SPC UCA failure

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I have them on my truck and so far so good. There are maybe 10-15k miles on them? At the time they were the best bang for the buck. I just missed out on Jason's as he introduced them to market a few weeks after I bought mine. It's nice having the grease zerk on the BJ, but would be nice to have them on the bushings like his as well. I'm not a huge fan of how the grease leaks from the BJ boots, but it's gotta go somewhere, so...

Manhattan said:
I consult with companies on brand stuff... overwhelmingly, marketers/managers do understand the shift that's taken place in the past 10+ years. Making a great product isn't good enough anymore. There are lots (!) of companies who can do that. And, it's gotten incredibly easy to find the other options. How the company handles issues like @D_Web is having has become a much bigger part of what's shaping brands today. You'll even hear marketers explain how product failures are seen as "opportunities" to BETTER engage with the customer. Think of how you feel when a company bends over backwards and/or quickly addresses a problem to make it right. You go from customer to an advocate.

SPC may just be managed by that older model - that "let the product speak for itself, sales are up, we're not going to worry about a few customers" approach. That'll work... for a while.
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This is interesting, because I feel like I've experienced the opposite in many cases. Company makes/sells a subpar to 'ok' product, then uses incredible service to pacify any squeaky wheels when problems arrive. Amazon sellers with predominantly cheap Chinese products come to mind. Yeah, a lot of them are going to be crap and you'll know before you buy because there are 1,000 reviews. However, Amazon (eBay too, in some cases) is so great to deal with and their sellers are basically forced into customer service less they risk losing their platform or status.

Having said that, I think it's definitely more frustrating when the situation you mention comes up. Ex: I bought a yellowbox speedo corrector. Great product, but I ended up with a fault in mine. It took me literally months of emails back and forth to get it replaced. A $35 item, the company really only makes one thing, it has no moving parts. They asked for test after test to conclude yup, it's faulty. Then another month or two to get it replaced!
 
erse said:
Well there's also these

Toyota Land Cruiser 1998-2007 UPPER CONTROL ARMS - 100 SERIES LAND CRUISER | TOTAL CHAOS FABRICATION

Toyota Land Cruiser 1998-2007 UPPER CONTROL ARMS - 100 SERIES LAND CRUISER
www.chaosfab.com

Point is I think, there are other choices for those that are thinking of buying. If you already bought them I wouldn't worry about it just run them. As others pointed out could be an isolated batch from one off day at the factory. It's the customer service that's the real issue for our community as a whole. We put so much cash into these things you have to have someone willing to stand behind their work. IMO
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I agree. I've been running Total Chaos products in several of my vehicles. Their customer service and the quality of their products has been so good that I even bought the LC Upper control arms to try and make them work on my LX with AHC on it still. (Waiting to get home to finish the install)

Most people would would shy away from the cost, but they've been dependable and their team has always been enjoyable to work with. Customer service gets me every time. I don't think it takes much for a company to do whats right.

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MongooseGA said:
I have them on my truck and so far so good. There are maybe 10-15k miles on them? At the time they were the best bang for the buck. I just missed out on Jason's as he introduced them to market a few weeks after I bought mine.
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That's two of us then. Given how well Jason's stuff has worked out for me, I wouldn't have even blinked at buying control arms there too. I hope my SPCs hold up for a while, but I know what the next set will be when they wear out (and hopefully not catastrophically).
 
MongooseGA said:
This is interesting, because I feel like I've experienced the opposite in many cases. Company makes/sells a subpar to 'ok' product, then uses incredible service to pacify any squeaky wheels when problems arrive. Amazon sellers with predominantly cheap Chinese products come to mind. Yeah, a lot of them are going to be crap and you'll know before you buy because there are 1,000 reviews. However, Amazon (eBay too, in some cases) is so great to deal with and their sellers are basically forced into customer service less they risk losing their platform or status.
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I agree - Now, the product AND the service has to be good.
 
TXLX100 said:
Wow. I’ve bought a lot of SPC arms. I won’t be buying anymore if that’s how they handle situations like that.

Edit: I sent them a message about this. Honestly, I don’t want anymore of those products after seeing this. Looks like you could get a replacement set that could also kill you.
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They didn't really seem to care about the consequence of it failing. I would've thought from a purely selfish point of view (liability) they would be more cooperative - I guess this says a lot about what they think of their customers.
 
D_Web said:
They didn't really seem to care about the consequence of it failing. I would've thought from a purely selfish point of view (liability) they would be more cooperative - I guess this says a lot about what they think of their customers.
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Well said ^^. Hope it was just someone answering the phone who misunderstood or gave bad information. @D_Web do you still have proof of purchase? Don't give up :)

Warranty information found here and below > https://www.spcalignment.com/component/content/article?id=407

Warranties and Procedures
Specialty Products Company warrants its products to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use. Warranty categories include limited lifetime, limited one year, limited 90 day, or no warranty items. Individual product warranty information may be attained by opening www.specprod.com and entering the specific part number. Warranty information is also included within our PIES file data.

