Hello!

I've been reading through the forums for weeks now. Haven't learned much other than what Rally had written in a couple forums. Do I NEED lower control arms if I'm only lowering with h sports or even h tech teins? (.75in tops)

I'm not being cheap I'm just curious, from what I've read I tend to think that I don't need control arms since the camber will not be greatly affected when mildly lowering?

Am I correct? I'd like to hear from some experienced individuals.

 

No, they are not needed.

 

HSports are known to give a 1" drop or maybe a hair more. If that's the case and it were me, I would definitely get the rear camber arms. The car already has negative camber at factor alignment specs. Dropping it at all will add to that negative rear camber. Too much will result in your tires wearing on the insides. People try and get around this by rotating their tires every 5k miles or so, so you will have to do constant tire rotations.

If nothing else, they will at least be enough for you to lower the car and bring the car back into factory alignment specs.

 

Without the rear control arms, you will be compromising the handling of your car, by having too much negative camber in the rear. Some folks say you need all 4 control arms, but two will do fine:

 

If you asking whether or not these are absolutely necessary to lower your car under one inch and be able to drive it daily, then my answer remains the same. I installed TSW springs with about 30K on my car. I now have over 99K on my car and I have never changed out my control arms. I thought about doing so just to save some weight and to bring the alignment back if I wanted to. However, it is not necessary. I have taken countless highway trips, including a drive all the way up the PCH and a drive to move from Denver to Atlanta and I have never seen any sort of negative tire wear whatsoever. I rotate my tires every 5-7K, and you should always do that unless your car runs staggered wheel sizes or has adverse wear on an AWD drivetrain.

If you want to add them as a safety blanket, then that is on you. JCW suspended 1st gen cars do not have adjustable control arms, are lower than stock dimensions (not JCW), and they are just fine. If BMW thought it was absolutley necessary with the JCW suspension setup, then they would have added a peripheral that would have included these parts for sale. However, they didn't.

If you lower more than one inch, then I would definitely get these. The negative camber would be far greater in this case and I would hate to think that my control arm could be over stressed to the point where it would fail. Under one inch, you should be fine.

 

You will want adjustable rear lower control arms to adjust the rear camber to a reasonable amount so that the rear inside edge of the tires do not wear too fast.
You will want to get a four wheel alingment to adjust front and rear camber and toe. Rear toe can be adjusted but it is a little bit of a pain for the alignment shop.

 

Great well I appreciate all the speedy replies. Also who recommends the TSW's over the H-Sport's?

 

I do. The TSW is a linear rate spring that maintains a quality ride while also being very predictable at the limit. Rides great on OEM and aftermarket shocks.

It is a matter of preference. I enjoy the ride of the TSW springs and really they are both a good quality spring.

 

I am guessing you are asking about the adjustable control arms (TSW or H-Sport). I would say either is a good choice and about the same price.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/02-06-c...pension/links/

 

If you are talking about control arms, even Way who owns TSW, recommends the H-Sports over the TSWs.