OK, I'm an old fart so this information is for those who trust or care to trust old farts. I've lowered cars before and I made my mistakes and learned from them, and now I'm lowering my '02 CL-S and I want to do it properly, not half-ass. I don't want my suspension banging and I don't want to cut my wheel well arches to allow for clearance. So after many months of doing research I am finally having the Eibach Pro Kit System Plus installed which is springs, struts, new bump stops & sway bars. Yes, only a 2" front drop but my old Honda had a 3" drop using coil-overs, which looked good but the control arms banged all the time. I'm also installing the Eibach rear alignment kit as well as Ingalls adjustable control arms with ball joints. I should post picts of before-and-after once the hardware gets installed next week, but for starters I wanted to post some picts of the Ingalls control arm and tell you why I chose this instead of simply installing adjustable ball joints on my stock control arms.
While at the Stealership getting my power steering pump assembly replaced (due to leaking pump), I had a long discussion with the chief mechanic. He said that when you lower a car and don't replace the stock control arm, simply placing in a new adjustable ball joint will help adjust camber but the new ball joint will sit in a stressed angle and will eventually cause the ball joint to wear or pop, so he strongly suggested installing adjustable control arms with a low profile as this will allow the ball joint to sit at a more comfortable angle. I chose the Ingalls control arms with +1 to +4 adjustment as the alignment mechanic said that lowering only adds negative camber so you only want a control arm that give a + camber adjustment. Here are a few picts. 1) Control Arm. Notice where the ball joint sits is flat and no bolt protrudes through that will bang against your wheel well. 2) Control arm with ball joint. 3) Ball joint placed in position. 4) CU of ball joint. Notice how the ball joint mount is arched which allows the ball joint to sit at a normal angle when the car is lowered.
Dan
While at the Stealership getting my power steering pump assembly replaced (due to leaking pump), I had a long discussion with the chief mechanic. He said that when you lower a car and don't replace the stock control arm, simply placing in a new adjustable ball joint will help adjust camber but the new ball joint will sit in a stressed angle and will eventually cause the ball joint to wear or pop, so he strongly suggested installing adjustable control arms with a low profile as this will allow the ball joint to sit at a more comfortable angle. I chose the Ingalls control arms with +1 to +4 adjustment as the alignment mechanic said that lowering only adds negative camber so you only want a control arm that give a + camber adjustment. Here are a few picts. 1) Control Arm. Notice where the ball joint sits is flat and no bolt protrudes through that will bang against your wheel well. 2) Control arm with ball joint. 3) Ball joint placed in position. 4) CU of ball joint. Notice how the ball joint mount is arched which allows the ball joint to sit at a normal angle when the car is lowered.
Dan