Specialty Products Co. (SPC) "Light Racing" Upper Control Arms

So, I was told the balljoint assembly on my left SPC "Light Racing" upper control arm has "excessive" play after 19,900 miles. I was told by SPC they should last as long as the OEM UCAs. SPC offered to replace the defective part, however, they WILL NOT cover the labor to replace the balljoint assembly. I'm sure the labor will cost three times as much as the defective part. So, even though they produced a defective product, I am on the hook to pay for the labor involved to replace it despite having already paid to have the defective part installed in the first place. Poor product and even worse warranty. Toytec, the company I purchased it from, said that I would have to take it up with SPC since it was their part and basically washed their hands of the situation.

 

That's how most companies are..

Sorry.

 

Replacing the ball joints is about a 30 min job per side. Get the free upgrades, swap them out, and go get an alignment. Easy as that.

 

Yeah, so am I. I won't be buying another set of SPC "Light Racing" UCAs again.

 

Or 99% of any other parts either. Otherwise you risk this occurring again.

 

I had these. Mine failed within 25k miles. Got the replacement ball joint assembly from SPC and installed it at home by myself in about 10 minutes per side. The install is easy. Its the fact that you have to get an alignment that sucks.

 

Thank you for the reply and appreciate the advice. The entire point is that I should not have to spend 30 minutes of "my" time or my money to replace "their" defective part and get another alignment.

 

True, however, I was sure to tell SPC I would take the risk with another company. They and Toytec stand to lose a lot more in sales from me than it would have cost them to pay to have the assembly installed and another alignment. Nobody wins in this situation.

 

Nobody warranties labor except your mechanic. MAYBE.

 

reading the fine print in anything that has warranty will state that only the part is covered, not the labor.

happened to me with a clutch in a ford ranger back when i was in college. and you know how time consuming and intensive it is to pull and replace a clutch.

sadly, that's the reality with nearly everything we buy.

if you get different upper control arms, their warranty would more than likely be the same.

 

Agreed that companies should be more accommodating and stand behind their products better. That being said I always try to be prepared with any purchase (especially aftermarket) for crappy service like this. The SPC arms are by far the cheaper of the options out there so the fact that they fail faster than something like a Total Chaos, Icon, or Dirt King doesnt surprise me. It also doesn't surprise me that they don't want to cover the labor either everytime something fails.

 

That's awesome. My passenger side is apparently fine, just the driver's side. I only posted this for all those looking at these UCAs as an option to consider prior to their purchase.

 

What you should be happy about is that the company has realized they had a bad design, changed the design, and are willing to send you a free replacement.

 

True, but their product may last longer or they might on a case-by-case basis provide better support.

 

I disagree. I would be happy if a company made a product that lasted as long as it was designed to and that they fully stand behind their product. That is not the case here. You may be happy with such service. The bar should be a little higher in my opinion.

 

In Utopia, sure. But in reality, what companies have provided you with labor expenses for defective parts? I'd love to see the list.

 

This is the first aftermarket part I have had fail on the Tacoma. However, I have had a few problems with parts failing on the Tacoma and Toyota replaced the part and covered the labor free of charge because they were under a real "warranty".

 

Well that's because Toyota installed Toyota parts. They wouldn't give you a new part under warranty, and then pay you to have Jim Bob install it would they? Toyota is on the hook for your warranty, and it is expressed clearly and obviously that that includes necessary labor.

Why not complain about Toyota not paying you to buy replacement UCAs because their UCAs weren't working for your truck? When does the blame and entitlement end?

What other companies provide labor reimbursement on top of product replacement?

 

^^^

 

That is a ridiculous comment. I couldn't "complain" about Toyota not paying me to replace their UCAs because their UCAs did work, just not for what I needed them to do.

And for the record, I am not "complaining." Simply informing others, that is all. Quit trying to create drama that doesn't exist, lol. It's not about what others do, but what they "should" do. Is it right that I have to pay to replace their junk? I'm pretty sure you if the roles were reversed, you would agree that it is not fair that you would have to pay to replace something they messed up. You're probably just used to it because that is normal, when it shouldn't be, which is my point.