[bullheimer]

i see them in the magazines. they look pretty, and that's about the only reason i could see to get them. they do say tho that stock stamped steel flexes with big tires, but looking at them i dont see how they could flex much. yes they are rusty, covered with crap and ugly but so what? why do people spend alot of money on these things. i was and am someday going to get discs for the front of my tempest <--, and changing control arms should definitely be done at this time. but why would i want to? even if i had to change ball joints, is there some necessary reason to go with tubular control arms? after having 255's on the front of my car for 5 years i can say they were a big mistake and i want to replace them with 225's max, so i will not have big giant tires on there whenever i get the $$$ for the discs. thx

[project66]

strength = better control

[poncho62]

They also save weight, I believe.

I think that you hit it on the head though....a lot of guys put them on cus they look purdy....................

[GypsyR]

Simple, stronger and lighter weight. Think of race cars, on the serious you don't see much in the way of stamped metal parts but you will see a bunch of stuff made out of metal tubing.
That said, tubular arms are pretty much overkill for street use. But so are superchargers, fiberglass body parts, rollbars, etc... but aren't they cool?

[M&M CUSTOM]

And when your old, rusty, bent, cracked, twisted, ones aren't worth re-installing anymore.

Ya ain't got a choice when you can't find a replacement stocker.

[Old School Nut]

how about the geometry of some of them arms, not all the same are they?

[willys36@aol.com]

Detroit spends $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and just a couple more hours on the test track and doing instrumented stress tests than the typical job shop in designing their suspension components. Tubular arms look very sexy on open wheeled cars and I would be the last person to say they didn't. But if I ever ran them they would be done like the Indy cars do it - TIG welded chrome moly using a certified welder and certified welding procedure.

For a street driven full fendered you need to come up with an answer for the profound question - "why?" The only people who will know they are there are the 4 people at a rod run that take the time to kneel down and grass stain their Levis to peer under your front bumper and see them and you!

[BillyShope]

Bullheimer, you're a dangerous man! Any more talk like that and SEMA will have a contract out on you.

Having said that, I'll admit to having aftermarket tubular upper arms (painted, not chromed) on my Jap-powered '65 Sprite, but only because the originals were shock absorbers (worn out) and I couldn't see any good reason to adapt them to the Pinto spindles. For the bottoms, however, I took the stock arms to the chop saw and welded on the Pinto outer tips.

So, there is an occasional application for such things, but, to use them just to use them and then chrome them so people can see that you used them...aww, come on!!