[bigjae1976]

Treehouse Racing FCABs

Hmm...expensive. But is this a lifetime part or will I still need to replace it? I wonder if I this will pay for itself over time in parts and labor. I figure about 3 FCAB changes (100k miles???). I do plan to keep my car well beyond 100k more miles.

I've read that solid FCABs are suitable for street use...true?

 

[jpr]

Well bearing in mind that "suitable" is a matter of opinion, I expect in the context of the Treehouse bushing the meaning is closer to "street legal" rather than "street desirable"

The point of those bushing is to sharpen steering response by eliminating the control arm motion due to bushing compression. Good news is that they will do exactly that. Bad news is that all that energy that used to get absorbed by the bushings is now going straight into the chassis, producing a dramatic increase in NVH. For track purposes, it's a reasonable trade-off as the surface is smoother and NVH is a relatively low priority in comparison top precise handling. For the street though, I think you would almost never use the benefit but would quickly be driven nuts by the increased NVH.

 

[Blocked Out]

Sure solid FCABs are suitable for street use, only if you plan on wearing a hockey player mouthpiece.

$279 is way too expensive and you will regret it the next day you put them in. Have you even rode in a car that had solid FCABs? I did and let me tell you its VERY harsh.

Why dont you like Powerflex CABs?

 

[bigjae1976]

I like my powerflex FCABs but I am always interested in part that will last significantly longer. The Stewart water pump is an example.

Definitely not a good idea here in Korea. But I think it would be worth a shot whenever I get back to TX. Most of the roads are in pretty good condition.

 

[beepers90]

I had the treehouse FCABs installed for a few months on my non-sport 325i, as I had my OEM ones fail twice. They did sharpen up my steering a little, but they were extremely loud and creaky. I felt like everyone stared at me like my car was broken and I was too poor to fix . Spray grease helped a little, but not for long. Next trip to the shop I put the Mehle HD ones back in. Treehouse FCABs are now in my garage waiting for me to get the energy to take pictures and find a buyer.

 

[bigjae1976]

Thanks for the review!

 

[HP Autowerks]

I would NOT recommend making that move on a street car. Solid anything is going to dramatically increase NVH.

 

[AL330CI]

Although a lot of people will disagree with me. I like the UUC FCAB a lot. There is just enough rubber surrounding the bushing to take the edge off 90% of road imperfections yet still stiff enough for very good feedback. There is a bit of creaking noise out of the box at low parking lot speed, but if you take it apart (real easy to do) before installation, and grease them liberally with sticky polyurethane grease (the type used on poly bushings), the noise is a non-issue. I'd had mine greased and >12K miles later, it is still quiet.

 

[beepers90]

No problem! ill send you the FCABs if you want em and got something cool to trade haha

 

[beepers90]

UPDATE: kind stupid bringing this up, but I found my Treehouse lollipops in the garage, and once I located the delrin inserts did have some obvious wear, but I used them on non-sport suspension on the street, in the mountains, speedbump speedovers, and on some rough dirt roads, and they held up like advertised, and made the car handle like it didnt even have blown shocks. That was really amazing. The noise wasn't always pleasent, but it would go away and come back. I thought that maybe I just received a faulty set of inserts. They never did make the ride uncomfortable at all, probably because I didn't have them on my starched stiff Turner tracksports. If I would have been riding anything on other than near blown non-sports, they would probably shake you and wake you every now and then. I would assume that on lowered cars they are probably quieter and longer lasting.. and the lollypop piece that holds the delrin insert, still looks like it did when they arrived at my door (silver, not green.). I think im gonna order a new set of inserts and keep them around for future HPDEs, (in my case LPDEs) and I will hopefully buy a DD, and convert the 325 to a caged track car over the years, maybe even swap in the VAC CSL killer engine to match the eyeball arms . Or ill just sell the damned things and quit dreaming and get back to my studies.

 

[mvrk10256]

at lot of that NVH can be cured by some simple engineering. do the same thign I have been doing on poly FCABs. take a drill - drill a hole in the side.

tap the hole and put in a grease fitting - make sure you drill all the way to the control arm - so its afull hole. then put em on, bolt them up, and pump them full of grease - be picky since I believe only red lithium grease is acceptable. but this - and regular greasings will go a long way toward making them livable. BTW at least in Dallas, plano, richardson area the roads arent that great.