Rear adjustable camber arms: brand vs ebay

[filtercoffee]

Worth spending extra for the branded ones, i.e. turner or ground control?
Ebay has adjustable camber arms for ~80.

[Vanne]

Depends on brand and production. Just because it's on eBay, doesn't mean its bad stuff, but go for production quality , materials and rep.



That didn't answer your question, did it.

[filtercoffee]

haha! yes some ebay copies of branded parts can actually be pretty good. what camber arms do you have?

[David70]

With ECS selling Turner, their own brand and super cheap ones I would call them and ask why someone would pay $300 over their $120 versions. At least they sell both and would try to explain what you get for your money.

I am leery of Ebay as normally I can't tell who I am buying from (can be a guy working out of his basement), know if they will be there tomorrow or what I am actually buying. Like them or not at least companies like ECS have been around for years and have an actual business.

https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-Z4-M_C...n/Camber_Kits/

[F360C]

I went with the Turner camber arms... I bet the cheap ones are still good but since my car is pushed hard on the track I didn't want a camber arm failing on a high speed high G corner. The Turner arms are the same ones they used to use on their race cars so I figured the extra $200 was cheap piece of mind.

Also the nice thing about the Turner arms is that the adjustment is on the outboard side of the arm.

[WickedNy]

Went with rogue rear trailing arms...no issues great product

[ANILE8]

I also went with TMS but when I did mine about 10 years ago HERE nothing else was really available.

Definitely go with the Tie Rod/ Spherical Bearing ends instead of the bushing versions, as they will give you the most precise adjustment and performance.

However, you might pay the price in higher NVH on the street if that is a consideration for you or not.

[Vanne]

Yep, i went with RE and bearings for my car.

[rsutoratosu]

You guys install it yourself ? im debating on this as that inner bolt by the diff is hard to get to.

[filtercoffee]

depends on how much energy you have to get under a car, unmount and move the diff around. personally not a job I'd do myself. it would be much easier with a lift imo. people on this forum have done it though.

[FigureItOut]

I took a gamble on the uber cheap "Maxpeedingrods" rear camber arms from eBay (roughly $40 for the set). They arrived rusted and sketchy from day one. I returned those and stepped up to the more "premium" spherical bearing camber arms (also from Maxpeedingrods apparently) and ended up using those. I think they were like $75 for the pair.

I've got a couple thousand miles on them to date with no issues to report. No marked change to NVH, they seem solid enough to do the job and overall I'm pleased with them. I don't know if I necessarily needed the adjustability but since my coil overs are height adjustable I figured it would help me preserve the geometry at different heights.

I did install them myself on jack stands. Shifting the diff was a bear but not impossible. Nothing a couple hours of choice words and some wrestling couldn't resolve.

[AriuSen]

Turner and Ecs ones bend like pancakes.
Friend put his car on the dyno and the shop put the strap around the arm. Bent on the first run lol
So I guess price matters? Stronger material?

[Spec-Al]

Especially if you spend time on track that's absolutely a safety item. YMMV depending on use, but you have to ask yourself if $100-$200 is worth the risk versus something with factory engineering and tolerances, or at least a known and tested quantity in the community. Most folks that go to the track spent at least $300 on entry fees, time off work/family, and all the effort that goes into building a track car. To have a failure that ends your day and needs a tow to save a few bucks doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[filtercoffee]

> the shop put the strap around the arm

Well, there's probably the problem. I don't think these were intended to handle that kind of load. when the car is going down the road, under all kinds of forces, they wont see that load.

Additionally, the stock camber arms are notoriously weak, they're intended to buckle to preserve the points their mounted to. so these are probably a strict improvement over that, in terms of strength.

[ANILE8]

Originally Posted by filtercoffee

> the shop put the strap around the arm

Well, there's probably the problem. I don't think these were intended to handle that kind of load. when the car is going down the road, under all kinds of forces, they wont see that load.

Additionally, the stock camber arms are notoriously weak, they're intended to buckle to preserve the points their mounted to. so these are probably a strict improvement over that, in terms of strength.

Correct, camber arms are engineered to handle forces in the compression and tension planes.

Some genius deciding it would be a good idea to use them as a tow hook would introduce a shear force onto this structural member which it was not designed to endure and as expected will fail.

[FigureItOut]

I'm not going to pretend that I did a detailed analysis or anything, but the factory arms are basically bent sheet metal that seemed a bit flimsy. Even my "cheap" ones gave the impression of much greater strength. I had debated skipping this modification but it felt like an upgrade after seeing the stock piece.

Time will tell if this is the case. Also, I'm no track hero and my Z is intended for "spirited" driving, not constant punishment.

[F360C]

Originally Posted by AriuSen

Turner and Ecs ones bend like pancakes.
Friend put his car on the dyno and the shop put the strap around the arm. Bent on the first run lol
So I guess price matters? Stronger material?

They put it around the camber arm? I always double checking the strapping myself but if that was my car the shop would be buying me new arms for such a rookie mistake.

Definitely in no way the camber arms fault.

[dre99gsx]

I made that mistake myself when I strapped mine onto the dyno (stock lower arms btw!). I was able to remove the lower arms and straighten them back up.

The car drove like that for years without an issue, other than inability to align negative toe in the rear due to the lower arm being bent (I could never get more than -.1" toe in the rear). Once I straightened them, I had more toe adjustability.

Since then, I go to the dyno with straps attached to the lower cross member - two 16mm bolts right behind the diff. Hadn't had an issue with power I make using that setup. I also strap a 3rd "safety" strap to the rear tow hook just in case.

Originally Posted by F360C

They put it around the camber arm? I always double checking the strapping myself but if that was my car the shop would be buying me new arms for such a rookie mistake.

Definitely in no way the camber arms fault.

[Michael9218]

If you're taking your car to the dyno, you'd be wise to fit a coupe tie down loops to the lower shock mount for a proper rear attachment point.

https://www.condorspeedshop.com/prod...iler-tie-downs

Also, I've used Turner lower adjustable control arms on two track builds. They're most definitely up to the task. My only complaint with most is access to the inner adjustment. Difficult to reach. There are several that move this adjustment outboard for easier access.

[Vanne]

I'll have a look into those tie downs Michael, thx for linking them.