stopher

Any updates?

jfisher

Thanks for the video! Interesting. I'll pull mine off today and see if I can feel that much play.

wideglideleon

Just had a faliure on my Z1 upper control arm drivers side street version.
the ball joint hemi joint?came apart. luckly I was driving very slowly when it came apart so I didn't kill my self. Just happened in the last two hours.
We will see what Z1 says!
This is on my2009 370Z same arms though.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Wow, this is getting ugly in a hurry, thank goodness you weren't in harms way.

Presto

Let's hope z1 steps up and fixes this issue asap before something seriously goes wrong and someone has a wreck.
Since it's a big company, I'm guessing it's not really on the top of their to do list. Hope they prove me wrong and contact everyone who got these poorly built product and does a recall or something.

wideglideleon

Just talked with my shop the bolt that holds the heim joint/ball joint together backed out it did not BREAK.I am having them use the revised type of locktite and new torque spec per Z1.
Locktite 271 torque spec 57ft lbs.
we will see if this keeps it from backing out again.

jfisher

They started an email chain and it sounds like they're sending out new ball joints to anyone that purchased their arms.

jfisher

Anyone ever have these arms then go to SPL? I'm curious to see how the SPL arms differ in physical dimensions over the Z1's. I'm at the alignment shop now and the design of the Z1 arms just doesn't allow enough suspension travel when the car is lowered significantly like I am on coilovers. My fender lips are just about 26" from the ground in the front. I actually had one of the ball joints snap in half on my control arms and now I see exactly why.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Damn J, that sucks
My SPCs never had any issues and I was at 25.75" on springs prior to my coilovers.

jfisher

Z1 sent me out a replacement ball joint over night, but I'm thinking just the design of these arms aren't meant for the G37x sedans. They physically fit of course, but the angle of the ball joint needs to be pointed further down. My alignment shop and I also just verified the arms are installed 100% correctly.

zer099

iTrader: (2)

That sucks bad. I'm a little over 25.5" from the ground on my front driver side and have had the Z1 FUCA for a few thousand miles. Can you take some pictures of the brake? Which hemi broke? Was the arm impacting somewhere? I would like to see if the same future is laid out for me. At least Z1 acted fast to get you a new joint.

jfisher

I would raise your car up ASAP being a G37x sedan. Z1 claims they've done extensive testing on these arms on their Z1 track 370z, but I think that's a completely different situation than a daily street driven G37x sedan that's been lowered quite a bit. The problem is that the downward angle of the ball joint is just not enough once you go lower than about 26.5" from ground to fender lip. The ball joint runs out of travel and you can see where the ball joint actually starts smashing into the outer lip of the heim joint. It will eventually bend like this and will eventually fail:



I had to raise my car up a good 3/4" so the car is safe. I must admit the car drives 65783168510x better now that it's been raised a bit and has a proper alignment by a shop that truly understands suspension.

zer099

iTrader: (2)

Ah, now I see what your talking about. They need to adjust the knuckle mount point to be more conclusive to lowered cars, issue a high-misalignment spacer kit, or figure out something else.

I just went and looked at mine, now knowing what to look for, and the angle is almost maxed out on the drivers side and nearly maxed out on the passenger. I will call Z1 today. There is little in the world that will make me raise my car unless they are going to pay for the corner balance I would lose and the re-alignment. Since I'm only an hour and a half or so from Z1 I will try to work something else out.

Thank you for bringing this to our attentions, its an important thing for people with lowered cars and these FUCAs to know. I do not see how it would be AWD only thing. Yes, our FLCA is different and we yet a driveshaft and a different yoke for the front shock but all the upper front suspension parts are the same to my knowledge.

jfisher

Exactly. I emailed them today calling this out and sent them the picture. I requested a replacement ball joint now that I'm at "proper ride height" and asked that they add a disclaimer for cars that are lower than 26.5" or so from ground to fender. It's just frustrating because the only reason you even buy these arms is when you lower the car...

I'm surprised you're not more maxed out than that at your height. What coilovers are you on?

zer099

iTrader: (2)

FA500s. I was sort of surprised too, but it could be just how she is sitting in the parking lot right now for all I know.