has anyone converted to tubular a arms without changing a lot of other suspension stuff at the same time? i'm hoping someone can weigh in on the increased stiffness and improved camber gain of the arm only - everyone i know has done arms along with bushing and shock and spring mods, and they can't isolate how much the tubular arm actually does. i've got polygraphite bushings in stock arms now.

Arms alone cannot, and will not give you any camber gain. In fact, the only geometry issue that they help, is to give you more positive caster. Aside from that, the only advantage to tubular arms is strength, and in some cases weight.

Arms alone cannot, and will not give you any camber gain. In fact, the only geometry issue that they help, is to give you more positive caster. Aside from that, the only advantage to tubular arms is strength, and in some cases weight.

Are you sure you don't have that backwards? Whatever caster you want (within reason) can be dialed in by shim packs or if the arms themselves are adjustable (like the SPC units) by adjusting the upper arms themselves. Surely an SPC upper arm vs. a stock upper arm will provide different camber gains with all else being equal. The difference in the length and the shape of the SPC and stock arms alone would dictate that wouldn't it? The swing arc of the upper ball joint in an SPC arm and a stock arm would have to be noticeably different.

Of course the typical GW or Hotchkiss tubular upper arms would probably function the same as stock arms all else being equal....

The difference in length would make a pretty small difference in the ammount of camber-gain that you would get, but not enough to really matter. The only reason for shorter arms, is because the stock spindles put the upper arms at an angle, and with tall-spindles, or tall-balljoints, they are at less of an angle, and need to be shorter so that the wheels are not tipped out on top.

The stock arms, even with a lot of shims in the back, would not give you enough positive caster for performance driving. This is why the tubular and adjustable arms always put the upper ball-joint further back than the stock arms.