SNOMAX

iTrader: (14)

I'm not ashamed to admit, I have been bitten by the cheap-y e-bay lower control arms for our cars. But, I still see other people get swindled and decided it's time to do something about it.

I'm now doing a service for the Maxima community. I had posted awhile back about this and have developed the process further.

I'll be "rebuilding LCA's" with high quality part, among other things. Read on:

Here's a before and after of a rebuilt unit:


So, "what's the process?" you ask.

I start with a Nissan LCA.
It gets hot tanked and degreased.
The old bushings and ball joint are removed.
Then it goes into a fixture, or jig to check for any damage in 3 dimensions.
The LCA is then sandblaster.
There's a de-burring process, where all sharp edges are rounded--This prevents snags on things like brake lines and road hazards.
The part is then sanded to 180 grit.
Then they are primered and sprayed with a truck-bed liner--This is much tougher and rust resistant than even powder coating, as the rubber coating will help quiet road noise and resist rock chips better.

Then, the good stuff. A genuine Moog ball joint is pressed in and secured with a spring steel snap ring.
I also use Energy Suspension Poly-urethane Bushings.
The bushings are then thoroughly greased to prevent squeaks that Poly bushings can develop.
A new cotter pin and castle nut are included for the ball-joint.

I also blast the lateral link, micro polish the bushing contact area and use a die on the threads to clean them up. Here's a before and after of a lateral link:



Then, they are shipped to you.

Here's a good pic of the truck bed liner. You can see the rubberized coating:


I have been prototyping these (so to speak) and working the process so I can handle a volume if necessary. I also will keep several sets on hand.

That means there is no downtime. Contact me, I will ship some out to you and you can send me back your "cores" which I will use for someone else. So I will be refunding a core-charge this way. This assumes your LCA is not damaged.

They are going to be priced at $129 per LCA. Core charge will be $39. So, it will be $258 for a whole car, not counting the core. If you don't want to pay the core and downtime is not an issue, you can just send me yours and I will give them the SNOMAX treatment and ship them back. All shipping charges will be actual shipping.

Now, a few last words. THIS is not the for sale thread, so please keep comments to strictly conversational/discussion/reviews, etc. I will start the for sale stuff in the appropriate forum.

I don't post much, but I have been frequenting the .org for a long time. This is something we can really use for our cars. Furthermore, I hope to have the same customer experience and quality that you would expect from Cattman, Raxles(Marty) or Matt Blehm. There are more quality vendors here, but you get the point.

I'll post a few more detail pics in the next day or so. Also, look for the for sale link. Feel free to PM me with any questions, (or to order!).

-SNOMAX.

SNOMAX

iTrader: (14)

Here's some more pics:

This one shows the difference between the old stock bushing and metal sleeve and the beefier poly-urethane bushing. Old is on the top, new is on the bottom:



The body mount bushing:



Another lateral link pic:



The finished product:



SO, the bottom line--why get them?

1) Improved handling
2) Cheaper than OEM
3) Will last longer than OEM
4) Avoid Cheap Ebay parts--these don't cost that much more
5) See #2

Official for sale thread here:
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ml#post6513512

Spartuss

iTrader: (8)

Seems like you have developed a very nice product!

Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the most important thing you will feel with the LCA is the quality of the bushings that are on?

How does cleaning the LCA's and putting a truck bedliner spray on them, effect driveability? Couldn't you just change the bushings to ES and feel the same effects, assuming your LCA's are not damaged themselves?

Thanks

arrocha87

i believe that spraying them with the rubberized coating prevents rust damage, and i guess it makes it look nicer...

Crusher103

iTrader: (10)

o0o this looks good so are u going to do like a core charge thing and have a couple lying around or are u still planing that part out im interested

Spartuss: the bedliner is just to prevent rust damage it has no performance effects

maxx0831

iTrader: (2)

wow... looks reat. Good luck witht he service bro

96blkonblkse

iTrader: (18)

Damn. This is definatley interesting. Ive been pondering doing the ES bushings in my control arms, but i just dont have the patience to remove the original bushings from the control arm.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I remember when Matt used to do this for the 3rd gen.
IMO it's not really worth the money to do the ES bushings at all, UNLESS you are racing or aren't fixing a leak that is eating the bushings.
I have had people in the past ask me to swap out the rubber bushings in my control arms for the poly, but my answer has always been no. for me it isn't worth the trouble and the subsequent cost increase (ie $50 vs. $129). To some it is worth it. For a daily driver that needs to constantly be on the road it isn't IMO.

KRRZ350

iTrader: (29)

AHHH! NOOOOO!!!!

