Ebay control arms

[gmcdermit1]

Does anyone know anything about the wysco upper control arms on ebay for 260.00 bucks? My dad hit a curb after a ball joint broke in his 67 firebird and bent his upper and lower. He already replace the lower with another stock one and was going to buy another stock upper for like 150.00 till I told him about the wysco ones on ebay. Do these have improved geometry and will they help the handling or are they junk and we should stay away from them. This is a budget job so any of the expensive big name stuff is out of the question. What do you think?

[David Pozzi]

They will work, but the slugs that insert into the upper shafts for more caster were breaking. They may have fixed that problem by now.
Read this: http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=141451

[MuscleRodz]

Recomend stay away. Read the thread that David posted liberally

[carguy502]

Sooo glad I found this thread. I must admit that I was going to succumb to the temptation of these inexpensive arms. I was going to buy them this weekend. Dodger that bullet.
Don

[CRead01]

Check out the spc control arms from scandc.com. they arent much more and they are great quality.

[gmcdermit1]

Well I guess we'll shy away from those. I'm really glad he didn't order them now!

[wendell]

A stock control are is going to do exactly what you need it ot do. Don't get missled by the "if it's aftermarket and or powder coated its better" stuff. Use the money saved to buy some decent ball joints. The good ones don't break.

[XLexusTech]

Food for thought I tend to look for deals like this, Simply because I don't have much $$. I have watched these threads both here and on other sites very closely. The slug issue was in the early arms the % failure was very low but it certainly makes you think.

So bottomline for me is I don't want to stress if the $$ i saved is going to cost me a trip to the body shop or hospital. Its tempting but I will find another place to save some coin... Like paint :-) cause at least a few runs wont get me killed...

[David Pozzi]

Any stock arms should be carefully inspected, especially in the area of the middle of the lower A arm in line with the coil spring seat. There is very high load there and I have seen the rear flange crack (rear lower edge that is bent down) on a first gen arm in that location. A nick or deep scratch can propagate into a crack, so I'd smooth out any damage in that area. The other area to look over is the ball joint seat.
David

[gmcdermit1]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I believe he is just going to go with the stock arm again. For a little off topic question about the same car....Does anyone know if a set of four front GTA rims with 245 50 or 255 50 tires will fit that 67 bird without rubbing? He thinks they'll rub because he had rally 2's with 235 60 15 on the front that rubbed. I told him the offset and tire height is definately differnt. I just don't want him to spend money on tires and then not fit. Any thoughts or has anyone used this combo on a first gen?

[MuscleRodz]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I believe he is just going to go with the stock arm again. For a little off topic question about the same car....Does anyone know if a set of four front GTA rims with 245 50 or 255 50 tires will fit that 67 bird without rubbing? He thinks they'll rub because he had rally 2's with 235 60 15 on the front that rubbed. I told him the offset and tire height is definately differnt. I just don't want him to spend money on tires and then not fit. Any thoughts or has anyone used this combo on a first gen?

Are they real GTA wheels or aftermarket? My neighbor has a set of aftermarket on his 69 and no rub issues. The factory ones are offset front and rear and I think we had to swap front to rear to eleiminate rub issues last time we used factory wheels. He should need 4 rears if memory serves.

[gmcdermit1]

They are all for fronts with the deeper lips. These are offset more towards the outside of the car so hopefully they don't rub and they are originals.

[gmcdermit1]

My dad got the control arms in. He ordered them before I got a chance to tell him a definite NO. I didn't know he was doing it. First off the hardware for the ball joints were junk. Two of the screws stripped out when he tightened em up a bit. Then we had to ream the holes a bit to even bolt them on. Then when he went to install them he couldn't get it back together. He was using a jack to raise the control arm upand it was lifting the car before the spindle would go on the ball joint with the upper on the bump stop. He say's he never had a problem assembling the stock set up this way so he is sending them back. Way too much hassle to save a few bucks. I wasn't really all that impressed with this automotive jewelry! That is all they were. The company was hesitant to give him his money back but he insisted on negative feed back and to go to every forum he could with his experience so they finally agreed. Now he has decided to just get another stock upper. I will definately get the sc&c ones for my ride when the time comes, pay alittle extra and do it right the first time!