The What: The SPC Forged Aluminum Adjustable Upper Control Arms are a pair of upper control arms that replace the original equipment with a strong, yet light-weight part that provides adjustment never before allowed on a 2g.
The Why: These arms provide a front adjustment range of -2.50 degrees to +3.50 degrees of camber and -1.25 degrees to +1.25 degrees of caster, in 0.25* increments. This is special because not only do you get some nice adjustment in a light and very strong control arm but we see adjustment not previously available for these cars. Normally, caster is non-adjustable. '97-99 2g's will typically see +3.5* on the left and 4.5* on the right. Now you don't have to flip your inboard, driver's side compression bushing 180* to get equal caster. You can compensate for it with the arms to get equal caster. Or better yet, you replaced your compression arms with units that don't require any flipping and you can enjoy even more positive caster.
Here's a shot of the sliding mechanism that allows for camber adjustment.
The With:
17mm wrench
14mm wrench
Metric socket set
Torque wrench (or at least a good idea of "tight" as some places are not accessible by a torque wrench).
PB Blaster
Pickle fork
The how: Installation is actually very very simple. If I recall correctly its was essentially 3 nuts. The 2 up top, inside the engine bay, hold the A-arms to the car and the other one is what anchors the balljoint to the long portion of the knuckle. Don't forget to tighten the bushing support nuts, there are two. So if you're counting we're actually up to 5 nuts that must be undone/tightened. You may need a pickle fork and some penetrating lube to break the taper of the original balljoint free from the knuckle.
More detailed information with exact torque specs are available here
RRE Camber Plate Info and here
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Here is a shot showing the visible, and the invisible, nuts that attach the arms. Really not much to it.
The Notes: It has been reported, that adjustable balljoint-type camber kits, along with the Ingalls style, will cause interference with the inner fender well thus limiting suspension travel. I was under the impression that these arms do not suffer from that, but I was wrong.
I talked to a representative of SPC today and he confirmed this for me. He offered several solutions such as a lengthier bump stop, spring spacers, using a ball-peen hammer to "massage" the fender and lastly, cutting the area out so there is no more interference. Cutting is ridiculous, as I'm sure that area is structural, and I'm not really going to fiddle around with bumpstops and spacers right now so I'll be going the hammer route. The SPC representative agreed that would be his choice, although SPC's official position is that the car ought to be run with original equipment/stock ride height to avoid this problem.
Here's a shot of some battle scars I've experienced so far. I've hit some MEAN pot holes and speed bumps so I'm confident, in my case, this is as bad as it will get. These scars are fairly minor, really. Though I will still go around tapping those spot with the BP hammer. Everyone's car is a little different and depending on how low you are you may or may not experience these symptoms. Especially with more appropriate spring rates ( Prokits FTL).
The Notes Cont.: Also of interest is that the arms ship with the balljoint ready to give you positive camber. There is note of this in the instructions that tells you that the unit can be flipped to provide more negative camber. My alignment shop was unable to figure this out so take that into consideration when you get your alignment done at the end of this. Not all shops are going to know what to do with these arms, even if they say they do.
And about the light-weight part.. well I never weighed the OE arms vs the SPC arms but when I was cleaning up my old OE arms I did notice how light they actually were. Yes, how light the OE arms were. The SPC units are no doutb much stronger in torsional stiffness and the like and I'm confident they're much lighter than a equally strong, steel counterpart but I feel that they are indeed heavier than stock equipment.
One last bit, shoot those bushings with some silicone spray to alleviate any squeaking from the more stiff poly-bushings.
The Personal Opinion: I like 'em. The decreased travel has not been observed through daily driving nor in very spirited driving conditions, but this will vary from car to car, from setup to setup. The car feels very solid and I'm enjoying the extra caster adjustment. Are they worth damn near $500? Probably. Does a DD need them? No. Does a DSM enthusiast want them? Yes.
The Special Thanks: RRE, SPC, turbosax2, Splitpi, Strm Trpr and Jtoby.
Installation of SPC Forged Aluminum Adjustable Upper Control Arms
