Maximum Motorsports 99-04 IRS Delrin Lower Control Arm Bushings
Improve the handling and reduce wheel hop of the Cobra IRS with the Maximum Motorsports IRS Delrin Control Arm Bushing Kits. Handling is improved and wheel hop reduced by eliminating the deflection allowed by the stock rubber control arm bushings. These Delrin bushings precisely locate the rear control arms. This maintains rear wheel alignment in a manner that is impossible with the compliant stock rubber bushings. While they provide adequate suspension control, and noise and vibration reduction, rubber bushings cannot accurately position the control arms well enough to achieve maximum performance from the suspension.
A major complaint of IRS owners is wheel hop. The undamped compression of the rubber bushings in the rear suspension is the primary cause of wheel hop. That undamped movement is amplified by repeated loss of traction. Wheel hop occurs because the rear tires continually oscillate between losing and then regaining traction. The extremely soft stock bushings contribute greatly to this oscillation because the rubber compresses easily and then springs back, over and over again. To reduce wheel hop the stock rubber bushings must be eliminated.
These are complete installation kits. There are many features that set our Delrin bushing kits above the others.
* Stainless steel shims are used to custom fit each bushing and arm combination to the subframe, unlike any other kit available. There are very large production tolerances in the fore and aft position of the control arm mounting tabs on the IRS subframe. The distance between the forward and rearmost tabs for the lower control arms can vary by over 1/4"! This works fine for the pliable factory rubber bushings, but not when trying to improve performance by using precision-machined bushings. The MM kit's custom fitting process uses stainless steel shims to ensure that the control arms cannot shift forward or rearward because of the factory production tolerances. No other bushing kits can accommodate these tolerances, as the MM kit does.
* The shims are installed under the shoulder of the bushing to simplify installation of the assembly into the subframe, and retain the Delrin bushings in the proper position.
* The Delrin bushing shoulders are chamfered for ease of installation, and to reduce the sliding-friction contact area with the subframe tabs.
* For the highly-loaded lower control arms, double-shouldered front and rear bushings are used to evenly spread acceleration and braking loads into the subframe. Thrust forces, created by braking and acceleration, highly load the lower control arms along the pivot axis of the bushings. These loads are taken up by the bushing shoulders and passed into the control arm mounting tabs. The MM kit for the lower arms has a shoulder on both sides of each bushing. This lets both bushings on each control arm transmit these thrust loads into the subframe. For the upper control arms we are able to utilize less expensive single-sided bushings because the thrust loads into the bushings are much less than into the lower control arms.
* The crush sleeves that support the Delrin bushings in the lower control arms are made of thick-walled aluminum, and are hard anodized to reduce wear. The crush sleeves for the smaller upper control arm bushings are zinc-plated steel.
* Tab straightening tools are included with the MM kits to assist in flattening the subframe tabs before reinstalling the control arms with the new Delrin bushings. The mounting tabs are distorted on the assembly line when the control arms are originally installed. Tab straightening is a critical step that ensures that the control arms pivot freely, without binding.
* Tooling to remove the original bushings is included in the MM kits. This makes removal of the upper and lower control arm bushings an easy job, taking only a few minutes for each bushing.
* Included are gloves to keep the super-sticky Teflon-based lubricating grease off your hands.
