i understand to a degree what control arms do themselves, but i’m looking into adjustable ones and finding confusion in the exact differences between the upper and lower. and how they connect to the vehicle as well, i’ve done some research but it’s hard to ask a video questions obviously.
when i put coilovers on the vehicle i saw that they would replace where the upper arms went, is this true?
so i guess what i’m asking is for a more in depth explanation of upper vs rear as well as how they connect to the vehicle.
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Upper and lower control arms connect the wheel hub (where the wheel itself attaches to the car) to the vehicle (usually on a subframe). They limit wheel travel within the wheel well by being rigid in the forward-rearward and left-right directions (from a driver’s perspective).
They pivot on bushings, allowing the wheel to travel up and down, with the suspension damping the motion.
The difference between upper and lower is where they mount to the vehicle – lower control arms attach to the bottom of the wheel hub, upper to the top. They’re typically different lengths because lower control arms will attach further under the vehicle, while uppers have to contend with the wall of the wheel arch.
It’s possible to replace the upper control arm with a coilover, but that would turn your suspension into a MacPherson strut setup. It doesn’t seem likely to me that you would permanently remove the upper control arms of a vehicle when installing a coilover – you’re usually just replacing the shock-and-strut setup (or existing coilover) with one more suited to your driving needs.
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