
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Old 12-04-2022, 02:44 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chudc69 View Post
Damn it, I got it too!!! Only on driver side, upper control arm that meets the car. I just hit 31k, no track use just daily. Yeah Doesn’t seem to have any adverse effect; I’m out of warranty so wonder how long I should wait? Anybody have any insights? Way back when I thought bushings had thick grease, so hydraulic is new to me.
Got the above replaced and one year and 3k miles later the other side is leaking. I think since I’m out of warranty I’ll just leave it. For me I NEVER would’ve known if not for seeing the drip. Car drives the same and tire wear is fine.

Based on the comments above, seems as though other than NVH the unit works fine without it, in most cases.
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