Control Freak Suspensions - Any good?

[BigB6958]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this company, and what the results were, quality of product etc. Was considering RMS or QA1 and hadn't heard of this brand before. They are relatively the same prices.

B

 

[72bluNblu]

I forget which company it was the Control Freaks ripped off, but it was either RMS or HDK. Basically they contacted the other company and pretended to be something other than another company and then reverse engineered (copied) the majority of their design from the existing company's product.

If I were in the market for a coil over conversion I'd be looking at RMS or HDK. Both are proven designs and have been around a long time. QA1 is also a good company (and I run some of their suspension components myself) but being quite a bit larger company I'd say you'd get more personalized customer service from HDK or RMS. @HemiDenny, owner of HDK, is a member here. Now, I'm not in the market for a coil over conversion because you can handle just as well with upgraded torsion bar suspension, but that wasn't the question so I'll leave it at that.

I haven't heard anything negative about the actual Control Freak product, but their initial start up definitely involved some shady practices.

 

[HemiDenny]

I forget which company it was the Control Freaks ripped off, but it was either RMS or HDK. Basically they contacted the other company and pretended to be something other than another company and then reverse engineered (copied) the majority of their design from the existing company's product.

If I were in the market for a coil over conversion I'd be looking at RMS or HDK. Both are proven designs and have been around a long time. QA1 is also a good company (and I run some of their suspension components myself) but being quite a bit larger company I'd say you'd get more personalized customer service from HDK or RMS. @HemiDenny, owner of HDK, is a member here. Now, I'm not in the market for a coil over conversion because you can handle just as well with upgraded torsion bar suspension, but that wasn't the question so I'll leave it at that.

I haven't heard anything negative about the actual Control Freak product, but their initial start up definitely involved some shady practices.

it was RMS/AlterK they (Control Freak) copied / ripped off but made it a tubular version. Carl Gerst, purchased by Qa1, pretty much did the same thing including Control Freaks tubular design.

 

[68cuda408]

I have an HDK front and control freak triangulated rear. The OP didn't state which end of the car . I have been very pleased with both for about 10 years.

 

[abodyjoe]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this company, and what the results were, quality of product etc. Was considering RMS or QA1 and hadn't heard of this brand before. They are relatively the same prices.

B

its a knock off of an old RMS set up. guy with a blue dart over on marparts posted all about coping the RMS set up years ago which ended up being control freak.

 

[RustyRatRod]

You won't find a better product with better customer service than Hemi Denny, IMO. He's always here and participating as proven by his post up there^^^^. Plus you cannot lose supporting a good forum member.

 

[DionR]

My brother has both ends in his '71 Demon project. Only thing I can remember being an issue was it didn't have steering stops so his steering could have rubbed on the wheel (I think?). I know he had custom steering stops added to fix whatever the problem was.

FYI, I tried to get him to buy a HDK kit, but this stuff showed up at our local swap meet with a bunch of other stuff (brakes, etc.), so he jumped on it.

 

[BigB6958]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I agree on supporting members, and not supporting sketchy folks and so I went to the HDK site. I have some questions so I will give them a call, or message Hemi Denny directly. The car is still in body/paint so it will be a while, but I want to get stuff ordered so it'll be ready when I bring the car back to start reassembly, wiring etc. I'll throw some pics into a new thread so you can see progress.

 

[HemiDenny]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I agree on supporting members, and not supporting sketchy folks and so I went to the HDK site. I have some questions so I will give them a call, or message Hemi Denny directly. The car is still in body/paint so it will be a while, but I want to get stuff ordered so it'll be ready when I bring the car back to start reassembly, wiring etc. I'll throw some pics into a new thread so you can see progress.

anytime....

HemiDenny
304-939-0097

 

[BigB6958]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I agree on supporting members, and not supporting sketchy folks and so I went to the HDK site. I have some questions so I will give them a call, or message Hemi Denny directly. The car is still in body/paint so it will be a while, but I want to get stuff ordered so it'll be ready when I bring the car back to start reassembly, wiring etc. I'll throw some pics into a new thread so you can see progress.

Tried attaching pics to a new thread but it kept saying the files were to large. I'll sort it out and post later

 

[Woody500]

I forget which company it was the Control Freaks ripped off, but it was either RMS or HDK. Basically they contacted the other company and pretended to be something other than another company and then reverse engineered (copied) the majority of their design from the existing company's product.

If I were in the market for a coil over conversion I'd be looking at RMS or HDK. Both are proven designs and have been around a long time. QA1 is also a good company (and I run some of their suspension components myself) but being quite a bit larger company I'd say you'd get more personalized customer service from HDK or RMS. @HemiDenny, owner of HDK, is a member here. Now, I'm not in the market for a coil over conversion because you can handle just as well with upgraded torsion bar suspension, but that wasn't the question so I'll leave it at that.

I haven't heard anything negative about the actual Control Freak product, but their initial start up definitely involved some shady practices.

I won't be using coils overs either. Or Heim joints, they dont last(Johnny joints much better & rebuildable)
I,d be OK with that if they were charging less money, since development cost them way less. Once again greed wins.
And I'd like to hear your torsion bar handling setup details.

 

[72bluNblu]

I won't be using coils overs either. Or Heim joints, they dont last(Johnny joints much better & rebuildable)
I,d be OK with that if they were charging less money, since development cost them way less. Once again greed wins.
And I'd like to hear your torsion bar handling setup details.

Heims work in some locations but not others, it depends on how they're loaded. The heims at the front of my adjustable strut rods did 70k street miles on my '72 Challenger and are still fine, but the ones at the UCA's did 7k miles and were smoked. So it depends on the application.

You can shoot me a PM if you want, I've posted my set up a bunch of times but since it's not the focus of this thread I don't want to derail it.

 

[Woody500]

Heims work in some locations but not others, it depends on how they're loaded. The heims at the front of my adjustable strut rods did 70k street miles on my '72 Challenger and are still fine, but the ones at the UCA's did 7k miles and were smoked. So it depends on the application.

You can shoot me a PM if you want, I've posted my set up a bunch of times but since it's not the focus of this thread I don't want to derail it.

Glad to, but how do I do that? Or what threads is it on.
Also Johnny Joints have grease fittings. Some Heims do, too, but body is weakened by hole for zerk & shears off there easily.

 

[72bluNblu]

Glad to, but how do I do that? Or what threads is it on.

Just use the mouse and hover over my username, you should get an info box with a "start conversation" button