Anyone using the new tubular upper control arms in the rear on a 1.9? Any problem with the heavier weight?

What's the weight difference?

Bob,

I think he meant the heavier Gen2 cars.

The new tubular arms are lighter, and have been used on many Gen2 cars for over a year now.

I have heard stories they don't bend when a car goes airborne, and I have heard stories they do bend.

Unfortunately, that's all I've heard are stories with no backup in either case.

Rod S

Ah, the weight of the car, not the part...

One comment I've heard is that the new tubular bars are susceptible to hitting the frame rail if the bump stops on the shocks are too short (that's likely to bend the arms.)

Yes it is the 100lb plus srf that I was referring to, since the old arms added the end brace at some point there must have been a problem. I am thinking of getting ahead of the gen3 conversion and adding new arms before new motor arrives? Not wanting to create unnecessary problems if the new arms were especially designed for the lighter gen3.
Griff Goad

There should be no issues with the new arms in the Gen2 since there's no suspension changes between it and the Gen3. The strap on the end of the arm was done very early in the life of the car when, I believe, the A008's put a lot of load on the suspension, resulting in cracking at the ball joint mount, with the subsequent addition of the strap (that was 20+ years ago, as I recollect, so that's been fixed for a long time) There are no issues with the current arms other than they can be subject to bending or cracking if abused (impact or hitting big berms enough to bottom suspension.)

Frankly, I wouldn't bother with the new suspension arms unless the current ones on the car at the end of their life (bent/cracked). BTW, everyone should carefully check the bottom of the current suspension rocker arms regularly (good excuse to clean them!) Running your fingers across the bottom is a good way to detect cracking that may not be obvious on visual inspection.

The new upper control arms had issues (so I was told) where they were manufactured differently from the original design and failed in the field. They were recalled and the correct ones have no issues that I have heard about. I don't believe they were specifically designed for the new Gen 3 - they are replacing our current UCA's because the tooling to make them is so bad by now. The new ones are lighter and stronger now they are correctly made. (Heard from a very reliable source )

Depending on how "used" your old UCAs are, when you switch to the new style it takes a little bit extra time when setting up your car. I honestly can't feel that big of a difference between the two. I have heard others have experienced a big change, so, as they say, your mileage may vary.

I know a bunch of the top cars at Laguna this past weekend had them on.

I went ahead and crash tested them too. Pending further inspection, I think they held up nicely

My old control arms were to the point that they need to be replaced last year...so I went with the new arms. I am very happy with them. It is really nice to be rid of my old "flexi flyer" arms for something that is solid and stable.

Hi Mike,

Sorry you ended up "crash testing" the new UCA's (hope you held up as well). Crazy conditions (as my mud-filled video can attest.) Winter has finally decided to come to California (as it's presently thunder and lightning in San Francisco!)

Back to the subject, the one difference I've heard (but not measured) is that they do increase the track slightly, so there's some adjustment needed to achieve the same camber setting (and potentially some difference due to a slightly wider track.)