I was just about to say how awesome this is and that I will definitly look out for plug oppurtunities...........

Than I saw Moog!!!


NO NO NO on the MOOG!!!!!


Please?


Spicer proffesional grade (though for maxima's they don't make the service grade anyways). You will see way less complaints/problems and will be offering a much more quality part. If you do both local and internet research on the topic, you will find many shops that will recommend against moog due to very high come-back, as well as very stiff return to center.

SNOMAX

iTrader: (14)

Spartuss--The purpose of the Rhinoliner, or truck bed liner is to make them resistant to rust. You wouldn't want to buy something and then have it rust out in a year or two. The bushings and the ball-joint are the real stars of the show and most important. That's why i went with Energy Suspension for the bushings.

Crusher103--i did mention i will be doing core charges so there is no downtime for people that use their cars as daily drivers.

internetautomar--I agree that regular rubber bushings are not that bad. However... Since people are going to send me an LCA that needs a new busing anyway, the cost difference is not that much, plus the fact that the Urethane will not deteriorate like the rubber bushings will is the reason I went that route. And i wouln't buy a $50 LCA. you will just need another one in 3 months anyway.

KRRZ350--i evaluated different brands of Ball joints. i liked Moog the best. I did some quick research on Moog vs Spicer's Profesional Grade. I would be all for the Spicer but I got a red-label for testing, even though you said they dont make them for Max's.

Give me a little time and I can check out the Spicer Professional Grade. I've been here long enough to know you know what you are talking about. The prices are in the ball park, so I could use Spicer if they work out.

Thanks for the comments so far, everyone.

deadmax96

interesting....I really do like the idea of the bedliner coating. Its a very good concept, if i didn't already change both L.C.A.'s out i would go for it. But, if they happen to rust out or go bad in the future I will def get in contact.

Keep up the good work!

Crusher103

iTrader: (10)

awesome, i am liking the sound of this

JSMax

iTrader: (13)

I have a question.... what if someone already had purchased the es bushing set for the lca and wanted them installed with your new and improved lca's? Could I just send you my old lca and es bushings and you could fix them up and put my new es bushing on a fixed up set of lca? for a lower price?

If that makes any sence.... it's early.

SNOMAX

iTrader: (14)

JSMax, we can work something out. Shoot me a PM with your details.

aznsap

iTrader: (29)

awesome man. what are some signs/symptoms when you know that these should be changed?

2da mizzax

iTrader: (4)

ehhhhhh. has anyone ever had a LCA "rustout"?

I have seen them get rusty but not tot he point of structural failure.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Bushing is bad.
it happens with age and / or because of oil leaks.
symptoms include a clunking in the front end, a jump under acceleration and some other things that I forget.

volodya84

I just want to say that I decided to source my LCAs to SNOMAX, and I was very afraid in doing so. This is justifiable - you are literally paypaling a person you do not know almost 400 dollars with the only guarantee to the result - his word. Well, I had gotten the LCAs only a few days after I paypaled him the money. He was always accesible by phone when I had questions, and returned all my worried phone calls quickly. My car drives like new again, something Ive stopped being used to. The core charge also came a few days after I sent the cores back to him.

All in all I had a great transaction and think that SNOMAX needs to set up shop and build/rebuild maxima suspension parts, as he is great at it. Thanks a million SNOMAX!!!!

SleepyMax1

iTrader: (1)

awesome

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

Hate to bump this thread but has anyone esperienced any squeaking even with the ES poly grease applied to the bushings?

Hank96GLE

Anyone else experience this problem with your snomax LCA's? I installed a pair last December and noticed a clunking noise in my front right about 2 weeks ago. I took it apart this weekend and found that the clunking is from a loose/bad ball joint. It has about 1/8" of play in the control arm and can easily be moved with a single finger.

What is should look like:


What it should NOT look like:


The drivers side LCA is not showing any signs of wear or clunking so I'm hoping it'll hold up.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

Looks like either the ball joint wasn't pressed in fully when the snap ring was installed OR the snap ring broke and the ball joint "unpressed" itself

mightyMax95

iTrader: (5)

i'm not sure where you drive the most but i know some of the older houston streets are terrible. my front passenger wheel seems to be in love with potholes. i'm all over the place when i drive down westheimer.

Hank96GLE

Snap ring is not broken and is still in the groove that it's supposed to be in. I think the "core" LCA that was used had a bad ball joint that probably enlarged the hole that it sits in. Over time, the new ball joint must have unpressed itself. Luckily I caught it before it broke the snap ring...

MightyMax - I drive mostly on the west side of town, along hwy 6. Not the best roads but not too terribly bad either.

daragez

looks really great!....