BETTER THAN BUSHINGS? Control Arm Bearings with Keith Tanner (FM Live 1-4-24)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ม.ค. 2024
- This week, Keith Tanner will be answering your questions about our Control Arm Spherical Bearing kits. How do they feel? How hard are they to install? How do they compare to standard bushings? And more!
Available Now, at Flyin' Miata!
flyinmiata.com/search?q=spher...
Stiffer rubber control arm bushings are a definite suspension improvement as are quality poly bushings. But what do you do if you want zero deflection and zero resistance? You need bearings! Sealed spherical bearings, to be specific. This is a complete set of sealed spherical bearings for all of your control arms. Zero squish and basically no resistance to movement so your suspension can work on its own, with no bushing "spring rate" to work around. This means that your shocks and springs are the only thing holding your car up, meaning that there's no guesswork in getting everything dialed in perfectly.
So why spherical bearings instead of roller bearings? There has to be some misalignment allowed between the control arms and subframe to make it possible for the suspension to be aligned or it will bind. In addition, these are complete, custom, spherical bearing assemblies, not generic spherical bearings.
Since there's no deflection, your alignment won't change as you accelerate, brake, and turn. This means that your alignment will be what you set it to, assuming your alignment cams don't slip, at all times. This is especially great for track cars.
But won't they wear out? Not really. They're made of specially-plated Chromoly and are sealed against dirt and water intrusion. They also have a limited lifetime warranty. We have over 50,000 street and track miles on a few different sets at this point with no issues.
Installation is definitely more involved than normal bushings. Once you remove the stock bushings, you'll need to clean up the bore, drill and tap holes for set screws, then push the bearings in. While you don't necessarily need our specific tool kit for that, we do have a complete tool kit to make your life easier. If you're very mechanically competent and have a plethora of tools at your disposal, you probably won't need it. If neither of these describe you, we recommend getting the tool kit. When in doubt, get the tool kit.
#spherical #bearings #suspension #bushings #controlarms #street #track #live #video #youtube #fmlive #keithtanner #miata #parts #performance #handling #QandA #tech #talk #FM #FlyinMiata
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Amazing job guys! If you make some for the ND, I’m in!
Thanks boss!!! Prob going this route!
Please do the ND too!
I want them for the NC
I'd love to see an update video in the future, especially on a daily. I'm one of those nutcases considering these for my daily/autox miata even though I plan on snowy roads at times. I'd love to hear from someone who has attempted this
That's a good idea! We'll add it to the list of potential future videos. Keith has installed a set of these on his Targa car, which will see a fair bit of *very* hard use, but probably little to no use on snowy roads. Theoretically, the sealed bearings should hold up well to adverse weather.
I liked the enhanced nvh, I only drive this car to drive, I found the bearings (front end only, rear is poly, no real reason) made the driving a more visceral experience. If this is your fun car, do it.
I want them for the ND, how do I get on the notification list? :)
We don't have a notification list, but all of our new products are on our website, and if you sign up for our newsletter, I'm sure we'll mention it if/when it becomes a part that we sell.
Just like late braking corvettes on track; your timing is PERFECT!
My local club just got a new site and it's awesome, but it's much smaller and lower speed than what we've run in the past (basically race tracks with cone elements or airstrips. I always thought it would be good to learn left for breaking but never had a good reason..... until now. I was giving the GT4's a run for their money, but understeer kept me from greatness, I think LFB could be a difference maker! 🤔
I should really upgrade to a dedicated camera setup this season too... 🙃
Thanks for watching and keeping those GT cars nervous.
When do we see the "you don't want the mush" T-shirts available on the website
These sound awesome. I seem to recall you recommending against using control arms with heim joints/rod ends in a street car, due to the severe increase in NVH. In what ways are they different to cause little to no increase in NVH? Is there any sort of damping material between the outer race and the housing?
Would using quality heim joints with a rubber dust boot cause much NVH in comparison to these?
There is no special damping material here. They will change the nature of the suspension as described in the video. And we do believe these are more of a track-focused modification. The set that's shown off in the video is going into the Targa Miata, for example. That car has no interior.
Quality heim joints (spherical bearings or rod ends) with good sealing and proper specification should work well, but those are difficult to arrange. Rubber dust boots on a generic spherical bearing don't seal as well as you might think, they really need to be integrated into the housing.
i'm a honda fit guy that's watching for ideas on what to improve/mod on my car.
you guys are a bunch of technical "weight weenies", and i'm here for it.
Some call it the four door Miata...
Probably sell it.. why would you choose a Honda fit if you want to do anything other than go to the grocery store
@@TM-fx5le they're simply a nice daily, man. fit a ton, and have you seen how many cupholders they have? lol
not that bad in the twists either because of the low CoG and weight.
just a bit more power would be appreciated, like maybe 20-50hp, or maybe 100kg less weight. more than enough for what it is.
