Thick walled 4130 tubing used in the construction of our tubular suspension control arms.
A suspension control arm seems like a relatively simple thing, there are just a few main components to it. So what distinguishes our products from others? A quality adjustable suspension product comes down to a few key things:
1. Materials, construction and finish
2. Design and R&D
3. Rod end/spherical bearing
4. Adjustment mechanism
We build most of our products here in the USA, and the reason we do this is not because we are trying to capitalize on "Buy American", but because this gives us total control over our product quality and materials. Producing products overseas may be cheaper, but there is a risk to manufacturers "cutting corners" on materials and construction in order to maximize their profitability. A failure of a suspension part while the car is at speed can be catastrophic, this is not a risk we take.
We use a variety of materials, all sourced from USA suppliers (with requisite certifications):
4130 steel (chromoly) tubes used in many of our tubular arms
9310 steel for hardened high strength steering pins
12L14 steel carbon steel for machined adjusters and sleeves
6061 aluminum for bushings, spacers and rods
2124 aluminum (Super Duralumin) for high strength turnbuckles
All parts are CNC machined to exacting standards (typically 0.0003 inch or less). Our threaded parts have less slop/slack compared to many products we have seen made overseas. Building in slack in the threads make the parts easier to assemble, but makes it difficult to obtain a precise alignment (tightening a jam nut itself could take up 1/16" of slack in the threads). In contrast, our products are threaded closely that sometimes a small variance in plating thickness (of 0.0001 inch) requires that we use a tap/die to clean the threads. This means more time and thought to assemble our products, but translates to quicker and more accurate alignments.
Thick walled 4130 tubing used in the construction of our tubular suspension
control arms.
True 4130 chromoly tubing sourced from US metal distributors. All our
metals (6061/2024 aluminum, DOM tubing, etc) come from US metal suppliers,
ensuring the correct quality of material needed to ensure proper strength in our
products.
CNC lathe used in the machining of our products, our products are machined to
precise tolerances to ensure proper fit.
CNC machining center also used in the machining of our products
Welding station where our control arms are professionally TIG welded
Welded product ready to be shipped out for chrome plating. We use ISO
9001:2000 certified plating companies in Houston and Dallas Texas.
We hand assemble all our products, applying anti-seize to all threads as we
assemble the products.
We are always looking to make our cars faster through suspension innovation. Blatant copying plagues this industry, and our products have often been copied by overseas manufacturers. We cannot compete with these copies on price as they are manufactured at a much lower price point, but we understand price is a consideration to you as a consumer. Therefore we have to provide you with value to our higher priced product. We do that by keeping ahead of our competition by continually improving on our products through new designs and features. When you purchase a SPL product, you have the confidence that you can always upgrade to our latest product at a discounted price, and that you will always have the best product on the market today. You will also receive the tech support and knowledge of the people who designed the products, and who race with our own products at the top level of competition. This is our service commitment to our customers.
Product development and testing -- a 350Z subframe on a frame table measuring
pickup points and test fitting control arms. We are continually developing new
products, and looking for ways to improve on our old products.
Compare our traction rods against the competition. The difference in
the diameter of the tubing used can be clearly seen in relation to the width of
the bracket. We use the largest size tubing possible so our arms have the
maximum cross section, which gives maximum strength.
Innovative design to problems -- our new toe arms for the 300ZX/240SX is designed with a kink to allow for
clearance to the subframe bushings on lowered cars.
For maximum strength,
the kinked portion of the arm is a specially machined steel sleeve, so the stresses due to
the kink are carried by a solid piece of CNC machined steel, and not by the
welds. This also means we can use a tube for the rest of the arm, rather
than a solid rod, reducing unsprung weight.
In most of our newer products, we use QA1 Endura rod ends and spherical bearings. This is a motorsports quality bearing, with a design born from off-road racing. Typically a teflon lined rod end is constructed with a thin layer of teflon fabric sandwiched between the bearing ball and the housing, the teflon fabric provides a layer of lubrication. The problem with the old teflon lined design in suspension parts, is that the teflon fabric can "pound out" when dirt gets on the bearing ball, the dirt acting to push the teflon fabric out from between the ball and housing. When that happens, the rod end develops slop and will no longer be lubricated, requiring replacement. To off-road racers where suspension rod ends experience extreme conditions, a typical teflon-lined rod end won't even last through a race.
The QA1 Endura series ends is a innovative solution to this problem. The liner is a Teflon/Kevlar mix, that is injection molded between the housing and race. A trick slot designed into the housing, is filled by the liner material during the injection molding, forming the shape of the liner itself. Once set, this prevents the liner from moving, so it cannot pound out. And because the liner is injection molded, it creates an excellent seal against the bearing, making the bearing self-cleaning (the liner "wipes" the dirt off as the bearing moves), and reducing friction. What this means to you is a much longer lasting rod end and better performance.
Finally, because we make our products here in the USA, we use standard sized rod ends instead of metric sized rod ends. A standard 5/8" rod end is cheaper, easily sourced, and gives you a much greater selection of bearing manufacturers and designs to pick from. A 16mm rod end on the other hand, is very difficult to find in the USA, and much more expensive to purchase, compared to an equivalent quality standard end. With our products, you are assured of lower cost and long-term serviceability.
QA1's Endura spherical rod end. The QA1 Endura end also features a
heat-treated chromoly steel body and hardened alloy bearing ball, providing some
of the highest load ratings available. QA1's quality system is also ISO
9001:2000 certified, ensuring a consistent product.
When we align our own cars, we are always fustrated with the old 2 jam nut design, trying to keep our alignment accurate while preventing the rod end from rotating when tightening the jam nut. Our patent pending hybrid adjuster makes it easier and more accurate when setting the alignment. Is this important to you if you don't do your own alignments? -- making the process better for your alignment mechanic means you will walk away with a more accurate alignment, and a better performing suspension because the spherical bearing is not binding.
This is a double adjuster we produce for our suspension products. The
thread length and thread pitch of our adjuster is designed so that the adjuster
will provide 1.5" of adjustment (largest range on the market), and that at the
end of the adjustment range, both the rod end and adjuster have the correct
minimum amount of thread engagement at the same time. Our adjuster is back
drilled to cut about 0.125 lbs from each adjuster, to reduce weight.
This is an example of our attention to detail.
Our new hybrid adjuster is inspired by suspension adjusters used in top level
motorsports today.