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!

 

After 2.5 years & 20,000 miles I removed the SPCs from my truck. Ball joint was still good however the x-axis joints were clunking pretty bad and had quite a bit of play. I purchased them new ~4 years ago so I wasn't able to warranty them. Decided to switch to AccuTune upper control arms.

 

Installed their new Black ball joints on a 5th 4runner about 10 months ago. Zero off roading, total pavement princess. One side is now squeaking like crazy, Everything is torqued correctly (They bumped the 32mm nut to 200LB now).

You place your hand on the ball joint itself and can feel it squeak while shaking the vehicle. I can also feel about 1-2mm of play in it too. I know that it has some kind of internal spring, but come on, I have felt others with no play what so ever.

My 2nd gen ball joint on my tacoma lasted a whole 10k with 0 off roading during that time and had major play.

I have done a few sets of the black ball joints and this is the 1st one with issues. Not a good track record already. I am refusing to install any future SPC's. 3 ball joint designs, two arm and bushing designs, and supposedly another new bushing design coming out. Enough is a enough with SPC.

I tell everyone to stay away from them.

 

Part number of bj that failed? Pics of bj? Thanks

 

Why? 35101 is the tacoma and 35102 is the 4runner one. The only difference is a Slightly different taper on the stem of the bj.

Going back into the 4runner and installing different uca's for the customer in a few weeks. Didnt take pics or video.

 

Why? To document what is actually failing. So which one failed? 35101 or 35102? Also spc is claiming that they have not had a warranty claim on these part numbers which were released June 2024. I think it's important to document what part is actually failing. If you replaced it about 10 months ago then it would be covered under warranty correct? Was a warranty claim filed with SPC?

 

Up to the customer if he wants to warranty it. I doubt that he wants to deal with the fuss over it since we already agreed to go another direction. I have no idea if he still has the paperwork for it. Im not a shop, I have the customers buy the parts.

It was an a set of arms with the older bj design. 1st I went in and replaced the bj with the new design and then we discovered that the bushings had some play as well, so I pressed in new bushings as well.

 

Ill take a video of it next time im back at his place.

 

Serviceable (zerk fitting) and adjustable SPC UCAs: No problems over 20k miles worth of Trophy-Truck-ish-style daily driving the rough streets of Detroit and regular treks 200 miles north to Oscoda to the sandy trails around the Au Sable River in Iosco County Michigan.

I will probably sooner change these LCAs because I want to go to from 33s to 35s before I have to change them because they fail.

Sorry about your luck if you have problems with these LCAs. Want mine?