g-body with AFX spindles

[Buick Motorsports]

Originally Posted by speedshopmike

you could just run taller ball joints if you want more camber gain.
you'd be much better served spending your dough on superior brakes then other components.
Howe and several other companies make the tall BJ's.
pick up an issue of any stock car racing magazine; g-bods are still very very popular in lower levels of circle racing and there's a ton of good stuff for good deals for them

Bumpsteer is also reduced tonearly zero by doing this upgrade. Since this car is going to see alot of street time and the roads here are all bumps. Worth the money.

[speedshopmike]

g-bodies dont have bumpsteer issues through the majority of their travel.
bumpsteer is created when the pivot point of the tie rod and the control arm aren't the same.
why do you think a taller spindle could alter that?
regardless, a taller BJ will give the exact same effect as a taller spindle.
but, by all means, go nuts on the trick parts.
at least you can brag about low unsprung weight and they look real pretty.
if you'd like to spend your money usefully, feel free to contact me; i will give you a great deal on Baer brakes.

[wiedemab]

I'm admittedly ignorant of the specifics of the G-body suspension geometry, but solely geometrically speaking, if you change the upper - outer pickup point for the suspension the upright is going to travel through a different set of points. Hence in the case with the taller upper ball joint giving greater camber gain. Depending on the position of the steering pickup points (outer tie-rod) the effect on the "bumpsteer" characteristics will be different. As the top of the spindle is "pulled in" during bump so is the steering arm. Obviously less if the steering arm is very low, more if it is high. I'm even simplifying it to an almost 2D view with this explanation.

I'm just pointing out that to say that a taller balljoint has no effect on the steering characteristics may not be entirely true. Probably in most cases, it would be negligible, but still worth considering.

Maybe Marcus from SC&C will chime in - he knows this setup very well and can explain the differences of the tall ball joint to the AFX setup.

[speedshopmike]

well stated; that is all absolutely correct, but as you noted, the effect's (very) negligible in this case.
however, being very specific, i didn't say it won't alter steering "characteristics", i am referring strictly to bumpsteer.
changing camber gain could change other steering characteristics by altering the contact patch and thus required slip angles to achieve a given amount of directional delta.