supra has some beefy lower control arms

[themadhatter]

It could just be me but i was looking at my supra and the car has some beefy lower control arms. I mean do are cars really need a lower control arm like that its just massive and its bound to weight a ton(for a lower control arm).
Do our cars really need all that because i think it would be a great place to bull out some unsprung weight out of the suspension.

 

[bigaaron]

Most of the load is on the lower control arm, it needs to be much stronger then the upper arm. The weight of the front of the car is held up by the lower arms.

 

[themadhatter]

i was just thinking you could make it out of lighter materials and still keep it just as strong

 

[bigaaron]

It would be possible, but only part of the control arm is unsprung weight, and the majority of the weight of the lower arm is inboard of the center. If you made it out of chromoly tubing, by the time you had made the brackets for the ball joints and the shock mount reinforced to handle the heavy ass Supra, it would probably be almost the same weight as stock. The lower balljoints are pretty damn heavy though.

Lighter tires and wheels would make a bigger improvement, but if you have that already then custom arms would be cool.
If I learned anything from doing truck suspension though, it was that a few pounts of unsprung weight in the name of strength (and personal safety) is a small price to pay.