Front upper control arms

[1985olds]

This may sound like a dumb question, but Do the more expensive front upper control arms make that big of a difference on a mainly street driven car? Currently I have cheapie South side machine uppers on my car. I have a set of new umi uppers on my self and am wondering if they are worth swapping them in? The link below are the umis that I have.




http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...roducts_id=610

[csouth]

I don't think it's the price, but the R&D UMI has put in developing the parts that make them worth it. If you chose UMI, you've probably seen the test vehicles and know the Green Machine performs. I don't know anything about SSM, but the test vehicles of UMI show how they can back their product up with real life performance.

[79T/Aman]

there is no difference in how a control arm looks, all they do is connect point "A" to point "B" ( in this case ball joint to bushing ), there are however differences in the relationship of point A and B that can be altered to improve caster setting, ball joint angle, the type of bushings used, offset cross shaft.

The only issue with the SSM is that from the set I saw they were straight off the circle track parts shelf, they will work, the solid bushings are great, no deflection and last a life time, make sure you grease them, the negatives are no droop stop, (not a big deal), unsure as to the amount of positive caster that may be built in, lack of offset in the cross shaft ( not a big deal ) the biggest problem with circle track upper arms is that they are sacrificial parts, they are made to bend when a race car tags the wall or another car to save the rest of the suspension and frame from getting damaged so they are made of thinner wall tubing.