Technical question,
Rubber bearings allow slight deformation and nets slight toe in on heavy cornering allowing for easier corner navigation on track. Does having spherical bearings eliminate deflection of bushings and how does this affect track use and track times.
Also, on northern cars, how would it deal with rust?
Lastly, how are the spherical bearings sealed? If they ride on bearings I'm concerned on how resistant to dirt and dust from "standard" rain fall.
The factory bushings do have differing durometers in the rear lower control arm to give a bit of toe change under side loads. Aftermarket bushings - rubber and poly alike - don't. The spherical bearings won't deflect at all, so the change in handling balance will be similar to installing poly or aftermarket rubber bushings. Track times should improve given the increased precision although it will be up to the driver to take advantage of that.
The bearings are stainless steel and sealed, so they should survive the street environment. You can see the seals fairly close up in the video. They haven't been tested in northeast snow/salt conditions as that's not really their intended use.
Does the ND have steel or aluminum control arms?
The front control arms are aluminum.
How come ya'll haven't done an installation video on the super pro polly bushings yet?
That one is more straight forward and we thought everyone would fall asleep before it was over. SuperPro does have some older install videos on their direct site.
Another request for the ND variant.
Understood! If we receive enough interest, it's very possible it will happen. No promises yet, though.
The Miata/Roadster Legend speaks ❤❤❤❤❤ (no homo) 😂
Keith: These look great! But not for an NC ND?
Seems that is very often the case.
How long before NC gets same available lovely parts attention?
I LOVE MY NC, AND I AM INTERESTED IN PARTS!
;-}
Me need NC parts too! :)
Our NC parts catalog definitely hasn't been the strongest, but we're working on changing that. :)
Because the core of Miata enthusiast activity is NA and NB, and always will be. And the NC is the least loved Miata.
@@mr.butterworth4216 Not for long, NC’s are actually creating quite a following, especially as they are much more capable for track use. More rigid chassis, able to fit wider tires easily, bigger engine, 2.5 swap, bigger brakes, arguably better suspension design, more modern, more interior room, etc.
As NA, and NB age out, their numbers will diminish and replaced with NC and ND. I was told that their is a spec Miata NC now and as such Mazda Motorsport is developing even more parts for the NC chassis. Its popularity will only continue to grow. Jump on the bandwagon now before prices climb.
@@ericwalther5767 yeah, keep saying that to yourself haha
Nd bearings would be sweet. And if some camber offset could be included that's even better.
Thanks for your feedback!
We appreciate hearing your feedback!
Question, would these spherical bearings perform well in a street driven car without coil-overs, but say Koni yellows?
Certainly. There's nothing magic about coilovers. However, the more responsive the suspension is the more you'll be able to notice the decrease in deflection, so the effects might not be as obvious if you're running a softer setup.
Why not also sell control arms with these pre-installed? Same goes for the others like rubber and poly?
Our shipping and assembly team is busy enough as it is!
I wonder how many people knew who TVR was lol. We have a 2500 M in the city.
So these spherical bearings are essentially ball joints. So what im wondering is why are these used on these contol arms that move in a rotational way, instead of a ball/roller bearing? These spherical bearings are meant to pivot more than rotate right? I see how these would replace the vertically mounted compliance bushings on your typical FWD car, but i fail to understand how these are supposed to work in place of the horizontallly mounted bushings in these control arms in this video.
Spherical bearings can move in multiple axes, and that's important in this case as they have to be able to deal with alignment changes. If they were simple roller bearings you wouldn't be able to adjust things like rear toe and camber, or caster and front camber. Those require the control arms to change angle relative to the subframe.
Do you have one for the rear upper knuckle for an NA?
Yes, those are included with the complete kit. :)
@@FlyinMiataVideo Is it possible to get those outside of the kit. Reason being that I am working on a custom car utilizing NA rear knuckles. So I just need those particular bushings. I was going to go with Delrin, but I understand that is the most important place for the spherical, due to the binding problem.
@@jaimegrant784 I'm afraid they're only available with a complete kit - sorry!
Are these compatible with V8R tubular control arms?
I know V8R says that they use a proprietary bushing in those arms (bushing kits for NA/NB allegedly don’t fit) not sure if that’s totally true
We haven't had a chance to test-fit them with V8R control arms yet, so we aren't too sure.
Another ND vote!
Will incorrect indexing rip the seals ?
No, as they rotate freely. The seals are not bonded to both the inner and outer sections.
Thanks
is this a good mod for running from the cops?
Sorry, we can't comment on this one. 😁
@@FlyinMiataVideo lol hope i made yall laugh at least
@@BillyBlaze7 Oh yeah!
@@FlyinMiataVideo mission accomplished lol