UPR Control Arms (U/L)

[wythors]

Read the yellowbullet link I posted. Jeremy comes across as a great guy.

As far as "I'm sorry, but we're talking about a part that I could make in my garage...", that doesn't matter. The fact is, the owner of UPR ordered one of Spence's parts, copied it EXACTLY and undercut his price. The fact that you could make your own doesn't matter a bit.

 

[69clark]

In the end there is nothing illegal with what UPR is doing and in the end the only thing that I can do is not buy their product. And I don't bash people that do buy from UPR.

Do I think that UPR is missing the potential cash I could be spending with them... No way in hell! But I am proud to say, I don't have any UPR on my car!

In the end it's my money and I will decide where it goes. There are companies out there that I support and whether I am right or wrong, I will continue to do so.

 

[Mustang5L5]

In the end there is nothing illegal with what UPR is doing and in the end the only thing that I can do is not buy their product. And I don't bash people that do buy from UPR.

Not illegal, but may be unethical.

I don't buy UPR. If people want to, they are free to do as they please. I have my reasons and try to avoid publically stating them.

I will however go out of my way to promote the companies that do me right. Vie had long conversationgs with a few techs at MM and they have always gone above and beyond the call of duty. I think their designs are great and I will talk them up when I can.

I can think of other companies that have provided very entertaining threads with regards to (lack of) customer service...particular one guy who seems to still have a job. Some vets might know what company I am talking about

 

[stykthyn]

I hate these threads. While some companies choose to conduct themselves much differently than others the original post asked if they would do the job. In a word yes.

I remember the thread Mike is referring to and IIRC it was locked due to this type of finger pointing. HUGE company too. Much bigger than UPR.

 

[Fabbed4d88]

Don't get me wrong, MM has great customer service and outstanding parts (I use their strut tower brace cuz unlike others it bolts to the pinchwelds and not through the thin firewall) but as for some of their other parts UPR is just priced better. Sure if I had the extra coin I would be running a full MM suspension but being a TSgt in the Air Force with 3 kids and a wife in college I gotta get what I can afford. UPR delivers that and what I believe to be a quality part.

 

[Green 94 5.0]

The threads in particalar that I was referring to were this one:

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/709827-upr-upper-control-arms-broke.html

and this one:

Problems with UPR??? - Page 4 - CMC Forums

There are more just like it with lightly modded cars tearing the UCA's apart at the welds on launch. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't read anything of the sort with MM or Team Z parts failing like that anywhere. Not to say it hasn't/couldn't happen, but I have never seen it. Maybe cutting corners on proper welding and quality control are how they can sell parts for up to 40% less than the competition. As far as not stating my reasons for disliking UPR, if someone asks me for an opinion and I can be helpful, I will, even if it is something as simple as linking to threads I have read in the past. Great customer service means squat if the parts break and you lose control of the car and kill yourself.

As far as them stealing designs, it definitely does happen in nearly every industry all the time, but that doesnt make it right. Legal, most likely. Ethical, hell no. Companies like that make it virtually impossible for smaller guys like Joe Fiorentino for example to stay in business. For those of you who haven't been around long enough to know who he is, he created one of the nicest quadrants and firewall adjusters that I have ever used. He is no longer in business, but you can still purchase his identical design from UPR. Just an example of a very shady but not illegal practice. I bet none of yuo would be defending them if you were in the little guy's shoes. Will me not giving them my money hurt them? Of course not, but at least I have the peace of mind that the suspension parts I got are not likely to fall apart when I take a trip to the track.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I hate these threads. While some companies choose to conduct themselves much differently than others the original post asked if they would do the job. In a word yes.

Exactly

I remember the thread Mike is referring to and IIRC it was locked due to this type of finger pointing. HUGE company too. Much bigger than UPR.

Yup and this one’s about to end up that way too! The original poster asked what you guys though of the product fellas, not what you thought about how the business was run, the owner, what their products used to be like and how they engineer their parts. This isn't a free for all for so that the usual humgruffins can get their licks in every time a company they, or their buddies have had poor dealings with in the past comes up. There are three sides to every story. Your side, their side and the truth. The later is always argued over and rarely reveal.

To answer the O/P's question. I've never had any issues with UPR stuff either. The urethane lowers are fine, but I would mix and match them with a set of their adjustable uppers with spherical bearings to eliminate any binding issues and as another member mentioned, the ability to adjust pinion angle.

