The suspension uses 36 Heim joints (a.k.a., spherical rod ends or rose joints). For 28 of those instances Superlite provides two aluminum cone washers and four grade 8 washers to mount each Heim joint (see the "Before" picture below). The cone washers allow the ball to rotate to a large angle without the case binding in the mounting bracket and the grade 8 washers take up the remaining space between the cone washer and the mounting bracket.
It's a simple but exasperating process to get everything lined up so that you can slide the bolt through, particularly if you're doing it by yourself. The bolt is a tight fit in the bracket and ball swivel holes (a good thing) and the diameters of the grade 8 and cone washers are different.
I've taken these assemblies apart many times and I finally decided to improve things. I had Agile Automotive Performance make a set of custom cone washers. They have the following benefits:
- They're a dream to install, no %@#! profanity required
- They look great
- They're a lot lighter
- They allow the ball to rotate to a greater angle without binding; I'm not sure if that's useful in my case, but it certainly doesn't hurt
The weights in grams of the before and after assemblies are as follows:
- 5/8" bolt: 80 vs. 10
- 1/2" bolt: 46 vs. 12
So what does that amount to for the whole car? Approximately 2,096 grams (4.6 pounds) which is negligible. That said, the primary reason I made the change was to make assembly easy.
