69 camaro control arms advice
 

Hello I am trying to decide on running stock control arms versus tubular. I am trying to justify the price difference. What are advantages and disadvantages?

Tubular control arms - more caster, more bling.

Upper aftermarket tubular arms are easy to justify as most should allow much more aggressive caster and camber settings without running into other issues. Lower tubulars are mostly for bling, unless you're looking at something along the lines of the SPC (www.scandc.com) lowers which have additional features above and beyond a tubular lower that exactly matches the factory specs. IMO, Mark at SC&C is a great resource when trying to sort out all of the options, so if you haven't called him already, I would recommend it. He's also posted up the differences here and on pro-touring.com a few times, so if you do a little digging for it, you'll find it.

Tobin
KORE3

Thanks for the information. I have noticed some run tubular on top and stock bottom. It does look cool, no doubt about it. Is there much difference in the brands?

There's a BIG difference between brands. Granted we'd love everybody to run our stuff, but at the very least stick to brands that engineer, TEST and manufacture everything here in the U.S.A. There are several companies out there with parts that look similar to the good stuff in pictures online, but are manufactured in China using inferior material and with zero product testing.

You should also stick with a company that has a muscle car background and thoroughly track tests everything it makes. A part deceoped for a specific muscle car application to solve a problem with improved geometry, rigidity and adjustability will always work better than a part adapted from another application.

Also, beyond the "bling factor" mentioned in the post above, other reasons to use tubular lower control arms include (in our case) delrin bushings that minimize deflection, adjustable ride height thanks to stackable spring cup inserts to fine tune the perfect stance, and the ability to use coil-overs if you want (however we've had fantastic results with sport springs and performance shocks).

Whether you use our stuff or not, do your homework and buy the most effective and reliable domestic parts you can.

Check out Global West. I have a set and I am very happy with the quality.

You will first need to decide if you are going with coilovers -vs- a coil + shock setup. Then do your research on who offers what.

There are alot of options, for sure.
check them all out and then go for it.

Hotchkis make a few good points
I don't know if they Must be made in the USA, Canada has some good stuff to offer too.

Meant no offense to our neighbors from the North. Just meant "NOT" made in China where you have no control over steel quality, weld quality, consistency of geometry, etc.

Well said China = :mad: