[Jamesp]

This is a very complicated technical argument. Degrees of freedom are important in mechanical systems. The spherical bearing eliminates force coupling (due to the spherical design being unable to counter moments) and is lighter, versus the beefier replacement which appears to be cylindrical, couples forces, and acts as a spring. Which is "better?". The devil is in the details. Bigger / resisting force is not necessarily better. This gets into the nit picky engineering details of the suspension design and strikes to why a spherical (and relatively expensive / complex) design was chosen here instead of a simpler cylindrical design. Ride comfort perhaps? In a box? Perhaps. I really don't know. I'm sure there are folks involved with racing that can clarify.