DOES THE HDK SUSPENSION K-MEMBER HANDLE BETTER THAN A T-BAR SUSPENSION?

I'm sorry, there are huge issues with welded structural Alum suspension pieces. Welded steel and welded Alum have night and day differences regarding fatigue, and why you very seldom see if ever welded alum suspension items. It a common misconception.

LOL!!!

What utter horse puckey! All aluminum, welded or not, has a fatigue life. And all welds, ALL welds, have a fatigue life too. Yes, even in steel. That fatigue life is different depending on the base material and filler, and depending on the alloy the welding process itself. Hell welding high carbon steel has a whole host of issues if the temperatures aren't controlled and the product isn't heat cycled afterward to address carbon migration into the welds.

As far as welded suspension components, well, you pretty much only see them in the aftermarket to begin with. OE stuff is pretty much all cast or stamped, because having individual welded components adds complexity to manufacturing. And it's a quality variable, which OE manufacturers don't want in suspension components.

You rarely see welded aluminum components in the aftermarket because high quality aluminum welding is a skill not a lot of people have. And since most of our aftermarket suspension components aren't actually engineered, just welded together, well, you don't see people using aluminum. Using aluminum for those pieces is fine, IF you do the engineering work to make sure the parts will hold up. Most companies use mild steel because they do ZERO engineering on this stuff.

It's not a problem inherent with welded aluminum. Properly engineered and welded there's no "huge issues" with welded aluminum. Hell most motorcycle frames nowadays are welded cast aluminum, which introduces another entire level of complexity. Which can be addressed of course with proper engineering and procedures, obviously.

I like how when you really throw out wild stuff you put your reply in other peoples quotes so you can't be quoted too. Classy.

J-c-c said
The kits became avaliable when the fully dressed cars were not in demand. Again, if I remember correctly it took a bit of arm twisting to get them to offer kits, and that was close to the end of the line of that operation.
Like who needs to buy a straight round tube from them for a SFC?

You're just making stuff up now. The article about the cars came out in December of '06. The articles you linked were '07, and they already talked about the suspension kits that you could buy and install yourself.

I bought a set of XV set belts in '08, and absolutely at that point you could buy any of their suspension components separately because I looked at all of them. The original XV was around for a few years after that point, past 2010 for sure.