 

[MFE92]

Apparently, the thread on Corral got deleted. UPR probably threatened to pull their ad dollars. Here's a thread on Yellow Bullet where he talks about it.

I've been a moderator there for years and to my knowledge no thread there has ever been deleted, or even edited, and no words have even been tempered, due to any fear of advertiser backlash. Ever.

 

[Sharad]

Geez, I take one day off to run a few errands and all hell breaks loose!

For those of you in here that supported us, thank you.

Aaaand, here we go:

Will these upper & lower control arms do the job for my application?

79-98 Mustang Elite Chrome Moly Urethane Control Arm Suspension Kit

I'm looking to get to about 350 HP / 360 ft lbs in my 93 GT. Max would be 400HP if I ever decided to continue adding power.

It will be a street car with a trip to the strip once maybe twice a year.

The Elite Series control arms are an excellent upgrade for street/strip cars with moderate power levels. They are made with tubular chrome-moly which is stronger than mild steel or aluminum, and Energy Suspension bushings which are specifically designed for our arms to be more durable than other urethane bushings and are far more durable than rubber bushings. Our control arms are priced below our competitors and we offer a lifetime guarantee. Additionally, Stangnet members receive a 10% discount on UPR Products through our webstore, which puts the Elite Series arms at $179.

There's much better-engineered and higher quality stuff available for not much more money.

I disagree. I suppose you could debate the poly-ball vs. standard urethane bushing comparison, but when it comes to extreme use, both MM and UPR recommend spherical bearings and our control arms look almost identical. For street use, the Elite Series control arms with Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings work extremely well on street cars with street tires.

There is absolutly nothing wrong with the UPR control arms in design or material, the materials are top notch and fabricated here in the US...almost all control arms are of the same design. I like and use the MM, Team Z, and UPR pieces with no issues.

Personally I would go with a adj upper arm so you can dial in the pinion angle which is important...however they will cost you more.

If you need some arms let me know, Ill save you some money I'm a UPR dealer.

Rick

Thanks Rick. Like me, I know you speak from personal experience using our products and that makes your opinion valid. Incidentally, we actually do offer the Elite series lowers in a kit with the adjustable uppers for just a little more money. The lowers in this kit can be substituted for the poly/poly Elite arms: 1979-1998 Ford Mustang Pro Street Adjustable Upper & Lower Control Arm Package

UPR has greatly improved their products over the years and now seem to be able to compete with the premium brands, but that still doesn't change the fact that they had a bad few years where they sold junk. For me, because of the past, UPR will always be a sub par brand in comparison to MM, Team Z, Steeda etc. I would pay the few extra dollars for parts from those three over UPR any day of the week. I do have UPR parts on my car, but nothing critical to my safety (firewall adjuster, quadrant, etc).

Sub par? Steve Jackson just ran 4.32 @ 175 on radials using UPR Products, and Nick Boudreau just ran 7.99 @ 172 in X275 trim using our complete suspension system, front & rear. Angel Padilla and Chris Escobar run UPR Products on their True Street cars. The list goes on and on. Racers like these guys don't run sub par equipment.

I wouldn't buy them only because you want the stock type upper control arm for proper suspension movement, those uppers you listed will bind the suspension. I have the ford racing uppers with rubber bushings and MM extreme lowers with spherical bearings, huge improvement over the mac red control arms junk i had before with polyurethane bushings.

I am aware that MM doesn't like aftermarket UCAs, but we have plenty of customers running Elite Series uppers & lowers with improved traction, no bind, and no spontaneous disintegration of the torque boxes.

Apparently, the thread on Corral got deleted. UPR probably threatened to pull their ad dollars.

I have no idea whether or not the corral post got deleted, regardless we no longer sponsor that forum. We frequently add new forums to our list of sponsored sites and they have been working well for us. We enjoy interacting with our customers on the forums, in addition to the time we spend with them at the shows, at the track, even on facebook. After all, UPR Products would not be where we are today without the loyal customers who have brought us here. Again, I thank those of you who have supported us in this thread.

If anything, I think UPR has been the victim of internet bandwagon bashing and maybe a rogue customer service employee here or there over the years.

