Major problem with $$$$ performance upper control arm.....

[Mtrain]

This is on a coil over kit from one of the major vintage Mustang suspension venders.

Its my wife's 65 Mustang fastback. I went to change the alternator, and needed to pull the passenger side front wheel off for easier access {read Paxton supercharger, alt mounting is different}.

I was stunned when I seen the upper control arm as it was bent all to Hell. Just for now I'm going to keep the venders name, and the picture of the upper arm to myself.

Anyway, like I said, this is on my wifes Mustang for which she only drives it to local car shows, and puts maybe 200 miles on it a year now for the past four or five years.

I called the company before Christmas, and talked to a tech. He asked that I send him some pictures. I did.

He said he was going to have to let the owner figure it out as they had never seen anything like that before.

They got back to me, and the tech said the owner said that if it was his he would just "hammer" it back straight.

They said they could give me a replacement for $120 approx. I thought about taking the offer, but decided to wait until the holidays were over to think on it some more. {Of course that offer probably isn't on the table any longer}.

So the more I think of it the more I think they should swap out the whole arm for free, as it was some kind of manuf. defect vs my wife using her Mustang to jump 15 cars

Her Mustang has NEVER been hit by even a squirrel, curb or anything as there is, her word, and NO damage to the front fiberglass Shelby valence, or wheels.

The other issue is that I have four other Mustangs, three of which have that same suspension, as well as their rack/pinion steering. So you can see I have spent a $$$$ with this company.

I would post the pictures, but that would give away who made them. There is a guy from this company who is on this forum, but I can't remember his name.

What do you guys think? Am I being unreasonable, or should they step up, and send a new arm?

Thanks.

[Mtrain]

Oh, almost forgot the drivers side upper arm was fine.

[Bdrainy]

I'm not taking your side or the company's side...but as someone who speaks to customers all day long, I would be hesitant to send a free replacement on something that was 5+ years old. (I assume that they are that old based on the comment above she has put 200 miles on the car for the last 4-5 years).

Since the owner was involved in this decision (not just the guy on the phone) I would try and speak directly to him. It really can only be one of two causes...either she hit something (which you have pretty much ruled out) or there was a problem with the arm. If you have dropped this company's entire suspension set up in to 4-5 mustangs over the years I would think the owner would be pretty flexible with you.

Possible she nailed a really bad pothole? Didn't cause any body damage but could have screwed the arm...? Have you checked to see if that wheel is still in balance?

Just a couple of ideas I had reading over your post. I wish you luck with it all. - Brian

[slim]

Maybe a large chipmonk?

[sdmustangrider]

First of all, how did the UCA bend? Things just don't happened without a cause unless it was THAT BADLY made.

[dognut]

You should post a photo & makers name so we don't purchase anything from them.Control arms are not suposed to bend/fail.You would have had tyre,wheel damage first.At the price of aftermarket parts they should be ten times as strong.Stock ones don't bend.I'd call them & ask for an exchange at least.Im sure they have at least one thats been on the shelf collecting dust.Good luck,tom

[va1966stang]

for what it is worth, here are my two cents on the matter.

It sounds like this part isn't really new. Now, if you have purchased the part in the past year or so, all I am about to say is null and void and I think you have a good case for a replacement.

There are really three things that caused the defect. 1. you did something, 2. the manufacturer failed to do something (defective part), or 3. some third party did something. Lets look at each cause now

1. you did something - we can rule this out right away because you said that you personally didn't do anything.

2. the manufacturer failed to do something - this would present itself through normal use as a malfunction. Generally the argument for manufacturing defects have a limited amount of time associated with them. example: my Oakley's from the 90's snap even though I never used them for sports and put them in the case when they were not being worn. Do my plastic sunglasses breaking after two decades mean the manufacturer is at fault, even though I took care of them? Probably not. So the counter argument here is that many manufacturing companies offer lifetime warranties, but this is a marketing game since the replacement cost is so low. IE: my $150 Oakley's really only cost the company $15 to make and sell. So keeping me happy and a repeat customer is worth the 10% discount to the original sale. (woah that was a tangent!)

3. Someone else did something - This is the unknown. Did your wife hit a massive pothole when she was driving without you, get out, see no body or tire damage, and assume everything was ok? Did someone at your local garage put some sort of crazy stress on the piece that caused it to fail? Who knows what could have happened while you weren't watching.

So the long and short is that from a factual standpoint we know the following things:
1. You know you didn't do anything.
2. Since you have owned the part for a substantial amount of time, the manufacturer is reasonably sure they didn't sell you a defective part.
3. They have NO idea what you could have done to it in the past 'x' years to the part.
4. There is a substantial time period where any of a million things could have happened.

