Other than reducing unsprung weight and better bushings, are there other reasons to upgrade 03 WRX sedan control arms to the OEM aluminum control arms?

Looking at minor upgrades to the suspension for a daily driver to make it feel more responsive without touching struts or swaybars...also can't solid endlinks on the stock swaybars increase risk of bending other suspension components since you lose the "breakaway" links there now?

Would I be better getting the STi bits for improved feel?

Thanks

P.S. did an extensive search and nothing directly on the topic of why to upgrade to aluminum control arms...

 

Appearently they are stronger. That is helpful in rallying when you are going over bumps and stuff, other than that it seems like a looks thing to me. As for sway bars, if you upgrade the mounts, links and the bar, they should work together to make your setup strtong all around.

 

I can't say what sort of difference the aluminum control arms make.. but I know just about any newer mid-high sports car comes stock with aluminum control arms.

 

lower unsprung weight is the only real reason i can think of. guys with BMW E30 M3s replace their steel ones with the ones that come off the Sport Evo M3, its better for the track and stuff like that.

 

I am not sure but i seem to recall some one posting that he/she had weighed the SPT control arms against the stock one and the result was near identicle. Does any one know if the SPT control arms are in fact lighter?

 

The correct name of the part is transverse link....and the aluminum ones increase rigidity and strength, increase caster a bit and have better bushings. They are not significantly lighter.

Aluminum is teh secksay....

 

Thanks for the thoughful replies guys, since I'm not using this particular car on the track or Auto-X I'm not going to bother with the aluminum control arms...can upgrade the bushings on the stock control arms anyhow (and other suspension bits + trailing arms), probably giving a similar result as to 'feel'...

I'm hesitant to upgrade the swaybars either because if you only stiffen the rear sure turn-in will be better but the tradeoff would be loss of some stability coming out of the apex killing some straightaway speed (which would amount to more time than the little bit of extra braking into the turn IMO) - but then again I'm not racing this car so it probably wouldn't make a noticable difference anyway...

Too many parts, too little $$$!

 

I guess paralysis is a good thing, sometimes...
Keyboard racing is just that...You will never know anything if you don't do something.

 

Very true indeed, just want to make sure that something is better than nothing!

 

How much do they increase caster? That sounds like something I would be interested in. Does it make caster adjustable because I was told that caster isn't adjustable on my 02 rex.

Thanks