Tubular A arms

[firebirdzig]

So I'm looking on ebay and can find a set of upper and lower controls arms for 250.00 for the complete set for my 68 firebird. Then you look at DSE and it's 700 for just a set of upper control arms. What is the difference in the two A arms? Also they have a coil over strut bar but when you look at the QA1 coil overs they don't say anything about needing anything extra to install them. If anyone could shed some light on to this subject that would be great. Thanks!

[ROBS6T8]

So I'm looking on ebay and can find a set of upper and lower controls arms for 250.00 for the complete set for my 68 firebird. Then you look at DSE and it's 700 for just a set of upper control arms. What is the difference in the two A arms? Also they have a coil over strut bar but when you look at the QA1 coil overs they don't say anything about needing anything extra to install them. If anyone could shed some light on to this subject that would be great. Thanks!

The Ebay arms are made in China! The others are not. There has been numerous discussion on these arms over at Team Camaro. Go there and search Ebay control arms. www.camaros.net (http://www.camaros.net) Look under the Brakes, Suspension and Steering forum.

[Barrrf]

Theres been numerous discussions about those arms on ALL of the forums.........everywhere. And there are strong opinions as to why you shouldn't run them.

The general consensus is - CPP arms = No. Everyone elses arms = yes.

[BMR Sales]

Buy Quality Parts made in the USA and Don't Look Back.

[Classic Nova & Performance]

DSE & the other USA manufactured control arms are higher quality components, construction, & improved geometry. As BMR Sales & others have said go USA manufactured & don't look back. They are worth the additional money.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

The off shore built ebay cheap junk is for people who simply want tubular arms on their car while sitting at a car show, and are too concerned with price to care about safety and/or high quality.

The difference is strength, quality, tolerances, design, engineering, innovation, the real deal rather than a quick copy, testing, and products made by people who fully understand their intended uses and actually do use them on their personal vehicles.

If you're serious about performance, stick with only USA developed and produced parts. You get to talk first hand to the people that put the engineering and testing into the products, you support the vendors that are putting so much effort into moving the Pro Touring world along, and you're helping good ol' American folks like me support our families through our jobs. :)

[Tom Welch]

For my money the adjustable upper arms made by SPC are the best choice due to the high quality race developed design and the almost infinite adjustability.

i like their tubular lower arms, too.

[rickpaw]

There are places on a car that can use cheap/offshore parts, and others that I'd use nothing but the best. Those parts are brakes/suspensions. Too much stakes involve if one of those parts breaks/fails.

If budget is a concern, I'd rebuild the stock control arms before buying offshore arms.

[chevelletiger]

Theres been numerous discussions about those arms on ALL of the forums.........everywhere. And there are strong opinions as to why you shouldn't run them.

The general consensus is - CPP arms = No. Everyone elses arms = yes.
Bart,the cpp arms your thinking of are there econo brand that are made in china,the brand they manufacture are made in placentia ca. About a five minute dtive from my shop...bad sale service yes there known for that they always treat me well though in person,the counter guys are great..

[rchaskin]

Buy Quality Parts made in the USA and Don't Look Back.

What he said.......

[Barrrf]

I would wager a bet that all of the above responses is why CPP isn't a sponsor here.

[BMR Sales]

Besides Safety, think for a minute about how a Company like ours and other companies do things. We design, develop, test products, then put them into production. We employ American Welders named Tommy, Jesse, Rob, etc and we provide Tech Support and we are Sponsors of Sites like this. These Chinese Companies Steal our Designs & reproduce them. Who knows what grade steel they are using (we only use U.S. sourced DOM Tubing) and that person in China doing the Welding has no Idea what a Firebird is.

Think of it in a different way. Say you are married - you invested a lot of time & money wooing your future wife, got married, put your finances towards a house, the kids, nice things. Maybe your Wife even has some enhanced Fun-Bags. Do you want some scumbag sliding in & taking your Wife for Fun Time behind your back?

Was your Firebird made in China? No! So don't putting Chinese Crap on it, it deserves better!

T.C.

[Barrrf]

True - and I hate the fact the designs are ripped off. And I apologize for buying cheap CPP control arms. Someday soon, I'll get real arms.

And I'll say this - BMR has the best riding progressive rate lowering springs Ive been on. And that's why I have them on my car.

[bret]

Besides Safety, think for a minute about how a Company like ours and other companies do things. We design, develope, test products, then put them into production. We employ American Welders named Tommy, Jesse, Rob, etc and we provide Tech Support and we are Sponsors of Sites like this. These Chinese Companies Steal our Designs & reproduce them. Who knows what grade steel they are using (we only use U.S. sourced DOM Tubing) and that person in China doing the Welding has no Idea what a Firebird is.

