VW A2 control arms

I bent one of my control arms at a rally cross last weekend. I am surprised because I don't remember any really hard hits. I bought a new after market control arm and it was really low quality. Thin material, fewer spot welds. I am on my way now to get one from the junk yard. I will reinforce the stock arms. My question is how? As I remember the VWMS arms had a length of lat bar welded around the outer perimeter. I was thinking of plating one side. What are you guys doing? Tom B.?

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

I run plated arms for my A2 using davesport blanks:

http://www.davesport.com/cgi-bin/davesport/plates.html
http://www.davesport.com/cgi-bin/davesport/DGVWGJ2.html

I've bent the bearing housing (front knuckle) but the control arms are still fine so for me, so far, these plates have worked great.

Eddie Fiorelli Wrote:
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> I run plated arms for my A2 using davesport
> blanks:
>
>
>
>
> I've bent the bearing housing (front knuckle) but
> the control arms are still fine so for me, so far,
> these plates have worked great.

And Dave is just up in North Bend so's youse can run up and pick up some like toute suite.

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Monika Hawkinson
Seattle, WA

Eventhough i have hit things pretty hard, i have yet to bend a stock arm. I ve bent tie rods, second time 2 weeks ago at Black river stages but never a control arm. I do a couple of have Josh W.s reinforced arms as spares. They have a welded tube along the front only.
Those reinforcement kits seem darn pretty!

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

turoc Wrote:
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> Eventhough i have hit things pretty hard, i have
> yet to bend a stock arm. I ve bent tie rods,
> second time 2 weeks ago at Black river stages but
> never a control arm. I do a couple of have Josh
> W.s reinforced arms as spares. They have a welded
> tube along the front only.
> Those reinforcement kits seem darn pretty!


Yup, Jon Richard's who bought that VR6 Thule A2 Jetta from (insert dudes name here) also has the same setup: welded tube along the front face.

I used to plate them, now I just re-weld the two stamped halves together. Seems sufficient, I bend very few (generally when I hit something)

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http://www.ckrally.com

I ran tube on the rear edge of the a-arms on the rabbit after bending some stitch welded arms....in total I bent about three a-arms prior to figuring out how to stop it...tube on the rear edge for the RABBIT worked great, finally sheared one of the arms from the from the front frame horn when we went off at Olympus in 07....that was pretty cool too.

the new arms are plated...seem pretty buff, but I always have spare arms....ALWAYS.

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
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I ended up making a template and then TIG welding a plate on the top of the arm. I may also run some tube on the front edge.

Chris, where do you weld?

Thanks guys!

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Bending a control arm is a good excuse to switch to B3 16v Passat control arms. They are nice boxed pieces and will increase the track by 1" on either side. When you grab the control arms remember to grab the CV axles also or you will be pulling the outer CVs off of the axle under full droop. A3 Jetta or golf CV axles will work also.

Dave

Thanks for that info!
I ve heard of it but never really looked into it

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

Any of you boys interested in cute slim adjustable lower arms so's you can set camber and castor IF THE PRICE WUZ RIGHT?

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Monika Hawkinson
Seattle, WA

ok, a little off topic, but here is my question:

where is a good place to have the "fuse" in the suspension? would it be better to bend a control arm, make it back to service with wack toe, and get things fixed, rather than having a control arm that was so stiff it caused damage to the uni-body, suspension mount or strut tower, or broke a wheel when you slam a boulder sideways at 50?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2008 10:16PM by DirkaDirkaJack.

"IF THE PRICE WUZ RIGHT" John, is that you?

Jack, I think that the weakest link in an A2 front suspension will become the ball joint once the control arm is strengthened.

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Yes I would be in a set of control arms if they could be made for the MKIII as well.

Although I don't know if 500+ is worth it vs. used OEM units with some pipe welded on the front and some camber plates to get the castor.

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-Jason

I would DEFINITELY be interested John...they gotta be strong, and bolt into the factory spot without too much trouble...hell I might be able to snag two sets. I think this could be a big seller too, even beyond the rally world.

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA