Anyone have first hand comparison of AFX spindles?? - Lateral-g Forums

nitrorocket · #1 09-03-2006, 07:37 PM

Who has tried them and compared them back to back?? Did the car feel different from the loss of unsprung weight and better geometry?? Anyone??

Blown353 · #2 09-03-2006, 08:31 PM

Compared them back to back with what?

I've ran the numbers and they don't lie (although they don't tell the whole story.) The AFX will kick the snot out of a stock setup on an A-body. There will be no comparison and that's not an overstatement. EVERYTHING will be improved by a huge amount-- RCH, RC migration, camber gain, bumpsteer. You'll also get more "centering" through the steering wheel and more high speed stability because you'll be running more caster with them.

They will also make a very noticeable difference over a B-body spindle setup in the steering feel & bumpsteer department (since you can't get much worse than that!) As far as being able to really feel the more incremental improvements in RC height and RC migration over a B-body setup that will have to wait for some real driving impressions. The AFX is better in those two departments but I don't know just how much of the improvement will be transmitted up through the steering wheel. My hopes are for steady-state cornering ability equal to or slightly better than my B-body setup without any of the terrible bump steer issues. The AFX has what I want on paper but I don't have any real world feedback for you... yet.

I may be able to give you some real driving impressions in about a month... I'm darn close to pulling the trigger on a set of them within the week. My only worry is if Baer will be able to hook me up with some 2-piece slotted Eradispeeds in time-- they've been mighty slow this year!

**Bill Howell** · #3 09-03-2006, 09:01 PM

I have them on the malibu now. Compared to the stock set up their is no comparison. The only issue I have had at all is they drop the front end enough that I have to get new wheels with different offsets. However, small price to pay to get the right stance anyway. Heck, good excuse to get more new shiny parts.
Oh, did I mention the other upgrade- brakes. Stops much better now. I can give you some times from our autocross event in two weeks, stand by.

nitrorocket · #4 09-03-2006, 09:02 PM

Compared to standard, how they "feel" driving impression wise. Form what I have read, they seem good to go as far as what they do for the car. I am trying to talk my wife into letting me drop the coin right now, but I am getting some resistance.

She says I have to sell some things first!

I am also going to lower the body on the frame 1/2" for a little lower center of gravity when I make the cage for it this winter. I am just going to set the body on a 1'8" washer. I am hoping that will make some kind of difference, but I will have to weight to find out. Have you done this yet??

I am glad to hear they are an improvement! Feel wise what did they do for the car? I have to move the backspace on my wheels too, I just have not had the time to cut the centers off and reweld them. Pain in the butt!

**Bill Howell** · #5 09-03-2006, 09:04 PM

OH, I forgot to mention this, they actually fit like they are supposed to. The ONLY modification we had to do to make them work was to remove the original steering stops on the lower control arm. The new spindles hit these. Nothing two minutes with a die grinder could not cure.

**Bill Howell** · #6 09-03-2006, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitrorocket

Compared to standard, how they "feel" driving impression wise. Form what I have read, they seem good to go as far as what they do for the car. I am trying to talk my wife into letting me drop the coin right now, but I am getting some resistance.

She says I have to sell some things first!

I am also going to lower the body on the frame 1/2" for a little lower center of gravity when I make the cage for it this winter. I am just going to set the body on a 1'8" washer. I am hoping that will make some kind of difference, but I will have to weight to find out. Have you done this yet??

The steering is much more like driving on rails. I went with the SC&C UCA and they make alignment much easier. With the malibu (80) I do not need it to be any lower, unless I want to modify the inter fenders. THe tires will rub too much. Those years just do not allow for much tire with the front end dropped that much. Remember, they came from the factory, at stock ride height with 195x14's so 255x17 are mucho grande for the front end.

Blown353 · #7 09-03-2006, 09:11 PM

Concerning the body lowering, you may run into a lot of issues so plan ahead. I thought about it then didn't do it.

Here's a few problem areas off the top of my head if you use short (or no) body mounts:

Steering shaft alignment (won't be able to use the factory pot joint & rag joint if you still are, so double u-joints it is)

Driveshaft to tunnel clearance

Tranny & bellhousing to tunnel clearance

Engine to hood clearance

Tranny crossmember to floorpan clearance (the x-member is almost touching the floor with factory body mounts)

Exhaust to floorpan clearance

Fuel line clearance over the RH rear shock/spring perch (if you're still running factory-routed lines)

You'll need to trim the bottom edges of the front inner fenders to clear the frame

Inner rear wheelhouse to frame rail clearance (the frame rails are "sucked in" a bit at the top to clear the pinchweld on the wheelwells)

That's just a few I can think of, not to mention you may run into actual frame to body interference when you try it-- I never got that far!

It can be done but it's a lot of work just to drop the body by 1/2" or so-- the gains just don't seem to outweigh the effort required. If you're gonna do it, go all out and just cut out the floor completely, flush the frame even with the bottom of the rocker pinchwelds, and re-fab from there.

ScotI · #8 09-03-2006, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Howell

OH, I forgot to mention this, they actually fit like they are supposed to. The ONLY modification we had to do to make them work was to remove the original steering stops on the lower control arm. The new spindles hit these. Nothing two minutes with a die grinder could not cure.

Bill,

If you wouldn't mind sharing, what's the diameter, width, BS'ing, & tire size you're going to use?

**Bill Howell** · #9 09-03-2006, 09:21 PM

For a temporary wheel, just because I could not get what I really wanted before the event here in two weeks, I went with a TTll, 17x7 with 4 3/4 bs. HOWEVER, TTlls are odd wheels and require a 1/4" spacer to work with the C-5 set up so really a 4 1/2 bs would have worked with any other wheel. I have two 17x9 fourth gen camaro wheels on it now to get it around, but they are too wide to turn all the way. They are 17x9 with 7 inch bs. They look good on there though, it is a real shame they are too wide. My plan is the boze protouring wheel though. Great looking over all wheel and will look good on the boo.

Sorry, forgot. Tire size will be 255x45x17

nitrorocket · #10 09-03-2006, 09:31 PM

I have had my body off twice and I can not think off any more issues. I figure I have to re-align the body any way when I do the cage, I might as well try, I will see how it goes. I would think 1800 lbs would surely make some difference another 1/2" lower, especialy on the track. Anybody with software to figure this out?