17 replies to this topic

[Leonard]

if i were to fit 1.5 degree negative camber bottom arms, how much longer would i need to make my tie bars if at all, and are cut and re-welded tie bars ok?

[pikey7]

I certainly wouldn't trust my life on a cut and shut job when standard (and uprated for that matter) arms are cast (or forged...? never looked) in one piece.

Don't be such a skinflint!

[Leonard]

cheers pikey 7. . its the tie bars im on about, theyre made from mild steel bar anyway. I wouldnt cut and shut the bottom arms theyre bought from minispeed. Im a welder so if its possible i would do it. i would also reinforce with strips welded over the join

[pikey7]

Ah, tiebars is different! They also don't control the camber! (well, to a certain degree, but very very little)

Tiebars should be fine to be "rewelded" if done absolutely correctly and evenly (There's been a few threads recently about people bending them and sending the tracking all to ) They are just mild steel bar as you say!

[oggy1380]

nooooooooooooo,dont cut and reweld ur tie bars,its so not safe.get sum uprated ajustable 1s if u wana change ur front suppension angles

[Leonard]

im reinforcing them as well, so theyre more thn likely end up stronger than standard. Does anyone know how much longer they should be? or how much longer the bottom arms are, i could probably work from there.

[pikey7]

its not a question of them being longer. Its a question of them being right for what you want your car to handle like. HD adjustable ones are popular because it means that you can set them up to suit and get the tracking sorted easier.

[Leonard]

i was hoping to make them give the same caster angle as standard. also do you need longer tracking rod ends on the 1.5 degree bottom arms? i heard some run out of thread when you reset the tracking

[pikey7]

I heard that too, so picked some up with the quickrack. I'm not sure on how much, but I know the extra camber and lowered height make a difference to if they are "needed" or not

[Guess-Works.com]

Use adjustable ones...

[rob mini]

my god what a stupid idea. Adjustable ones are silly cheap anyway!

[Minwah]

Be very careful...I had an adjustable 'uprated' one break once....it's not a pleasant experience!

[biggav]

Be very careful...I had an adjustable 'uprated' one break once....it's not a pleasant experience!

and you drive like a girl minwah!!!!!! wasn't that due to you fitting solid bushes everywhere??????

[Minwah]

and you drive like a girl minwah!!!!!! wasn't that due to you fitting solid bushes everywhere??????

Yeah yeah

Well I had nylon bushes...but if you ask me some of the tie rods are not very well made - there is a machined stepdown to the threads which is bound to be a weak spot. Doesn't matter how thick the rods are...it will only be as strong as it's weakest point.

I certainly wouldn't use nylon tie-bar bushes again tho, rubber & poly combo.

[Purple Tom]

I'd say that adjustable ones would be better, not so much that they're any stronger than modified ones, but just because they're easier to use.

After watching the camber/castor/tracking being set-up on my Mini, and the amount of cross-adjustments needed, I'd think you'd be extremely lucky to, a - weld two tie bars to exactly the length needed and, b - decide what length was needed beforehand.

On mine it was a case of set the camber, get the castor something like right, then go back and adjust the camber again, then do the castor, then do the tracking, then the castor again, then camber, then the tracking, until both sides were equal and right. And you're not guaranteed to have both sides the same from the start due to irregularites in the subframe, bottom arms, top arms, ball joints etc....