Aluminium wishbones - better?
 

Anybody fitted aluminium wishbones in place of standard on UK turbo 2000 or the like and notice any improvement?

I think the main difference is weight. As for handling my MY98 WRX (with ally arms) seems no different to one with steel arms.

Are the alloy one's a direct swap for the steel and vice-versa?

barry.

you will need to change your drop links if you swap them (i belive)

Alloy wishbones will partially reduce your unsprung weight. Effectively it will feel like your springs are harder and thus the wheel will travel up and down slightly faster. An upgrade worthy of praise!

Do a search on 22B - Richard Dowsett (Dowser) did this and was very pleased IIRC.

Andrew...

Didn't somebody (JohnF????) measure the weight of the ali ones and find the were the same as the steel versions. They are not the same to look at visually and the benefit being they are stronger rather than weight saving.

Tony.

Yep the ally ones are the same weight as the steel sets, as you need more material to get similar stiffness out of ally

It will be interesting to see how long they last aswell, as aluminium fatigues quicker than steel aswell.

Mine have lasted 12 years without issue so far :D

Tony.

is there any pics of these?

So if they are indeed the same weight then how can there be an improvement on unsprug weight as Dowser reported :confused:

F

Dowser actually reported that they were the same weight, but they felt tighter in performance. Differences: ally arms have stiffer bushes, ball-joint drop links and maybe the arm is stiffer too but I doubt thats really significant when you're using flexible bushes.

I've recently changed the front inner bush on my steel arms from the standard rubber to a Powerflex (I'd prefer hardened rubber but the p'flex are easier to fit) and noticed slightly better steering response.

Duncan,

Did you deliberately only change that 1 location or did it need replacing anyway?

Andrew...

Deliberate, there's not many bushes at the front anyway. The front bush is in direct line (near enough) with any lateral load so it seemed a good candidate for change. Previously I'd changed the rear bush for an ALK but after maintenance and rattling issues with that I've gone back to the oem rubber bush (with the anti-dive geometry).

I should say that I've also previously replaced the oem top-mount with a K-mac camber/castor adjustable one with urethane bushing. I have to confess I don't really feel the change in castor, but then I'm still only at 4deg with the top-mount maxed.

Well this is a depressing read.