Agreed. If it wasn't for the fact that UPR Products puts food on the table for those of us who work there, the internet bashing would be humorous. People are quick to jump on the haterade bandwagon... meanwhile, our racers are out there winning races and setting records. No person (or business) is perfect, but we do our best to provide excellent products at the lowest prices. And when issues have come up, we have bent over backwards to make sure that any problems are taken care of and that the customers are left with the impression that their satisfaction is our highest priority.

Read the yellowbullet link I posted. Jeremy comes across as a great guy.

Our Manager Jeremy Martorella takes customer service to another level. He is constantly helping customers set up their suspensions, whether it's over the phone or at the racetrack. He takes it upon himself to make sure that every customer of UPR Products is completely satisfied with their purchase, and as I mentioned, when issues have arisen, I've seen him do remarkable things to make sure that they are resolved immediately.

The threads in particalar that I was referring to were this one ...

There are more just like it with lightly modded cars tearing the UCA's apart at the welds on launch. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't read anything of the sort with MM or Team Z parts failing like that anywhere. Not to say it hasn't/couldn't happen, but I have never seen it. Maybe cutting corners on proper welding and quality control are how they can sell parts for up to 40% less than the competition. As far as not stating my reasons for disliking UPR, if someone asks me for an opinion and I can be helpful, I will, even if it is something as simple as linking to threads I have read in the past. Great customer service means squat if the parts break and you lose control of the car and kill yourself.

As far as them stealing designs, it definitely does happen in nearly every industry all the time, but that doesnt make it right. Legal, most likely. Ethical, hell no. Companies like that make it virtually impossible for smaller guys like Joe Fiorentino for example to stay in business. For those of you who haven't been around long enough to know who he is, he created one of the nicest quadrants and firewall adjusters that I have ever used. He is no longer in business, but you can still purchase his identical design from UPR. Just an example of a very shady but not illegal practice. I bet none of yuo would be defending them if you were in the little guy's shoes. Will me not giving them my money hurt them? Of course not, but at least I have the peace of mind that the suspension parts I got are not likely to fall apart when I take a trip to the track.

I'm not saying that we've never seen a UPR part fail, but there is usually an explanation. I personally destroyed a set of MM weight jacker control arms on one of my cars, but I wouldn't say MM suspension is junk. I've seen a big name racer using another company's suspension that had control arms come apart causing him to stuff his championship winning car into the wall, and I'm talking recently... But you won't see us out there calling other companies out on the internet. It's just not the right thing to do. There's room for all of us in the market. We're all striving to manufacture the best products possible so that we can make a living in an industry that we love.

On a personal note, you brought up the peace of mind that your suspension parts are not likely to fall apart when you take a trip to the track. I'm currently wrapping up the build of my '89 LX for True Street competition. By all accounts, the car should be capable of low 8s at 160mph or better. I have a wife and two children that I dearly love, and I would not risk my life on the racetrack using poorly made suspension components just because my boss told me to. My SFI 25.2 drag car is sporting UPR Pro Series suspension front & rear because it is reliable and it works!

 

[Green 94 5.0]

I'm not saying that we've never seen a UPR part fail, but there is usually an explanation. I personally destroyed a set of MM weight jacker control arms on one of my cars, but I wouldn't say MM suspension is junk. I've seen a big name racer using another company's suspension that had control arms come apart causing him to stuff his championship winning car into the wall, and I'm talking recently... But you won't see us out there calling other companies out on the internet. It's just not the right thing to do. There's room for all of us in the market. We're all striving to manufacture the best products possible so that we can make a living in an industry that we love.

On a personal note, you brought up the peace of mind that your suspension parts are not likely to fall apart when you take a trip to the track. I'm currently wrapping up the build of my '89 LX for True Street competition. By all accounts, the car should be capable of low 8s at 160mph or better. I have a wife and two children that I dearly love, and I would not risk my life on the racetrack using poorly made suspension components just because my boss told me to. My SFI 25.2 drag car is sporting UPR Pro Series suspension front & rear because it is reliable and it works!

I personally know someone who has broken a Steeda LCA at the track as well.Any part by any company can fail. It is just the percentages I have read about with UPR that are less than stellar. I have no financial interest in any suspension company in any way, shape, or form and am simply sharing my OPINION. Feel free to flush it like the stinky turd that it is.

Back on track since this post has badly derailed. (I accept partial blame for that.)

Will those work for the OP's application.

Of course they will......However there are many other choices out there that are suitable as well.

