Whiteline or SPC replacement bushings for FUCA?
 

Hi Folks, took my 105k old 2010 in to my alignment shop (shoutout to West End in Gardena) and was finally able to determine the cause of some noises developing from the front driver side suspension. One of the bushings from my SPC 72130 Front Upper Control Arm(FUCA) is shot.

I was afraid of having to pony up at least another $400 for another set of FUCAs but looks like there are couple of replacement bushing options available:

- SPC 60009414
- Whiteline W52988

I do some spirited driving occasionally but don't plan on tracking. Car is going to stay with me till I die and now that it's a weekend car, I dont see myself driving another 100k in the next 20 years. For all intents and purposes seems like sticking to the current older gen SPC FUCA is good enough for my application, monetary wise(lol). I've heard issues with these SPCs but these have lasted me almost 80k so I'm sold that it is good enough.

Mind if I ask for any suggestions as to which replacement bushing I should go for? I also dont mind hearing recommendations on FUCA replacement suggestions as well: Z1, Kinetix, new gen SPC, etc.

Thanks and appreciate your time, looking forward to your responses!!

-Sam

Spl or you're a moron. Jk

Probably do the original spc as it is most likely to fit.

throw your SPC **** away

get the SPL's

never worry again

and i am not "jk"

they fit perfectly
they will never break
your alignment tech will love you
great customer service

SPL (and Voodoo) are the only proven brand. Prepare to deal with exactly the same thing down the road if you don't get SPL. Just go the cheapest route if you don't get SPL

Haha, damn it you guys! Making me look up pricing for a SPL FUCA now... sigh. I still don't see the justification of spending $700+ for only 40-50k more miles (at most).

the justification is more camber/caster adjustment range, a better and more secure adjustment mechanism, bulletproof build quality, and great customer support

in other words, the justification is not having to post this thread in the first place

There is a reason why guys on here use SPL's. Because it flat works with no issues. :tup: The only other option is VooDoo.

I'm just busting balls. I'll start shilling after my spl check clears. I love you guys

Why is it such a hard choice to buy a quality piece? Get the SPL and be done with it.

Darin at West End will thank you for having the SPL's

Because other brands exist and offer options for a fraction of the cost.

ftfy

.......and they are a bitch to adjust on the car. Some you have to remove to adjust. :shakes head: How many alignment techs want to remove, install and remove again to get the spec's right. Most will fudge the numbers.

It's comical to me that a guy asking for advice on $23 bushings is being told that his control arms that worked well for over 100k miles is told to throw those arms away and buy a set of $1500 race arms.

Where did you get the $1,500 from?

Yeah, most folks here have good intention and its no secret that the SPL is the gold standard: i'm not oblivious to this. Some folks dedicate their whole heart and effort in getting the best and this is their testimony, I get that. I appreciate all the inputs!

Rusty's last point about fudging numbers does hit home for me and has probably been the most eye opening answer. Before researching the different brands I had a very naïve understanding of control arms but as I research more, it does make sense why the ability to easily configure the settings without having to remove the arms is important to the alignment folks.

Not saying West End would skimp out on the quality of work just because I purchased something inferior compared to SPL(Chris and Darin are amazing) but I do think going SPL would benefit me as an end user when it comes to actual numbers and alignment costs down the road.

Though, I am still curious if anyone has ever had any experience with quality when it comes to bushings between SPC and Whiteline. SPC bushings is $23 per while Whitelines are slightly cheaper. My guess is performance between the two is negligible. If I go with updating bushings, it'll likely be SPC to guarantee the fit at this point.

You're right z1 has them around 900 shiped, making them only 40x more expensive than a perfectly reasonable solution, not 65x. My bad.

Again, I respect all of you but the blind hate of any non spl product is pretty funny. Not you Rusty, you're super reasonable and nice. I'm referring to the guy on my ignore list who thinks he's doctor Cox from scrubs or something.

That doesn't include labor, of course. Which will be more expensive for the bushings. Your bad is right.

OP got 80K miles out of the SPC bushings. Regardless of how well that served him or not, that is just pathetic and evidence of the low quality of the part. Especially when you consider that he DOESN'T TRACK!

Add the cost of SPC arms plus install plus bushing replacement plus labor and you're looking at the cost of SPL arms. (I got mine used for $500 btw). Not to mention the convenience of much easier and more extensive adjustment options that SPL offers. So please explain again how SPL is not worth it :rolleyes:

Let’s be fair tho….rubber bushings fail all the time on OEM arms too. 80k miles out of that bushing isn’t bad. Heck, my friend’s Audi A6 had arm bushings fail just sitting in the garage….literally failed while sitting in the garage….that’s some garbage lol

The top nut on the SPC FUCA is prone to slip tho, on top of what Rusty said, and the past boo boo SPC had.

Many guys on this thread already have the Z for a long while, and plan to keep it much longer, so the SPL investment is a no brainer, considering how easy it is to resell later on.

Don’t think Brendan is saying SPL isn’t worth it, I think he’s making a recommendation relative to OP, vs an absolute choice.

Cheers

Well, I got over 100K miles on the stock arms and the bushings are still fine. With plenty of hard driving. So hearing about SPC bushings that failed after 80K miles is pretty sad.

If you don't go with SPL, you take your chances regardless of your choice. And that decision typically ends up costing as much as the SPL arms (in the long run). So there's no real point in discussing the merits of the other options; the only logical recommendation is the cheapest option for the user. Which is fine if budget is a concern. Not everyone has the money to shell out for SPL. But better choice is to save up and do it right the first time.

Parts wear out. It happens. Spl, spc, z1, gk tech, voodoo all sell replacement parts for that reason. You should probably look into replacing your rod ends soon on your spl if you haven't already. It would suck to be the first person in the history of humanity have an spl arm fail for lack of maintenance.

Also my spl check bounced. Guess I'll keep having to get first hand experience and trying things out. Really disappointed. You would figure that as much as they charge that a little shill check would have cleared. SMH...

I bought them with lots of track abuse and they are still in great shape :driving:

That's terrifying. You won't even replace the bushings for peace of mind? That just seems negligent. :shakes head:

Why would I bother if they are still in great shape? How is that negligent? My peace of mind is from knowing I bought SPL :D

I'm reporting you to the track day suspension police

You mean these guys? :icon17:

You can add SuperPro SPF3297K to that list. Also allows caster adjustment in the bushing.

I worked on VW/Audi and to compare their rubber and plastics to ours isn’t even fair. Such garbage cars I don’t know why people still support them and this is from an ex VW fan until I got some real world automotive experience and then experienced multiple vehicle lines.

We have an 2014 Audi s5 we purchased in 2016 with like 25k miles on it and we had to replace those front parts the next year at 33k miles. Talk about expensive as the whole front subframe has to be removed because it is AWD. Very bad comparison.

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