So who is at fault? Maybe you, maybe them, most likely someone that you haven't even identified. So on both ends, there are a lot of unknown (which I guess is why I empathize with the manufacturer not wanting to replace something that they have no idea what it has been through, a demolition derby for all they know!)

What I would do is buck up and pay the $120. Knowing that you have a fastback with a supercharger on it, I can guess that $120 is a fraction of the total investment of the vehicle. And you will probably spend a lot of time fighting this, if you spend 10 hours on it and win, you effectively just worked for $12/hr and probably ruined a relationship with a vendor.

Again, just my thought process and opinion. I personally think there are too many unknowns in this thing for anyone here to definitely tell you what is right/wrong and ethical/unethical.

TW

[Mtrain]

A pot hole that big would have warped the rim.

Ok, here is a pic.

[sanch052]

I know your trying to keep the company's name secret, but without pictures its hard to pick a side. That said I would of lost my mind with "just "hammer" it back straight" comment.

[slim]

No offense intended. You said IIRC you have three other Stangs with the same front suspension as your wife's.

Here's the deal. 4 cars with same set up. 1 fails for no reason. I would be worried about the other 3 unless there's a reason for the 1 failure.

What is the variable? 3 are yours, 1 is your wife's. No accusation just an observation.

Maybe the other 3 will fail for no reason!


Don't flame me!
Slim

[22GT]

Originally Posted by sdmustangrider

First of all, how did the UCA bend? Things just don't happened without a cause unless it was THAT BADLY made.

I agree. I have a stock HD suspension, with 400,000 miles on it, and I'm still using the original upper arms. And I have always driven the crap out of it. His upper arms, with no weight on them, should have been immortal, and carried a lifetime warranty.

[JeffTepper]

Two additional points to consider:

Has the car been towed or transported on a trailer at any time since the suspension was installed? If so, it is possible that the control arm was used as an anchor point in pulling the car up onto the flatbed or tie it down and perhaps the tweak may have occurred that way;

If I am reading the logo correctly, I believe that the original company went BK several years ago with the assets being sold out of bankruptcy. If that is the case, the current company has nothing to do with the former operation and the original liability may have been discharged in the bankruptcy. In such case, any accommodation whatsoever would likely be on the basis of the current owner's good will. Consider taking what he has to offer as it does reflect a willingness to meet you part way when he may have no legal reason to do so.

[Mtrain]

Originally Posted by JeffTepper

Two additional points to consider:

Has the car been towed or transported on a trailer at any time since the suspension was installed? If so, it is possible that the control arm was used as an anchor point in pulling the car up onto the flatbed or tie it down and perhaps the tweak may have occurred that way;

If I am reading the logo correctly, I believe that the original company went BK several years ago with the assets being sold out of bankruptcy. If that is the case, the current company has nothing to do with the former operation and the original liability may have been discharged in the bankruptcy. In such case, any accommodation whatsoever would likely be on the basis of the current owner's good will. Consider taking what he has to offer as it does reflect a willingness to meet you part way when he may have no legal reason to do so.

The company in question WAS still selling these as this one is in the picture. The company had already changed over when I bough the CO kit. Only one car I have has the control arms from the old company, and that is the HP TV Mustang.

Also, the car was towed to the alignment shop, but was tied down with the front sway bar, and the TCP rear end mounts in the rear. So there wasn't a problem there.

Like someone else said the upper arms should last pretty much forever barring a severe crash on that side, which hasn't happened.

Funny thing is that it drives fine, which is why I never noticed it until recently.

Believe me I wouldn't make a issue of it, if it were just a stock upper arm, but for what these things cost..............well.

[Bdrainy]

Originally Posted by Mtrain

A pot hole that big would have warped the rim.

Ok, here is a pic.

Agreed. That's why I was asking if the wheel would still balance. That is a pretty funky bend. Hopefully you get a resolution you are happy with. - Brian

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Mtrain

A pot hole that big would have warped the rim.

Ok, here is a pic.

Crikey! That is impressive. My first thoughts is are there any witness marks on the bump stop and the bump stop cap on the UCA? Could it of been a major bottoming out event that your wife didn't report? Please don't take this personally but my wife does some odd things now and then and thinks nothing of it when the car starts making noises, she turns up the radio! I get in it months later and I'm like, "what the heck is that sound"! Love her though!

My second thought comes from experience with our own coilover. When you mount the spring on the LCA the rotational brake force increases massively and wants to twist the UCA and bend the strut rod. How does the strut rod look? We beefed up our strut rod to LCA plate to 1/2" thick and our UCA has the tubes coming round and welded straight to the ball joint cup. We also have that rear bar linking the 2 sides together where TCP has those barrell adjusters. I would only really expect to see something like the pic though if she is braking like a maniac like we do deep into corners.

I've been jumping off apex curbs, running off in the grass and all sorts for many years and I haven't broken or bent anything yet and trust me, I try!