CAP Tubular Upper Control arms...a warning

I purchased a new set of CAP control arms in 2008. Installed them in 2010 and the car has sat until now.

I was ready to pull them because I saw a 69 Roadrunner broke on and went across a median. Poor welds more than likely. I told myself that I would take them off and go with stock control arms. Moog problem solver bushings and the best off shore ball joints I could get.

I went to pull them the other day and the bushings were gone. Crumbled into dust on the frame rail. 5 years and maybe 1000 miles and they're gone from sitting. I couldn't imagine if I had actually been beating the car.

I don't care how "racecar" these are or what the bushing material was. That's terrible.

Wow.. you're lucky... unbelievable that that would happen from such minimal usage. As you know... CAP sold off to QA1... I think QA1 made improvements since then.

Consider Firm Feel UCAs... simple and easy to install with good caster/camber available. Substitute the Moog offset bushings and you'll be able to get about up to +7 caster (that's about 2-3-4 more + degrees using the offset bushings. (I know someone who's done that on their a-body.)

I like them, but I'm at the point of "Just get it running".

I've got the problem solver bushings, a blasted set of B body control arms that I've already pulled the upper bushings out of and just need to get the darn ball joint out of.

I just lucked out and found .5" taller balljoints on Amazon for a steal by Proforged.

I'm going to run this until something wears out and replace them with something tubular then.

Your bushing problem is systematic with all urethane bushings from my experience. Their demise has little to do with use, unless maybe its lack of use. When asking the the Urethane vendors at PRI why urethane fails like this, often suddenly, you get that dumb dog TILTED HEAD look response.

I've got Energy suspension lower control arms that I need to take a look at also before I do anything else.

Scooby Doo Look., Its a sign these are people you want sitting at your poker table.

My front sway bar (1.25" dia) urethane sway bar end link bushings routinely wear out and disintegrate.. every few years... (I use rubber in the rear links... no problem... 1.0" diameter rear bar). I have Delrin uca bushings... still a-ok after ~30 years.

My hotrod has 18 yr old tubular UCAs from ??.. They had the welded tube/thread design. I just got a set of forged steel ends from Speedway. the bushing material is hard - delrin?

the tubular LCAs I just put on have energy suspension bushings. So they need watching??

Urethane bushings on rotating suspension are a bearing surface. If they are not kept lubed they will grind to dust. The metal that is worn against the urethane rusts and becomes rough it will exasperate the issue. This is very common in neon lca bushings. The easy solution for sway bar bushings is to drill for a zerk all the way to the bar. A couple squirts of your favorite chassis grease and they will live a very long life.

"A couple squirts of your favorite chassis grease and they will live a very long life."

I strongly question that, as I have seen many cases of urethane sitting on the shelf, fail over time. Now if the suggestion is that an oil squirt keeps them from "drying out", seems the manufactures would promote that, unless selling replacements is their real objective, every few years.

I ran polygraphite bushings for years without squeaks or failure. Never tried plain polyurethane ones though.

I strongly question you back. and raise you with the blanket universal YMMV. I "strongly question" that all urethane is the same formula. in fact we all know its not (dif durometers and all that for one). Im not a chemist, im referring to physical wear. But i'd suspect there are diff formulas for environmental use heat, chemical, wear, flexibility etc... And that opens the door for all kinds of reasons of failure.

I was specifically referring to suspension bushing that involve a twisting motion and that the urethane is moving against a surface >>> UCA/LCA (yeah know the subject of this thread?)and sway bars frame bushings would exactly fall into that category. FSB and LCA (in neon) for several years, MANY MANY AutoX runs, 100K+ road miles with out failure where it is actually common to replace every 25-30K miles. The specific points again are that in this application the bearing surface if it gets dry will wear off whatever corrosion prohibitor and that surface will rust, rough, and waller (tech term) out the bushing. again that UCA/LCA "bushing" is sliding on metal all the time.

2gn neon front LCA


Elsewhere I use a ES ford ranger LCA spec bushing just because it happens to fit my engine torque struts (aftermarket) on my autox SRT4. They decidedly do not last a long time. After about a year the center turns to a tarry goo, likely too hot. oh well replace and go racing. Other ES urethane inserts into the OEM rubber isolator torque strut in the EXACT same place, lived a very long happy life.

despite both have "urethane" in the name and from the same manufacture (ES) could it be that there is not one size fits all formula? I'd suspect there are varying degrees of formula for application and environment.

I second it with Firm Feel. They make good quality parts.

I was tols by a poly manufacturer here in Australia, the grease used can be the defining factor in the longevity of bushings, i.e, wrong grease can kill the product.

Why buy offshore ball joints...I carry North American pieces.