# Lower Control Arms Touching Brake Rotor



## jtwoods4 (Dec 22, 2011)

Well after several weekends working on my 69 GTO (A-Body) I finally have the car back on the ground. 

Installed: 
SPC Upper Control arms
Howe tall ball joints
SPC Lowering Springs
Kept my stock spindles
Kept my stock Lower Control arms

Tonight I started adjusting the camber and noticed that the lower control arm is touching the brake rotor. As part of the SPC Installation instructions the disc brake splash guard has to be cut away on the bottom so the lower control arms has clearance. However, my lower control arm needs even more clearance. It is slammed into the brake rotor.

Any help would be appreciated. Is there some sort of shim I can put behind the rotor to push it out about a 1/4 inch? Any ideas? Anyone experience this?


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

No way to shim a rotor. You need a different rotor, or a different control arm.


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## jtwoods4 (Dec 22, 2011)

Hmmm. Well several fold are running the SPC Upper Control Arms and Tall Ball joints with their stock lower control arms and rotors. Something is not right. Could my inner wheel bearing be the wrong thickness? Maybe causing the rotor to be a few hundredths of an inch closer to the control arn?

Maybe I could get the correct Temkin inner bearing and compare it to mine.


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## jtwoods4 (Dec 22, 2011)

Ok, I have a solution. After talking with Ramey at UMI and Mark at SC&C we narrowed down the issue. 

Mark has seen this same issue on a few of the 69 A-Body's. Turns out that GM had several different vendors that stamped the lower control arms. One of the vendors stampings was about 1/8 inch longer at the very tip of the ball joint pocket.

The solution is to reform the tip of the lower control arm with a 4 pound hammer and light taps, so not to damage the control arm. 

Apparently after market brake kits from Baer and Wilwood do not have this issue. After market control arms are also a solution.

I am going out to the garage now to reform the control arm......

Ok guys here is a detailed video showing how to make the modification to the lower control arm. Thanks again for the help.

(EDIT.. THE CORRECT VIDEO LINK IS BELOW)


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

Excellent video for future reference! "Little Bertha" can be a very formidable persuader.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Great video....did you turn the wheel lock to lock with the car on the ground after the mod???? Eric :cheers


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## jtwoods4 (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks Eric. Yeah I turned the wheel and checked the gap and I seem to be okay. I just did an alignment caster and camber adjustment with the SPC fasttrack. If you're not familiar with this tool I highly recommend it you can do alignments in your garage. Just do a youtube search for SPC fasttrack. They might actually spell it fastrax.


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