ACR hubs with snap ring or retainer plate?

I hit the junkyard today to get some spare knuckles & lower control arms to build a set of spares (with new hubs) to carry with me to the track. I pulled the knuckles off a couple different model years and was comparing them ie. the 95-97 snap ring style and the 97+ retaining plate style.

I am looking for opinions or anyone's experience (good or bad) on using the snap ring style knuckles as compared to the retainer plate style.

My first thought was that the retainer style would be beefier and possibly better for the extreme stresses of racing however, after comparing the knuckles side by side, I noticed that the older knuckles (snap ring style) are actually thicker and hold more of the hub flange inside the knuckle - at least 3-4mm or more. Therefore my reasoning says that will produce less leverage and therefore less lateral stresses on the hub than the retainer style knuckle because more of the horizontal length of the hub flange is secured inside the knuckle. The geometry just seems better as the more horizontal length of flange that is exposed would produce an exponential increase in stress on the hub due to the leverage. Would it not?

Is my reasoning sound on this?

I've used both, and have never really considered the relative strength. I think you may be correct, but my experience on the ministock track suggest there are a whole lot of spots that bend or break long before the bearing mount area. Plus, with a Neon you'll be changing hubs often enough it may be nice to not fight with the snap ring.


Looking at it from a slightly different perspective, is the bolt together unit lighter? After going to lighter wheels, I have decided that unsprung weight is your enemy.