Global West knock off?

[61ragtop]

Would you buy these?........

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/58-59...#ht_500wt_1182



They are half the price!!

[64impala]

I bought the same arms off of ebay but from a different seller. I couldnt believe the price either. When i got mine they came in a plain box witha few scratches, but otherwise looked exactly like the GWP arms. Theay are on the car now and the only issue i had was that one of the holes for the upper a-arm was very tight when installing them onto the upper mount studs. My steering is all hooked up with disc brakes and everything fits. When i asked the seller for more info all he could tell me was that he was cleaning out his storage unit and didnt need them...So I bought em and 2 weeks later the same seller was selling the same a-arms not only for impalas, but chevelles as well.......WIERD.....? Good luck and let me know if you have any issues.

[formula]

oh yeah if I had no problem with slowly murdering the american aftermarket companies that work so hard to keep our hobby alive, I'd buy the crap out of them.

[wmhjr]

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...y+control+arms

[TT302Z28]

A good friend of mine bought the same ones for his 69 Camaro. All 4 ball joints have failed within 500 miles since new.

Matt @ Matt's Classic Bowties was telling me a while back horror stories about welds failing on these cheap arms.

Seems to me that these are too important a part to risk cheap knock offs.

[BayouSS]

Made In America Products is all I buy if there is a choice, I always ask if it made in the U.S.
I'd rather pay a few dollars more knowing it is helping our companies and people, plus its a better product and safer.

[carguy502]

I would steer away from these. I bought a set of ebay tubular control arms (Chinese made and sold by a reputable American company). Aside from the downside of not supporting American Manufacturing, I cant get the damn thing to align I am stuck at -2.5*ish camber and the Caster is 'unreadable', according to the alignment shop. the car would align perfectly with the old arms.

I am not saying that will happen with these arms, as I am unfamiliar with these components. That was simply my experience with inexpensive knock-offs for a different car.

The point is that you get what you pay for. I am all for searching for the good deal and being wise with your money, but when I couldn't align my car worth a damn, the solution became painfully clear: buy from the people that engineer this stuff. They are personally vested in manufacturing quality parts and the people overseas are unlikely to manufacturing these with quality and accuracy in mind.

Good luck,

Don

Oh, yes. I'll be supporting American Manufacturing by buying the arms I should have bought in the first place from one of the site supporters.

[dontlifttoshift]

Would you buy these?........

Nope!

oh yeah if I had no problem with slowly murdering the american aftermarket companies that work so hard to keep our hobby alive, I'd buy the crap out of them.

Yep!

[61ragtop]

Thanks for all the info Guys I will NOT be buying these after reading these posts.

[MrQuick]

I know he is a CPP dealer so they maybe CPP arms. they ressemble the black cpp arms. http://www.classicperform.com/NewPro...ubularArms.htm

[SLO_Z28]

I wouldnt buy random a-arms. Being a tubular a-arm isnt an upgrade in itself, it needs to have corrected geometry to be worth putting on, and not even all american brands have that.

the Caster is 'unreadable', according to the alignment shop.

What? >.< Get a new alignment shop.

[carguy502]

I wouldnt buy random a-arms. Being a tubular a-arm isnt an upgrade in itself, it needs to have corrected geometry to be worth putting on, and not even all american brands have that.



What? >.< Get a new alignment shop.

No kidding. I would not have believed it myself, but the tech, who is a buddy of mine and knows who to do custom alignments said the caster was so far out of spec that it would not read. Couple that with significant negative camber with the arms fully adjusted out, knowing the frame is kosher, and the fact that factory arms would align perfectly, the control arms seem to be the cause.

[SLO_Z28]

No kidding. I would not have believed it myself, but the tech, who is a buddy of mine and knows who to do custom alignments said the caster was so far out of spec that it would not read. Couple that with significant negative camber with the arms fully adjusted out, knowing the frame is kosher, and the fact that factory arms would align perfectly, the control arms seem to be the cause.

If you can turn the wheels 20 degrees you can measure caster, period. If you cant turn the wheels 20 degrees you have bigger problems.

[carguy502]

Yep, I know. I don't know if it was their machine or my car (I am personally leaning toward the machine, as I have driven the car on the street, tight u turns and all). I am pretty certain I can turn well over 20 degrees, but the camber remains an un-fixable issue. In light of that, I have been slowly accumulating the correct tools to perform my own alignments and plan to do a set of SPC arms from SC&C.

Sorry to thread jack!

[Driver X]

We should be buying from our Mfg.'s here in the states , jobs are needed , beside why take a chance on something that you dont even know were its really coming from anyways ! Sorry not worth the few saved $$$ buying these oversea's products

[NASH JUDGE]

Plenty of threads on arms like these. Havent seen 1 example of them actually breaking. have read that a member had them tested (billscamino). most replace the hardware. Yes they are inexpensive and this does get everyones attention.

[vidguy]

Im curious what is meant by "Ball Joints Failed"
I had a out of the box, new ball joint from a "popular" american suspension supplier fail upon install.. Claimed to be Moog, clearly were not after I bought Moog replacements and compared.... Stud stripped before I even reached torque. I was not cross threaded and was not even tight. I first tested the same nut on the new joint so it wasn't the nut. It was crappy steel in the Ball Joint. I pulled them both and used the Moogs.
In the same kit were two Billet Tie Rod Connectors that were not threaded deeply enough to get my ball joints anywhere near alignment... Just saying that where a part is made is not an infallible indication of quality. That said, I agree that if parts are being made in the US I'd prefer to buy them, but a Crappy Part at a Bad Price, Made in the US, is still a Crappy part at a Bad Price.. Shop around.

[senor_camaro]

i cant stress enough you get what you pay for. since most of that stuff comes from over-seas specifically china and taiwan, their quality control is a joke, you can already see how the aftermarket sheetmetal fitment from overseas is horrible, i wouldnt expect any less with issues those. be prepaired since I have seen drifters running knock off a arms and have them break on a turn and loose control of the car, slamming into a wall or ditch.