Think of it in a different way. Say you are married - you invested a lot of time & money wooing your future wife, got married, put your finances towards a house, the kids, nice things. Maybe your Wife even has some enhanced Fun-Bags. Do you want some scumbag sliding in & taking your Wife for Fun Time behind your back?



Was your Firebird made in China? No! So don't putting Chinese Crap on it, it deserves better!

T.C.

Yep. what he said. You don't have to buy ours [but I wish you would :)] just don't buy Chinese crap. The Chinese don't care if you ever build another car or buy another product. We do.

[rickpaw]

Was your Firebird made in China? No! So don't putting Chinese Crap on it, it deserves better!

T.C.

Not originally, but my Firebird now is half Taiwanese. LOL

[chevelletiger]

Not originally, but my Firebird now is half Taiwanese. LOL
Lmfao! How true this is for most of our cars.

[badazz81z28]

One thing that unforuntaly took me too many years to realize (due to my ignorance), is spend the money once on quality parts and don't look back. Control arms from places like Detroit Speed and Hotchkis may be expensive, but they are superior in qualityt o anything else. I bought PTFB crap years ago and what a waste of money! People rave ahh...How great of an arm for the dollar etc..Like others have said over and over again, you get what you pay for. Small tubing, sub-par welds, chinese ball joints...Ill pass.
Alot of the cheaper arms you see on Ebay etc are nothing more than tubular arms (no caster/camber performace gains)

[Barrrf]

Bart,the cpp arms your thinking of are there econo brand that are made in china,the brand they manufacture are made in placentia ca. About a five minute dtive from my shop...bad sale service yes there known for that they always treat me well though in person,the counter guys are great..

Wait - so which is which? The ebay arms that comes from ebay sellers but say CPP on the box are the econobrand right? I didn't know they offered "non-econo" brand arms. BRB - heading to CPP website.

[tommycomfort]

Wait - so which is which? The ebay arms that comes from ebay sellers but say CPP on the box are the econobrand right? I didn't know they offered "non-econo" brand arms. BRB - heading to CPP website.

Does it matter? A company that is willing to sell inferior parts from China as an "econo line" or "budget brand" has no place on my American muscle car even with the their American made parts. I have even started researching the companies that twist things around and have their parts cast overseas and then machine them here. Although that does employ some Americans, there could be more. A common excuse is that there is nobody that will cast the parts in relatively small quantities here. Does anyone know why that is? I have a good idea...

[killer69]

[QUOTE=badazz81z28;1067859]One thing that unforuntaly took me too many years to realize (due to my ignorance), is spend the money once on quality parts and don't look back. Control arms from places like Detroit Speed and Hotchkis may be expensive, but they are superior in qualityt o anything else.


Don't know if I would agree 100% with that statement. just like to be included in the fun.

[firebirdzig]

Thanks for all the replies! So I was looking at the CPP website and most of their prices seems to be on par with everyone else. It says that their products are made in the USA. Are they actually made in China and have inferior parts or have people just been scorned by their service?

[Rod]

Thanks for all the replies! So I was looking at the CPP website and most of their prices seems to be on par with everyone else. It says that their products are made in the USA. Are they actually made in China and have inferior parts or have people just been scorned by their service?

I dont know???

but my question is why do you want tube arms?...if its for performance, then dont look at price look at the specifications..look at the quality of bushings, quality ball joints, caster gain, ball joint angles redesigned for lowered vehicles, is it compatible with your other suspension choices(like coil-overs, tru-turn, ATS spindle, brakes, whatever) find what fits all your suspension needs and get that

on a side note, I purchased some eBay arms, and test ran them for a month, in the real world of autocross and daily use (and I beat the **** outta my stuff) the balljoints SUCKED the lowers were near failure after a month, and the lower arms had what looked like small fractures near the bushings after bead blasting the powder coating off

[Nicks67GTO]

Does it matter? A company that is willing to sell inferior parts from China as an "econo line" or "budget brand" has no place on my American muscle car even with the their American made parts. I have even started researching the companies that twist things around and have their parts cast overseas and then machine them here. Although that does employ some Americans, there could be more. A common excuse is that there is nobody that will cast the parts in relatively small quantities here. Does anyone know why that is? I have a good idea...

This is one of the things that attracted me to the Billet Specialties Mag wheels. According to them 100% cast and machined, made in America. Finding anything actually cast in America is pretty difficult.

[Carl @ Chassisworks]

Chris wrote an essay on this topic a couple years ago. “There is no such thing as a new idea, just new
collections of ideas” Download it by clicking here: Grand Theft Product (http://www.cachassisworks.com/whitepapers/GrandTheftProduct_by_ChrisAlston.pdf). You can find this and other commentary on the industry in the "Chris's Corner" section of our Tech Center. (http://www.cachassisworks.com/cac_tech_articles.html)