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TT control arm/ball joint questions

pseudorealityx

Go Kart Champion
Location
Decatur, GA
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE
I've been trying to search the last few days for various threads about these, and their various issues.

Here are my questions:
1) Is the rear bushing solid, or does it have the 2 "slots" like the GTI bushings?
2) Do these actually change caster at all?
3) Is anyone running these with larger brake rotors? I've got the Macan brakes, so 345mm, but stock rotor thickness.

It seems the whole thing might be a moot point with the Whiteline LCA's available. With 2 options, (+2 or +2.5 degree caster), and already upgraded bushings, and likely cost less unless you can find a cheap set of used TT control arms. The only advantage would be the adjustable camber on the TT arms/ball joints vs. the 'fixed' nature of the Whitelines.

Anyone else have thoughts?
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Check the "What did you do to your Golf R today" thread on Vortex, will have to go a month-ish back but there was a good amount of discussion about them.

Also check the Golf R for sale thread over there. I believe the member that was running them is actually selling them, could probably ask some questions in that thread.

I'm running KTA 252's on a Golf. I'm running Brembo 17z's, Neuspeed RSE05's (17x8 +45) but with 8mm spacers to clear the brakes, so +37 effectively. Tires are 235/35. I would have to measure fender to ground clearance but I'm on B8's with H&R Sports. I would guess my car is right around stock GTI height. I have experienced rub maybe 4 or 5 times, all while driving pretty aggressively in the Malibu canyons, lots of random dips. Never had any rubbing with street driving.

Wheels are pushed slightly forward in the wheel wells but I can only tell if I'm looking for it. Had some other people look and they didn't notice it. The rubbing doesn't happen with any sensible driving so I'm not inclined to do anything about it. At one point before the KTA 252's I ran the 034 (and SuperPro) camber plates and they might have prevented the rubbing.
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
Caster is sorta the devil if you run aggressive wheels and are lowered at all. I have the KTA252s (+2 degree) and while I think from a cost/performance stand point the LCAs were a great choice, it made me cut back on spacer thicknesses or some wheels I have just rub no matter what. That is at a lowered ride height for sure, lower than a stock R, GTI, or a GTI on H&R OE sports. You can definitely see it if you're looking for it like Cuzoe said:

20200601_181950_HDR by Jon Collier, on Flickr

For a street driven car, I'd probably go with something simple like SuperPro bushings in the OEM arms or the BFI TTRS/RS3 bushed steel arms that include new ball joints as well. If you track the caster is a nice to have otherwise.

Sorry that still doesn't answer any questions about the TT arms, I haven't really seen that talked about here at least.
 

pseudorealityx

Go Kart Champion
Location
Decatur, GA
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE
Thanks for the comments! I do ~half a dozen track days a year, hence the camber and caster is important to me. I also run an 18x9 with a 255/35/18, so rubbing may just be a fact of life.

The thread "TT Arms on a Golf R - Interesting Discovery " on Vortex was also useful.
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
Thanks for the comments! I do ~half a dozen track days a year, hence the camber and caster is important to me. I also run an 18x9 with a 255/35/18, so rubbing may just be a fact of life.

Yeah, that is just going to rub haha. I ran that same spec before the LCAs, now there is rubbing even with 235/40-18s. My street wheels do fine 18x8.5 ET45 with a 5mm spacer or so, 235/40-18. Now that I've got coilovers I'm less concerned because I can just raise the car for track days and push the envelope for commuting if I want. If it wasn't for that I'd want to swap back to the stock arms.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
I'll get some pictures when I leave work. My setup isn't as low flipflp, and probably not as low as your car either. I don't know if 17x8 ET37 is considered aggressive but probably not, haha. At my ride height it's less obvious that the wheels are pushed forward than on flipflp's car.
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
Thanks for the comments! I do ~half a dozen track days a year, hence the camber and caster is important to me. I also run an 18x9 with a 255/35/18, so rubbing may just be a fact of life.

The thread "TT Arms on a Golf R - Interesting Discovery " on Vortex was also useful.
What wheels do you run?
 

pseudorealityx

Go Kart Champion
Location
Decatur, GA
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
Damn I gotta stop looking at the Macan brake upgrade.

The problem with caster on these cars is that the point where the fender and bumper connect and liner is pretty proud inside of the fender. You're a good height, not too low, but you'll definitely have some contact going hard in corners or over big dips at speed.
 

pseudorealityx

Go Kart Champion
Location
Decatur, GA
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE
Damn I gotta stop looking at the Macan brake upgrade.

The problem with caster on these cars is that the point where the fender and bumper connect and liner is pretty proud inside of the fender. You're a good height, not too low, but you'll definitely have some contact going hard in corners or over big dips at speed.

With the current setup, it's zero rub anywhere. Full lock in a parking lot or going over the curbs at Road Atlanta; nothing. But I also more camber, or dynamic camber via caster, and I would *like* to avoid going to Vorshlag camber plates, since this is still primarily a street car that just happens to play racecar on tracks every so often.

Decisions, decisions...
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
With the current setup, it's zero rub anywhere. Full lock in a parking lot or going over the curbs at Road Atlanta; nothing. But I also more camber, or dynamic camber via caster, and I would *like* to avoid going to Vorshlag camber plates, since this is still primarily a street car that just happens to play racecar on tracks every so often.

Decisions, decisions...

I had a zero rub setup before too, it was nice. And I like my 034 camber plates too, so I wouldn't give them up for something that is going to add noise at some point in time (if you're honest about most adjustable camber plates).

I would definitely suggest better bushings up front for steering feel and feedback, so if the TT arms have better bushings and don't mess with caster, go for it. Otherwise, throw some SuperPro bushings in the OEM arms or pick up the BFI arms with the RS3 bushings. My car is like yours, street car with very occasional track use, but the whiteline arms have been my one regret so far because of the rubbing.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
My car won't ever see a track, and if I'm being honest the few times it rubbed have been on dips that I definitely would have slowed down for if I had seen them...
IMG_20200702_170234.jpg

IMG_20200702_170350.jpg
 

odessa.filez

Autocross Newbie
Location
Roswell, GA
Car(s)
2016 GSW 1.8tsi auto
I've been trying to search the last few days for various threads about these, and their various issues.

Here are my questions:
1) Is the rear bushing solid, or does it have the 2 "slots" like the GTI bushings?
2) Do these actually change caster at all?
3) Is anyone running these with larger brake rotors? I've got the Macan brakes, so 345mm, but stock rotor thickness.

It seems the whole thing might be a moot point with the Whiteline LCA's available. With 2 options, (+2 or +2.5 degree caster), and already upgraded bushings, and likely cost less unless you can find a cheap set of used TT control arms. The only advantage would be the adjustable camber on the TT arms/ball joints vs. the 'fixed' nature of the Whitelines.

Anyone else have thoughts?

my recall is the rear bushing has small gaps, much smaller than stock GTI. You can definitely feel a difference.

The arms may add a small amt of castor. The ball joint attachment point seems to be rotated slightly forward, compared to the GTI stock arm.

the additional camber is significantly more than advertised for whitelines. Attached is an alignment sheet for my car, TT arms plus vorshlag top plates set to +1 castor and zero additional camber.

with the adjustable ball joints set to minimum, camber is nearly -2.5 degrees. The ball joints extended bring camber to roughly -3

Fron track increases noticeably with the TT arms. Can't speak for the whitelines on this. The track increase should be beneficial, unless you are pushing the limit on wheel / tire fitment
 

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