LCA - Steeda or Maximum??

tunedin302

I AM the law!!!
Jul 29, 2004
1,251
2
36
Pennsylvania
Looking for some weight jacker LCA for street use. Don't take my car to the track, will just be looking to improve street performance. .... trying to decide between MM and Steeda (also copied by Granitelli). Anybody have any experience with either one? Thanks in advance.
 
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9 Deuce GT said:
Do you want to raise or lower the rear? Just trying to get a feel for what you are trying to do.

How about Coilovers?

Just looking to bring the rear up about 1/4". Coilovers may be an option but I really have no problem with the eibachs currently on my car. I'm also concerned about the coilovers hitting the inside of my front wheel since they are a 9".
 
I would go with Maximum. They use a combination of spherical bushings as well as the poly. This cuts axle binding that you would normally see with all poly bushing LCAs. Plus Maximum is just a better product.
 
JaysGreenLX said:
I would go with Maximum. They use a combination of spherical bushings as well as the poly. This cuts axle binding that you would normally see with all poly bushing LCAs. Plus Maximum is just a better product.

I love Maximum's stuff but I was very impressed with the Steeda piece as well. The damn Steeda controls arms are about $100 more than the MM :eek:
Here's some images if anybody is interested:

Maximum: MSRP $380

View attachment 502504

Steeda: MSRP $460-$500

View attachment 502505
 
I think the Steeda's are more because they're much lighter than the MM...

my Steeda aluminum lower and upper's are scheduled to arrive straight from Steeda today!!

Also, I was talking to Gene at Wild Rides, and he was telling me that spherical bushings are great, but they require yearly maintenance...i.e: taking them apart and cleaning & whatever else. He said, for street cars, just go with something that has a poly bushing instead. He said that they're much more friendly for a street driven car.

so that's what I did. I didn't go with the weight jacker arms, but I did go with the aluminum steeda's. Also, I called Steeda because the price in MM&FF was $50 cheaper than their website. So the guy gave me the price in the magazine. There was some "source code" in the ad which I had to give to him.
 
wht93gtEd said:
Also, I was talking to Gene at Wild Rides, and he was telling me that spherical bushings are great, but they require yearly maintenance...i.e: taking them apart and cleaning & whatever else. He said, for street cars, just go with something that has a poly bushing instead. He said that they're much more friendly for a street driven car.

The above info is the exact opposite of what i gathered after researching MM lower control arms..

Poly bushings on either side of the control arm are much LESS friendly on your torque boxes than a control arm like MM's where there is a spherical bushing in the works. The spherical bushing prevents bind when the car is under hard loads.

Too much bind can cause snap over steer and puts a lot of stress on your torque boxes under load (corners etc).

I've never read anything about having to maintain spherical bushings by taking them apart every year...
 
Got the Steeda weightjackers for $389 from Steeda ... or you can get them on partsshopper for $399.

I bought them on advice from Jamie (Rancherostang?).
They are light, but I mainly got them so I can raise my rear level with the front (you know how our springs are :rolleyes: )

They work really great! I haven't experienced any "snap oversteer" or bind with them. I also installed the aluminum uppers with the same 3-piece bushings. I run them on the street and pound it as hard as you can with street radials and 350+rw. Although they were just a little stiff until they broke in. (like all poly ... just has better memory than rubber)

As far as the spherical rod maintainence ... that makes nothing but a great deal of sense to me ... they're an open design :shrug:
 
the steedas are also made of alum.. hence the higher price.. but they have poly bushings on both ends.. while the mm's only run one poly bushing.. i would stay away from the poly.. and go for the mm's and they are steel, and quite a bit cheaper.. not saying steeda isn't good quality.. but for the price and mm's is the way to go
 
Poly isn't ideal on the diff ears for the upper ... I have factory rubber there.

On the lowers it isn't a big deal ... for a road track vehicle, I would probably buy MM, for a street/dd Steeda.

You can't ignore the maintenance issue .. call MM and have them guarantee the lowers from grime/grit deterioration first :nice:
 
CoupedUp said:
Poly isn't ideal on the diff ears for the upper ... I have factory rubber there.

On the lowers it isn't a big deal ... for a road track vehicle, I would probably buy MM, for a street/dd Steeda.

You can't ignore the maintenance issue .. call MM and have them guarantee the lowers from grime/grip deterioration first :nice:

I've done lots of research on this and I have found that MM lowers with the Ford heavy duty uppers are pretty much the ideal set up for a mostly street driven car.
 
Mavrick said:
The above info is the exact opposite of what i gathered after researching MM lower control arms..

Poly bushings on either side of the control arm are much LESS friendly on your torque boxes than a control arm like MM's where there is a spherical bushing in the works. The spherical bushing prevents bind when the car is under hard loads.

Too much bind can cause snap over steer and puts a lot of stress on your torque boxes under load (corners etc).

I've never read anything about having to maintain spherical bushings by taking them apart every year...

ahh; allow me to re-phrase...

I was looking into buying the Wild Rides brand uca's\lca's, but those use solid aluminum bushings on the bottom arms with a spherical rod end on the upper arm. Those are the ones he told me wouldn't be friendly on the street. He said that I'd hear a lot of noise from the rear suspension, with the solid bushings, and I'd have to regrease them every time it rains. Plus the maintenance on the rod ends.

Here's what Steeda has to say about their uppers:

Multiple-density bushings help eliminate the noise, vibration, and suspension bind problems found with some control arms on the market. The results: racing traction and control, with the smoothness of a street car.

Exclusive three part, two phase bushing:
- Center bushing reduces deflection for Maximum Traction
- Special outer bushings-reduce suspension bind for better stability over uneven pavement
- Improved handling
- Better ride quality and less noise than hard or solid bushings
- Won't damage upper "torque boxes" like other arms with solid bushings

This is what they claim, and they (WR) told me that they've seen great results with them. They run all kinds of combinations, and these seem to work out fine. Besides, I think I might have some battle boxes installed while my car's there anyway :banana:

hopefully I have cleared things up :nice: