any long term reviews on these with the tl? ive heard less than desireable reviews on the longevity of the balljoints from these style kits. no personal experience, just shit ya read. these always seem to be priced right compared to just the balljoint replacements.

any one have top views of the stocker a-arms and s2's side by side? any differences? I ask cause ive seen side by sides with other honda cars and the s2 version had less swept back arms which takes away what little caster the car had to begin with.

looking at the first pix of the ingalls kit. the nuts on the top of thier kits are tall. the similar spc kits have a low profile nut (about half the height) on thiers.


the older spc kits used to have the same tall style nut on thiers and converted to the lower profile one. Ingalls could have done the same in recent years. the lower profile nuts would help keep the slap down. ive pushed a set of these nuts through my upper shock towers before, lol.

Ive used the spc's for years with no complaints, but have read reviews that these style camber kits tend to bind at the end of the suspension range and that the ingalls anchor style kits are actually a better choice.


Ive used these too for years with no complaints/issues. I just switched to the spc balljoints cause it was easier for the techs where i get my alignments, but after reading about the bind, Im switching back on the cars that I actually race. whatever you do, DO NOT use the spc anchor style kits. those are garbage. heres a pic for reference.

***again, stay away from the SPC anchor bolt camberkits***

 

i don't know much about the skunk kit, but i just bought adjustable front ball joints (eBay) and they max out at -4 up front. i'm running -3.5ish and they only cost $60.

exact same quality as ingalls, etc.

hope you get it figured out man...that would piss me off. you should not be maxed out at -1.5...that doesn't make any sense.

 

I just ordered this version. I guess my original Skunk2 pro series front camber will be going up on the black market soon.

 

You could've just modified your current ones. It's the same arm and ball joint except they flipped the ball joint around and did some cutting of the metal. You can't see the cutting as much, but this was the only pic I could find. If you compare mine to the second pic (normal skunk2 arm) you can somewhat see the difference.

 

Thanks for the insightful info..gotta love acurazine...

 

I have been using and abusing the Skunk2 arms in my car for probably 10-15k miles and not one issue at all.

The replacement ball joints on this application is a poor choice (Ingalls/SPC). These will wear prematurely, as well as greatly reduce the amount of clearance between the arm and the wheelhouse. Over larger bumps you will get a horrific clunking sound.

 

^what is the clunking sound exactly?

 

can you explain exactly wears prematurely? is it due to not enough range like with the older hondas?

on the civics/integras, its the upper a-arm hitting the inside of the shock tower at the end of its stroke. If i had to guess, its the same deal as the suspensions are very similar.

Like I said before, the nut on those balljoints are tall. Ive pushed a few of those through 2-3 different shock towers on my civics.

 

got a picture of that area you're referring to? the aftermarket joints looked pretty smiliar to OEM. i guess i overlooked the nut being so tall.

can this cause serious damage?

 

The clunk is the control arm/ball joint banging into the wheelhouse (shock tower as some call it). With the car lowered, the clearance there is reduced. With the tall adjustable ball joint the clearance is even less. Bumps cause contact.

The ball joints wear because
1) The don't seem to have a good range of travel
2) The extra stress of banging on the shock tower causes fatigue
3) I just don't believe they are quality ball joints to being with.

 

thank you for the insight. is there anyway around this? anyway to prolong the life of the joints? is this harmful and will it damage anything significant?

 

I can get a picture of one where its pushed through, but I made the hole bigger so it had more room to travel. youll get the idea though. For now I found a pic, but its not specific. Look to the right of the strut/strutbar (and just to the left of the fusebox on the left side). See the hole there? Thats where they contact the tower in the older hondas.


the serious damage would come from the balljoint breaking at a high speed and having the wheel just flopping around the front wheel well not attached to anything but the 2 lower balljoints. shit would hit the fan for sure, BUT before you get too worried about it. Ive been running the SPC balljoints for close to 10 years now. Ive run them in cars so low that the hit the shock tower on every drive, every pothole, every rr crossing, etc. I have yet to have one fail and cause damage to anything.

Im VERY hard on my cars. I treat them like shit and abuse the living hell out of most of them. They all see numorous autoxs/hillclimbs per season etc. if somone was going to bust one up, I would suspesct I would have long ago.

I cant speak for the Ingalls balljoint units though, but I do know Ingalls does make quality parts and have for a long time. ive used the anchor bolt style kits on a few cars with zero issues.

 

The Ingalls and SPC ball joints are the same. The best way to avoid this issue is to not get front camber kits (which IMO you don't need on these cars) or to get the Skunk2 arms.

 

well i already have them installed and dialed in at -3.5 camber because my car is lowered substantially and i kept rubbing on turns. now i don't rub at all.

is there anything i can do to prevent the clunk? cut out an area above? any insight?

 

^im interested on this. i rub at the front maxed out at tein advance 225/35/19
19x9.5 +23fronts

 

Correction...you don't need camber kits to prevent tire wear. For more negative camber you definitely do need them.

I only ever recommend raising the car or using a better kit. Cutting part of the shock tower is very much not recommended. But then people more interested in the looks of their car than the integrity of their chassis are going to do what they want.

 

Marcus, maybe the photo you posted of the OEM UCA vs. the Skunk2 UCA is deceiving, but it appears that the clearance is very similar between the two since neither has the extra nut on top that that Ingalls ball joints have.

So is there something I'm not seeing that gives the Skunk2 kit more shock tower clearance compared to OEM given similar camber settings? These camber kits aren't cheap, so I just want to be sure it'll help resolve my clunking before I make my purchase.

 

We are not promoting them on the idea there is more clearance than OEM but rather more than an OEM with adjustable ball joint.

We can't promise anything on your clunk. It might be reduced but you probably should raise the car.

 

Okay thanks. I had a feeling that's what you meant, but I wanted to be sure. Indeed, raising the car back up is the easiest/smartest solution. When I was 1/2" higher, I had no clunk, so maybe I'll raise it 1/4" and see if that helps. Clearly I'm teetering on the edge of clunkville.

 

The Skunk2 arm may well earn you that last 1/4"...hard to promise it though.

 

I know I am reviving a REALLY old thread but did you ever figure this out? I have the same thing going on. Was lowered on factory struts with TEIN H-Techs until 100k miles (no camber issues up front. In the rear I got adjustable arms). At 100k miles I replaced factory struts with some Monroe struts from Rock Auto because they were having a closeout and I got all 4 for like $120, still on H-Tech's. No Front Camber issues until this past December and the front passenger was out to -1.4. I replace UCA's with OEM UCA's (with the upper ball joint in them), Lower Ball Joints using the Sankei 555's from Heeltoe, and stabilizer links and took it back in and it was at -1.3. Firestone said I must have a bad strut. So I just replaced all 4 with TEIN Street Advance Z from Heeltoe and Driver side is sitting at -.8 but passenger is now was -1.5! I matched thread count on the front struts and the passenger side is ALSO sitting 1/4" higher than driver side which makes no sense. The only thing I haven't replaced since 100k miles (currently at 176k) is the LCA bushings I just don't see those making that big of a difference, especially when the driver side is just fine.