What are the benefits of tubular arms?

[PT Sportwagon]

I am just wondering what the benefit is changing to tubular control arms are verses others? Is it strenght or adjustablity or ?????
I am just curious to know.

Tim

[PT_79_TA_461]

what i hear alot is, less weight and corrected geometry when the car is droped.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Increased Caster built in, and depending on what tubular arms you buy, better bushings, heavy duty ball joint. And they look badd ass too!

[JRouche]

I am just wondering what the benefit is changing to tubular control arms are verses others? Is it strenght or adjustablity or ?????
I am just curious to know.

Tim

It varies from car to car and the arms being used.

I changed to tubular arms so I could change the spindle to install disc brakes. That was my only reason. Drum brakes were scary. That was my only reason to change the arms. A side benefit was improved adjustability. I was able to get 5.5* of max caster if I wanted that. And the tubular arms allowed me to adjust the camber curve to a more desirable curve. The stock arms only allowed for a small amount of adjustment throughout the various settings. And yes, tubular arms look nice and depending on the car will allow less flex. JR

[Tony_SS]

Olders cars were engineerd to run skinny wheels and tires.. when you upgrade to a 17x8, 245/40 tire, it puts a stress on the factory a-arms of course. Tubulars are stonger with the other benifits mentioned above. Also, I think in some cases heavier too.

I run lower tubular arms, but with the uppers I just got a lot of weight and shims.. so I went with SPC arms from SC&C and they worked out perfect.

[PT Sportwagon]

Would it be the same for the rear? Luckily I have factory Discs on the front of the wagon.

Tim

[Twentyover]

There is no performance advantage by going to tubular a-arms. The performance advantage is in design changes the manufacrturers'
incorporate into the design. For instance, I was planning on using my stock stamped lower arms, until i found a manufacturer that moved the lower ball joint car forward. I changed plans and bought his arms, since I was rubbing the tire against the rear of the wheelwell. If i had tried to get caster improvement with only a top arm change, I'd have driven the tire further back into the rear of the well

[Hotchkis]

Features really depend on who manufactured the arms. There are many manufacturers out there. Some are merely inexpensive tubular arms for those looking for the cosmetic look. These are often poor construction or manufactured using sub-par materials. There can be long term costs associated with these such as breakage. We recently repaired a car for someone that had breakage of a competitors part while the owner was 300 miles from his home.

Some of the main advantages to a properly engineered tubular control arm (http://www.hotchkis.net/dodge_b_e_body_geometry_corrected_tubular_upper_aa rms.html) are, added adjustability, improved caster (aids in stability), and improved camber curves (keeps more tire contact patch on road). Most often you gain strength over stock arms..

Then there are others that put extensive engineering into arms, offering engineering improvements , added features, and strength.


The Hotchkis Tubular Arms for example are manufactured in the USA using domestic materials.


Upper control arms feature offset cross shafts for additional camber adjustment
(less shims), added caster, additional gusseting for strength and are TIG welded.


Hotchkis Lower Control arms (http://www.hotchkis.net/6769_fbody_6874_xbody_tubular_lower_aarms.html) have some unique features that people often overlook. 1.5” Tubing for example. Since the lower control arms are load bearing, Hotchkis manufactures the lowers using huge 1.5” diameter tubing for added strength, The tube is then notched and the spring cups are inset and TIG welded, creating an extremely strong, rigid arm. Many other companies just weld the 4 corners where the bucket meets the arm. Another benefit in the Hotchkis arm is the adjustable spring pockets. Aluminum shims located under the polyurethane spring cups allow owners to fine tune their ride heights. Remove a shim, and the spring pocket height is reduced lowering the car further. Keep it installed and the arm is stock height. Tire rubbing? Add shims and raise the height.

I hope this was helpful, feel free to call us for more information (http://www.hotchkis.net/faq.html).