Just recently purchased hardrace roll center correcting ball joints for my 96 Civic. Only to be informed they're on back order until late August. I can't wait that long. I was considering ktuned but the hardrace price was already pretty steep for me. Does anyone know of the quality of Blox and truhart? It seems to be a pretty mixed bag of opinions in terms of the quality of the brands overall. But the price is good and they're not on back order.

 

Blox and Truhart are lower cost, lower quality products. Neither are on the quality level of Hardrace... but, they do not cost as much either. You decide.

 

Why do you think you need to correct the roll center?

Extended ball joints create problems on this suspension design. It isn't a good idea.

 

Lowering the car also creates problems in the suspension design. Extended ball joints correct the LCA angle.

 

So do drop spindles, and they do it correctly.

 

I can't seem to find any information on those. I'm not trying to slam the car. It's not that low. I've seen a few reputable sources sag that the extended ball joints work great.

 

Everybody who lowers their ride says that....EVERYBODY...

 

Your lower control arms and tie rods (steering) need to move in a certain arc to each other. Change one without the other and you will induce bump steer. Extended ball joints also create an issue where the upper control arm will hit the strut towers more easily, even with a moderate drop.

If you're not slammed, your roll center probably isn't bad. If this is just street driven, your RC doesn't really matter. If you want to shave a 0.10/second in each corner on a race track, then your RC will matter (then you're dealing with hours of measuring, and countless laps to dial everything in).


The engineering Honda did on this suspension design is actually really good. Not much toe change, and not much camber gain on the front. The rear is a different story, with a good amount of toe in when the suspension compresses, which makes the car understeer (easier to control for most people). Most people fight the rear toe change with larger sway bars or stiffer springs so there is less rear compression.

 

This is false. If it was closer to the strut tower the car would be even lower. The extended ball joints do lower your car generally you adjust your coilover to compensate. However, if the upper control arm were closer to the shock tower. Then the car would be lower than I'd like anyways.
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Might consider oem then.

 

There's only so much space down there. What you wrote, about changing the spring perch height, is only a bandaid. Doesn't change where things are at full compression. The upper control arm is going to be higher than if there were no EBJ (at full compression).

And if it the UCA doesn't hit the tower, it will only be because your springs are binding, creating a point where your spring pressure is infinity. At that point, you might as well install solid rods as shocks. The ride will be horrible.

 

Roll center ball joints do not change the location of the knuckle. No one can convince me otherwise. Their intended purpose is to put the angle of the LCA back to a stock position. This has already been discussed in another thread. It's also not the purpose of this thread. All I asked for was people's opinion on the quality of the brands.

 

Suspension geometry is one of the most misunderstood topics in automotive tuning.

Good luck.

 

I guess a good question is why do you suppose these exist? From quality brands like k-tuned, buddy club, and hardrace. From other threads it seems like they work great for there purpose. But it seems to me like you think these done have a purpose.

 

To make money?

At what ride height does the change in roll center become detrimental to handling on this chassis? Do any of those brands tell you? Nope. I love K Tuned's description for these, "they are better than worn out parts." That's quality right there.

 

The Blox Extended ball Joints came in the post today. I will be updating this thread with my experience and issues. Including long term issues. My old ball joints were in good shape. The reason I'm doing this is because I bought new knuckles for a brake upgrade. The changes in handling characteristics will be relevant because these aren't replacing worn ones. So there's no "wow these handle great" simply because the old ones were ****.

 

i bought a blox tps, definitely NOT recommended!!! 8(

 

Definetly noted. I've seen some hit and miss stuff about Blox, that's why I created this thread.