Are aftermarket A body upper control arms worth it ?
Exactly the Information that should of been brought to view for an educated decision for the original poster.
Missinformation about drawbacks etc. This is why I responded to throw out a viewpoint to take note and look at. Research is what they are after.
I still believe it's a waste of cash but that is my .02
But you did it in a way that was wildly inaccurate. There were
never failures from
all the manufacturers. Literally 1 or 2, and the main culprit has been defunct for a decade. I’ve never heard of a catastrophic failure from Hotchkis, SPC, Firm Feel, RMS, QA1, PST, etc.
And the utility depends on the application. If all you’re going to do is run 14” or 15” rims with narrow all season tires then sure, stock UCA’s with offset bushings and the +3.5* or so of caster most can get with those will be ok. But having run 15” rims and 215’s on my Challenger I can tell you even that that set up felt better at +5* caster than it did at +3*, the steering and handling feels much more stable with more positive caster. Which has everything to do with the the factory suspension being designed around bias ply tires.
And if you run 245 or wider tires up front you will absolutely notice the difference running more positive caster. I won’t go as far as saying it’s mandatory, but it makes a huge difference in steering feel and stability with wider tires.
Unless you’re running bias ply’s or a strip only car I think the additional positive caster you get from tubular UCA’s is well worth the price. And if you’re building your car for handling with wider front tires they’re a huge benefit.