 

[wythors]

I've been a moderator there for years and to my knowledge no thread there has ever been deleted, or even edited, and no words have even been tempered, due to any fear of advertiser backlash. Ever.

Be that as it may, that thread is gone from public view. You get a "you are not authorized to view this area" or some such thing message when you try to view it.

 

[MFE92]

Be that as it may, that thread is gone from public view. You get a "you are not authorized to view this area" or some such thing message when you try to view it.

I'm not disputing that it's out of view, but threads get locked away for a variety of reasons, none of which have to do with potentially pissing off an advertiser. Personally, if I think a thread needs to be locked, I'll usually just lock it, and not put it away out of view. Others do things differently.

 

[90lxcoupe]

Just out of curiousity, what is Stevie Fast using of UPR's? Im more curious of what the rear suspension is on that car

 

[90GTFIVO]

Hey, remember me... the OP?

Thanks for all your replies, I got a lot more info than I expected. I didn't mean for this to become the type of thread it ended up being. If I knew a little more about how strong the opinions were out there, I probably would have left UPR's name out of the thread title.

Anyway, I received enough feedback to help me make my decision. I hope to talk with Rick at RNH Monday morning!

 

[srtthis]

Just out of curiousity, what is Stevie Fast using of UPR's? Im more curious of what the rear suspension is on that car

i wanna know this also man! spill it! i watched that car all weekend when i could... that sumbitch was on RAILS! that was by far the smoothest pass ive seen out of an outlaw radial car going that fast in a long time.

we on the other hand smacked the rear bumper

 

[90lxcoupe]

Jackson could probably make the car work with wooden lower control arms and wagon wheels on the btch. Did you guys make eliminations? From what i saw on the bullet that race was pretty nuts.

 

[srtthis]

Won the bronze field of 275... kept blowing the tires off it and went in the complete other direction and put it on the bumper

 

[Sharad]

Just out of curiousity, what is Stevie Fast using of UPR's? Im more curious of what the rear suspension is on that car

[DISCLAIMER]I have not personally been under Steve's car.

I'm told that he's running our double ARB, and that my boss was involved in the fabrication of his control arms. I guess that's all I can say about that. (you know how these things are) That said, we have sponsored Stevie Fast for many years, and he has been running UPR Products for a long time.

Hey, remember me... the OP?

Thanks for all your replies, I got a lot more info than I expected. I didn't mean for this to become the type of thread it ended up being. If I knew a little more about how strong the opinions were out there, I probably would have left UPR's name out of the thread title.

Anyway, I received enough feedback to help me make my decision. I hope to talk with Rick at RNH Monday morning!

Please forgive me for the thread hijack. I needed to defend my company after some of the comments that were posted here. Rick will take care of you though.

i wanna know this also man! spill it! i watched that car all weekend when i could... that sumbitch was on RAILS! that was by far the smoothest pass ive seen out of an outlaw radial car going that fast in a long time.

Yeah, that was sick. I think there's actually some kind of super secret voodoo that goes on with "stock suspension" at the upper echelon of racing... I hesitated to even mention Steve Jackson in this thread (after the torque converter debacle), but he does and has run our parts for many years, so it was worth noting. At any rate, there are some interesting photos of Steve's car on Teddy Houser Race Cars profile page on facebook.

One last thing, Ronnie Wilson won his class in FFW @ PBIR this weekend, using UPR Products. Like I said, the list of winning UPR racers goes on forever. It's good stuff.

 

[srtthis]

One last thing, Ronnie Wilson won his class in FFW @ PBIR this weekend, using UPR Products. Like I said, the list of winning UPR racers goes on forever. It's good stuff.

yea... i gotta admit i see UPR at the track A LOT more then any of the other brands mentioned helping and supporting the racers... hell we have ZERO UPR products on the car and the guys one year at ford fever hooked us up with some UPR tire covers.

 

[90GTFIVO]

Thanks Rick. Like me, I know you speak from personal experience using our products and that makes your opinion valid. Incidentally, we actually do offer the Elite series lowers in a kit with the adjustable uppers for just a little more money. The lowers in this kit can be substituted for the poly/poly Elite arms: 1979-1998 Ford Mustang Pro Street Adjustable Upper & Lower Control Arm Package

Sharad,

I think you might have misspoken here. Rick checked and you currently do not offer this kit or substitution option.