Upper Control Arms hitting, cut a hole?

[Raf99]

You probably could have avoided this altogether with an anchor bolt style camber kit, instead of the ball joints. The balljoint style are so much taller, and thus make the UCA sit much closer to the inner fender.

Very valid point that I never noticed. But at the same time I have the anchor bolt SPC and mine hit too. Suspension, lowering, and other factors apply too.

[illinois_erik]

bam!



stainless dog water bowls in the closest needed size

the cheaper the better, less interface corrosion, but 309L is a good filler from carbon to ss, then treat as normal. rubber spray the whole wheel well when done, paint or w/e topside

[GTRON]

You probably could have avoided this altogether with an anchor bolt style camber kit, instead of the ball joints. The balljoint style are so much taller, and thus make the UCA sit much closer to the inner fender.

It's possible I might have, but then again, it's moving the whole control arm away from the center of the vehicle. Then it could start hitting in a new area...

[apalileo]

Based on how low you have your ride set, there would be interference with the control arm and the fender regardless of the style of camber adjustment kit. A lot of folks have cut their fenders for clearance, even on other cars. A clever metal fabricator can create something to "extend" the roof of the fender.

[Raf99]

How would a body shop do this correctly? Weld the two pieces of sheet metal together and then add a cap?

[GTRON]

How would a body shop do this correctly? Weld the two pieces of sheet metal together and then add a cap?

I would assume so, you just gotta be creative. If you're thinking about doing something about your hitting issue, go for it. I know I enjoy my suspension a lot more when it's not bottoming out.

[Corweena]

Like this:

http://downstarinc.com/Shop/odb-weld...xtensions.html

[GTRON]

Like this:

http://downstarinc.com/Shop/odb-weld...xtensions.html

Yeah! There you go! Doesn't look like it's hard to make

[deevergote]

The underside is what is most likely to rust. Covering it won't fix that problem. Cutting your car is NOT a smart move.
At the very least, sand the area thoroughly. Caulk around the area to seal off the gap between the two panels. Then paint it. Be sure you get every bit of it covered thoroughly. Once rust takes hold, you may never be free of it. Once it spreads far enough, important structural areas will be compromised, and your car will be scrap metal. That area isn't structural, but it's only a few inches away from the area where the shocks and upper control arms mount.

Honestly, the best way to deal with this issue (and one I would have suggested had I seen this sooner...) would be to either raise your car enough so that the arms don't hit, and/or run a little negative camber. A small amount of negative camber wouldn't make so much a difference in handling or tire wear that it would be unsafe. The slight decrease in tire life would be far preferable to the significant rust risk cutting or hammering your car poses.

[apalileo]

Whoa... good reference Corweena! I've never seen these as "off the shelf" items. I guess it's all a matter of trim-to-fit, but the concept is solid.

I had a neighbor way way back in the day who was into mini truckin' and I remember him hacking up his front fenders and basically gutting the bed of his pickup so he could bag it and lay frame. Not quite as extreme, but the idea is the same.

[apalileo]

Based on this image:

only raising the car would remedy the contact. Adjusting the camber would only shift the point where the contact is made by a few fractions of an inch. That impact point that is circled appears to be the stud of the sliding ball joint hammering at the fender. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get the slim version of this kit with the shorter stud and nut. I do not know though if that would have been enough to avoid contact.

With a sheet metal cap, similar to what Corweena linked, all of the areas beneath the cap should be addressed first (sealed up and painted). I would even take it as far as trimming away the fender to match better with the cap. A round hole underneath a rectangular cap would create pockets in the corners where water and road debris could accumulate. After it's all sealed and welded: prep, primer and paint (maybe truck bed liner underneath) to finish it up.

[deevergote]

When the camber is adjusted, I believe the arm is allowed to sit a bit lower, and it doesn't travel enough to hit.
Accordtunerx, the founder of this site, discovered that running -1 degree of camber with Neuspeed Race springs (2.2" drop in the front) resulted in no contact.

[GTRON]

The underside is what is most likely to rust. Covering it won't fix that problem. Cutting your car is NOT a smart move.
At the very least, sand the area thoroughly. Caulk around the area to seal off the gap between the two panels. Then paint it. Be sure you get every bit of it covered thoroughly. Once rust takes hold, you may never be free of it. Once it spreads far enough, important structural areas will be compromised, and your car will be scrap metal. That area isn't structural, but it's only a few inches away from the area where the shocks and upper control arms mount.

Honestly, the best way to deal with this issue (and one I would have suggested had I seen this sooner...) would be to either raise your car enough so that the arms don't hit, and/or run a little negative camber. A small amount of negative camber wouldn't make so much a difference in handling or tire wear that it would be unsafe. The slight decrease in tire life would be far preferable to the significant rust risk cutting or hammering your car poses.

It wasn't my favorite method to fix the issue either, but I'm pretty sure it's the only way to solve this issue of bottoming out (besides raising up the car, doing anchor bolts running more camber blah blah blah). There's also the issue of cost, I ruined my new stock upper control arms to put the ball joints on, and I was not going to buy a new set then try to resell the ingall's ball joints, just no. This was simply the cheapest solution. Considering that I'm already riding on death (having F&F Type 1s, and ebay camber kit on my rear wheels) what's a couple holes in my sheet metal?

I'm going to sand it, throw etching primer on it, put fiberglass over the gaps in the panel, paint it, call it done (at least until I find out how to cover it).

Actually today, for the sake of research (actually a couple errands I had to do this morning) I drove around while it was sprinkling outside on wet roads with the holes how they are (haven't touched them since cutting them). I checked under the hood after getting home, and nothing was wet! Control arm was dry, and the bare metal surrounding the holes didn't even have any flash rust from getting wet. Kind of what I was expecting, the tire isn't directly underneath the hole, and the control arm covers most of the hole. So far so good!

[deevergote]

It won't get wet, but it'll still rust. Definitely sand and do the etching primer (and a coat of something else as well) as soon as possible. Seal it as well. As long as you can prevent rust, it should be fine. It's not really a structural issue as-is, but if rust starts, it will become one.

[Raf99]

You could also get some rubber gas line, slice it down the middle and put that over the edge of the metal all the way around. would look cool. I always wanted something like this or a square cap