I have the Hotchkis UCA's on my Challenger. They're nice pieces, but I don't think I would run heims on the street again. They're the only UCA that relocates the front pivot point to improve the camber and bump steer curves, but that does make them pretty time consuming to adjust since the front pivot can only be moved with the heim adjustment since there's no camber bolt. That means a few trips to the alignment rack.
I ran the heims without boots, as they were originally supplied by Hotchkis. They lasted less than 7k miles on the street before they started clicking, and I noticed some pretty significant wear on the heim joint. Hotchkis replaced them for me and supplied the boots that now come with the UCA's, so far they seem to be working. But I still don't think they'll last as long on a daily as a set of bushings would. And since my Challenger has been my only driver until recently with the addition of my Duster, the heims are a pretty decent headache for not a lot of gain compared to polyurethane bushings that most other tubular UCA's run. I'm sure on the track it would be a more noticeable difference, but I spend the vast majority of my time on the street.
Just my observations. For a weekend or fair weather car they'd probably never be an issue. Logging 10k miles a year in all weather conditions they wear pretty quickly, and changing them even occasionally is a pain. The rest of the Hotchkis parts are great, although I'm not really sure that the tubular steering arms and heims instead of tie rod ends are necessary either. I upgraded to solid tubular adjusters with the standard ends, they're pretty bombproof. The only significant amount of flex there is in the adjusters anyway, not the tie rod ends.
Topic: Hotchkis TVS - Tubular Upper Control Arms - Header fitment? (Read 1775 times)
