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Your new R/T ball joints have been painstakingly & individually assembled & the extremely precise & sensitive ball joint pre-load has already been pre-set for you, by hand, one ball joint at a time!
Ultra-Smooth & Blueprinted
Ultra Performance Ball Joint : OPTION
We also offer individually machined, hand fitted, hand polished, individually blueprinted and hand assembled Ball Joints. The very special Ultra-Smooth ball joints provide even smoother operation yet, and less friction under higher pressures such as hard cornering at the race track, road course and even on the street. While our regular ball joints are incredibly smooth already, this very special ball joint option takes precision and quality to the ultimate extreme!
Bump Steer Geometry Correction Ball Joints
This very special added feature of this version is as beneficial for installing these new joints as is the included impressive quality and precision components, making this one of the easiest and most beneficial upgrades like none other.
After closely reviewing the diagram below of the Superformance Mk-III front suspension you can see the dramatic benefits of simply installing a set of these Bump Steer Geometry Correction ball joints. The Total Camber change is 42% less keeping the tire squarely planted on the pavement for improved traction while in a corner. The Upper & Lower Control Arm Angles are 88% closer to being parallel with each other. The Total Toe Change during suspension travel is 158% less resulting in less toe out. This makes the car feel less "twitchy" which otherwise is the cause for making the front end of the car "feeling light" at high speeds. This results in dramatically increased high speed stability.
This phenomenon of the front of the car "feeling light at high speeds, is really the result of the front of the car lifting up slightly by about 1 inch due to the increased air pressure under the car. When this occurs, the toe in changes from the typical 1/8" toe-IN, to about 3/4 to 1" toe-OUT. When this occurs, the toed out wheels tend to make the car feel as it if it wants to "dart" side to side if you are not holding the steering wheel dead steady. And, it is doing exactly that. And on high speed roads with gentle "whoop-dee-doo's" in them, the increased cycling of the suspension can result in almost 3 INCHES of toe out at full suspension extension! This effect can also take place under acceleration when the rear weight transfer lifts the front and the resulting toe out can make the car feel "wiggly" under acceleration where you would normally attribute all of that to the rear tires trying to kicking out side to side. The steering is actually part of it. While you can never completely eliminate all bump steer without completely changing all the steering components, rack and control arms, just by adding our Bump Steer Geometry Correction Ball Joints, you will reduce the results of that initial 1" inch of suspension lift to only 1/16" toe out, from 1/8" toe in. That's an improvement of up to 543%. Due to a wide variance from the taper depth in the control arm & the type of original ball joint used, results may vary from car to car. You may need to drop your car about 1/2" down to achieve normal ride height and you will need to realign your front end after the geometry correction takes place.
Of course in addition you receive incredible freedom of suspension movement, ease of steering, and smooth operation as well as improved strength, longevity and precise taper stud fit for reliability!
A word about "Bumpsteer": Bumpsteer is NOT the relationship of control arm angles compared to tie rod angles. IT IS the relationship of respective control arm ARC of travel compared to tie rod ARC of travel during suspension extension and compression while under operation. If the two arcs of travel are identical, the tires and steering wheel will not move as the suspension cycles. If the two paths are different, the control arm and tie rods paths will move in the opposite directions as the suspension cycles, and thus, "steering" the car differently when hitting "bumps". Zero bumpsteer is the result of all steering and suspension components being exactly the same length and on the same exact arcs. Rarely is this possible due to mounting options and space considerations in locating control arms, their length, and making everything equal. There is a certain amount of bumpsteer present that can not be changed, but their effects CAN be "moved around" to minimize the effect where it is most critical. And that is exactly what the R/T Super Joints do. There can also be a "bump" and movement in the steering when hitting a low speed bump. Ironically, this is not really bumpsteer. This jerky movement, or "shudder" such as when hitting a set of railroad tracks at an angle is really a tight ball joint not letting the steering move, then breaking loose and then grabbing gain, which results in the shudder. Almost to the point you'd think a steering stabilizer would help.
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