BBC Adjustable Rear Links

[Naonak]

I bought some BBC adjustable rear links for my wifes 2012 P85 to tune out some of the wicked negative camber. Does anyone have a write up on the best way to go about swapping the stock ones out?

I've never replaced these things on any car before, so I want to know any gotchas. I have a lift, so access shouldn't be a problem.

 

[pimp-boy]

I bought some BBC adjustable rear links for my wifes 2012 P85 to tune out some of the wicked negative camber. Does anyone have a write up on the best way to go about swapping the stock ones out?

I've never replaced these things on any car before, so I want to know any gotchas. I have a lift, so access shouldn't be a problem.

There are no gotachas. Very straight forward. Just make sure you install the adjustable side of the BBC links in the right direction (meaning when they adjust the camber, it doesn't pull on the height sensor) and torque to the original manufacturer specs.

 

[hh714]

Where did you buy the BBC adjustable rear link at???

 

[Naonak]

From BBC speed and machine.

BBC Speed & Machine

You'll have to give them a call. They are super friendly and very helpful. I think the price has gone up a bit, it was $1236 shipped for a set. But that will pay for itself in one tire change presumably, so the cost is a little easier to swallow if you are chewing through tires in 6 - 10k miles like my 2012 does with it's -2 negative rear camber.

I got these installed last night. Was pretty easy to install. 1st one took a bit of time, but 2nd one was about a 15 minute job. The car did fall off the jack though; luckily I had put both tires back on about 30 seconds before one of the scissor jacks failed, so no damage done, otherwise it would have been a major catastrophy if I had 1 wheel off... the car would have fallen clean off the lift and probably right on my Lotus and possibly myself, shite!

Note to self, next time, no scissor jacks. I have a Bendpak RJ-45 on order, now.

 

[pimp-boy]

− Quote

For car enthusiasts, it's definitely worth having a lift. Makes everything much easier to work on the vehicle w/o the neck cramps the next morning. With the camber kits, i am able to extend about 2k additional miles so far on my tires. It's worth it. I had over -2.1 to -2.2 degrees. I had it adjusted to -1.5 degrees. Could possibly go less, but no need as it wears almost evenly across. Not cheap, but good investment if you keep your car long.

 

[Naonak]

But does anyone know what the best rear toe settings are with -1.00 camber?

 

[sechen43]

Naonak - Have you received your Bendpak RJ-45 and successfully used it on your MS? I've got 2 of them on my Bendpack 4 post lift and they aren't quite wide enough to reach the lift points so I'm finding. Looking for creative ideas to retrofit.

 

[Naonak]

Yes, you are right. I am having some custom arms made locally to replace the stock ones. They are 3" longer (giving it 6" of more reach side to side), but otherwise identical to the BendPak ones. They will reach the Tesla jack pads. It's fortunate the BendPak arms are exceedingly simple, so they can be modified fairly easily (or replaced, in this case).

I believe the Tesla pads are about 64" apart, the BendPak arms are 60", so an extra 6" should be more than enough. The one drawback is that the arms won't retract and "store" in the jack without protruding quite a bit from the sides of the jack, so you'd have to remove them if your wheels won't clear, then put them back in when you want to use them.

I may make a shorter set that will clear the wheels when fully retracted, even though they are sticking out. I have a Lotus that has a really narrow wheelbase, so it's a problem for that car if the arms are sticking out at all.

 

[sechen43]

Agreed. I've actually got a welder making me four six inch extensions that will fit the stock jack arms all the way around. Basically a six inch piece of the same bar stock steel with a box at the end that slides over the stock arms. A one inch pin secures it in the middle. We're also making custom jack pads/plates to fit onto the Tesla pads and into the holes. They also have a one inch pin and fit just like the stock rubber coated Bendpak pads. It's all complete but we're currently making some slight tweaks. i.e. with the extensions on, there is quite a bit of bow with the stock jack arms fully extended. So much so that when you lift the car there is only about a one eight inch clearance between the middle of the jack and the battery pack. The tweaks consist of making the jack pads out of ~ 2X3 steel tube with an additional half inch spacer (washer) on the pin to provide a bit more clearance between the jack and the bottom of the car. Overall, this setup should resolve the clearance issue on narrower cars for me.

 

[Naonak]

It turns out I have either two different versions of the RJ-45 jacks, or one of mine is a knockoff... but either way, my arms are different between the jacks, so I had to go back and have a set redone. They are supposed to be done next week. We'll see how they turn out.

 

[sorka]

Did the links come with the mounting points for the air suspension height sensors?