Moderators- can you change the title of this post!???!!!

I feel terrible- I posted the company name of "SPL" when I was actually referring to "SPC".

I figured out what happened- the shop that did my alignment did not keep the keep the bushing side of the arm centered (allowing the end of the arm to be slightly preloaded or twisted on the bushing) while adjusting the rear camber. By failing to keep the arm centered, the arm movement caused the bushing to bind up when the suspension travels (when the suspension moves up and down). This resulted in both arms inboard bushings failing (more like ripping apart). I will post pictures soon.

I have solved the problem by throwing out the SPC arms and installing a set of SPL arms, a far superior product that the alignment shop cannot ruin.

Original post- I have a set of SPL camber arms on my coupe that developed a nasty squeak when driving over bumps. I lubed the bushings and the squeak came back a few days later. Upon closer inspection, the bushings on the inboard side of the arms look as if they have failed. The bushing material and the center are way of wack...

I have not contacted SPL yet, but I am wondering if anyone else has ran into this issue.

Thanks,

 

pics?

 

Not able to get any pics. I am out of town all week.

I will try to describe: The metal sleeve in the middle of the bushing (bolt goes through the sleeve) is no longer aligned with the rubber portion of the bushing and the arm itself. Clearly the bushing has failed.

 

Bump-

Please refer to edit of original post.

 

Oooooh Boy!!
When I saw the title of this thread...

 

Many people run spc rears, sounds like it has to do with the shops work more than the arms.

 

The OEM setup uses the same style of bushing on the OEM camber arms, yet you never hear of failure on those. Don't blame SPC for your incompetent shop

 

Agreed 100%. However, the stock arm does not have an adjustment. Thus no possibility of twisting the bushing.

I spoke with two camber arm manufactures and they both stated that this issue is not that uncommon. They stated that many alignment shops are not familiar with many aftermarket parts. They tend to screw them up.

I am not trying to start a flame war- I just want people to know that they need to inspect the SPC camber arm orientation after getting an alignment done.

 

did you take it to a shop that specializes in alignments or a everyday car repair garage?

 

Took it to an alignment shop. The car had been aligned a few times. Who knows when the arms were not properly orientated...

I will be posting a bunch of pictures including some of the very trick SPL arms with hybrid adjusters I put on the car.

 

The service manual specifically states to not tighten the camber arms until the wheels are on the ground. Any decent shop should have known that just by looking at them

 

Aware of that, and so is the shop. They are very familiar with suspension set up. We have used them for years to corner weight scale, calculate our weight transfer spreadsheets and align our sprint cars and midgets. They also SCCA club race BMW's.The arms were installed while the car was on a drive on lift. The arms were adjusted on a alignment ramp.

Looking at the arms off the car the amount of misalignment (or twist) of the bushing side of the arm is barley noticeable. I am starting to think that the bushings have a design flaw for this application, or were defective.

Again- I am not trying to start any flame wars. I just want to share.

Pictures soon.

 

As you can see, while on the car, the arms look to be twisted on the bushings.

 

Looking at the arms off the car the amount of misalignment (or twist) of the bushing side of the arm is barley noticeable. The bushings have clearly failed. Why? not sure. I am starting to think that the bushings have a design flaw for this application, or were defective. Hard to see in the pictures, but the metal sleeve has worked loose from the bushing material. One of the guys in our engine shop (my company builds sprint car engines) pointed out that the bushing material on the stock arms are much firmer than the SPC arm bushings. I confirmed this with my hi tech "stick a screwdriver in it test" . The plot thickens..

 

Here are some pictures of the SPL lower control (camber) arms side by side with stock LCA's and SPC LCA's.

IMHO, there is no comparison between the three. the SPL arm is built like something you would see on an aircraft or race car.





Expect some additional road noise as the SPL arms do not have a bushing. For those who would want to know, I weighed the arms:

Stock- 1lb. 6oz.
SPC- 2lb. 8oz.
SPL- 2lbs.

More info on SPL's very high tech adjusters-http://www.splparts.com/main4/FAQ/Hy...er/default.htm

I should also note that I am very impressed with SPL's customer service and knowledge. Great people to do business with.