Warranty applies to the original consumer purchase from an authorized distributor and only on the original vehicle on which it was installed. This limited lifetime warranty is in effect only when the product is installed by a professional technician. Any product that has been abused, altered, incorrectly installed or used in competition, racing or off road, is not covered. Product finish is excluded from this warranty as is normal wear and tear.

Specialty Products Company shall not be liable for any special, direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages that might be claimed as a result of the failure of any part, including, but not limited to claims for delay, loss of profits, use, time or labor. 

Specialty Products Company shall not be liable for any damage or injury to persons or property resulting from improper installation or misuse of any part subject to this warranty. There are no other warranties expressed or implied extending beyond those set forth above. We reserve the right to make changes in design, materials and specifications without prior notice.

Warranty Procedure
Should a product fail to function due to a manufacturer’s defect in material or workmanship, the product must be returned along with the proof of purchase to the original place of purchase for verification and replacement. Failure to provide the original proof of purchase voids this warranty.

Parts returned must be determined by Specialty Products to be defective and Specialty Products’ obligations under that warranty are solely limited to repairing or replacing, at its option, any part proven defective.

Contact Specialty Products Company regarding a claim. If it appears that the part is warrantable, you will be given a Return Authorization (RA) number and asked to return the part freight pre-paid. If the part is found to be warrantable, it will be repaired or replaced and returned to you.

All freight charges are the customer’s responsibility. If a replacement part is needed before the part in question can be returned, you must first purchase the replacement part. Then if the part in question is deemed warrantable, you will be credited / refunded the cost of the replacement part.

Specialty Products reserves the right to modify pricing, terms of sale, and product offerings without notice.
 
hoser said:
I've been waiting on reviews for the Blackhawk UCA's. They are advertised as having +3 degrees of caster built-in. If I can get +4 degrees total with 2" lift, I'm in.
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Running ~3.75º with my one-off custo UCAs and with my Cooper 305/70R18's rear tire to lower rear front fender rubs at full clock. Your year's ago thought of having a matched upper & lower UCA set for 4º of caster correction with a centered wheel would be the bombdigity.
 
@ktmracer01, what's the purpose of the solid bar reinforcements ala #42?
 
hoser said:
I've been waiting on reviews for the Blackhawk UCA's. They are advertised as having +3 degrees of caster built-in. If I can get +4 degrees total with 2" lift, I'm in.
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I just installed these. I'm at 2.5" of lift roughly (21.5" hub to fender) and got 3 degrees positive caster after alignment (it handles great), which was about all I could get out of the SPC's I replaced them with anyway. I have camber and toe set at 0 degrees. They are a much higher quality arm compared to the SPC, and they use oem quality rubber bushings and tundra ball joints (easily sourced). I have had SPC's on multiple vehicles and all of them have required a rebuild (at least ball joints) about every 12-20k miles. You might be able to get 4 degrees sitting just below 21.5". I believe the same company is making these arms for Dobinson's and Nitro now, but not 100% sure. They look exactly the same with the exception of brand stickers.
 
@Jasonazx Thanks for the review. Did you ask your alignment tech to give you the most caster or did you just ask them to align it to spec? I am running the SPC's now and trying to keep the 4+ degrees of caster. I'll look in to the Dobinson's too.
 
spressomon said:
@ktmracer01, what's the purpose of the solid bar reinforcements ala #42?
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The c-channel is so I can properly locate my AHC bracket to attach it to the control arm. Since this was my first time messing with the upper control arms to accommodate the AHC system, I gave myself plenty of flexibility on where to to attach it to the upper arm. Once I have it located properly, I can either go back and cut off the excess or leave it and take dimensions if/when I want to do this to another LX in the future.
 
hoser said:
@Jasonazx Thanks for the review. Did you ask your alignment tech to give you the most caster or did you just ask them to align it to spec? I am running the SPC's now and trying to keep the 4+ degrees of caster. I'll look in to the Dobinson's too.
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I told them to put it around 3. I didn’t ask to go any higher or if they could have.
 
ColoradoCarlisle said:
Wow
I have a clunk as well
Not sure if it’s from these but that stinks
Previous Owner installed mine but I won’t be promoting them any longer
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SPC UCA's. I also have the clunk/thunk when hitting a pothole, and also not sure if it's UCA's, worn out lower ball joints, front diff bushings, engine mount, sliders sliding around. Who knows, I just kind of live with it.
 
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