SPC UPPER CONTROL ARMS.. YAY OR NAY?

Just got my replacement set today. The customer service was amazing and very helpful. Got it fast. This week was expensive… Sunday I went to do pads and rotors… Sunday evening I was putting in orders for frozen caliper and discovered the UCA. Wish me luck

 

Adding a vote of disappointment in these. Bought them four years ago and had them installed by a reputable shop that has specific experience with them.

I don't put many miles on my truck, ~4000 miles per year. The boot of the upper ball joint was ripped within a year of basically just road travel.

Got new ones that ultimately failed. Unfortunately - I was an idiot and had a tow ring hanging off my truck and chalked the clunking up to that. It wasn't until I went to rotate my tires that I saw the f'd up treads. At that point I had them replaced again. That was last August.

Started hearing the clunks and shit again two weeks ago and low and behold, the upper ball joint is toast and there's some other bushing (the shop told me this) that are bad.

Now after four years, the assembly is not under warranty. To their credit SPC has a program for people in my situation where they will refund about 2/3 of the purchase price of their 'new' ones.

This is certainly better than nothing - it's not often that any company does stuff like this and I really am grateful.

That said, if I total up all of my part and labor bills from the shop (and a new set of tires) - I'm genuinely regretting using them.

Now, the SPC rep said that what I'm getting is their newest version that came out last year. I didn't get into specifics of each component but I can share that I'm getting a 25470 arm kit.

I'm really really hoping this lasts but at this point I'm not optimistic.

 

I said this a couple pages back but it gets buried and then only stories like yours keep getting heard .
Myself and others have switched to the new style BJ part# 35101 without issue. It was released June 2024. I switched August 2024 and have many on-road and hard off-road miles. No complaints.

 

I think you're missing a bit of the complexity/nuance. I've had multiple upper ball joints go bad - and to your point, there appears to be a path forward. But you need to admit, the new ball joints are certainly not time tested if they were released just one year ago. Having the bar be "my ball joint lasted a whole year" is pretty darn low.

In addition to my new ball joint issue - I now have a bushing issue.

Imagine you being happy with your ball joint, only to start hearing knocking/thumping when you go over a bump, you take it into a shop and find the bushing is f'd.

I'm personally choosing to move forward with their replacement part uca assembly - BUT there is no good reason for me (or anyone) to be optimistic about an SPC UCA.

 

I completely agree. Time will tell. One year is quite soon. However if you compare the time frame from the last year to results from previous years the results are much better. SPC is claiming they have not had to warranty a single BJ with part # 35101. If someone has evidence to prove this otherwise please share!