Vick's Prima 1 Control Arms

[srwilson]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these control arms.

My control arms are in good shape (except for the bushings and ball joints) and well worth a re-build, however, at the price they have the complete set listed for I'm tempted to just get new ones and forget the hassle.

-Steve

[4uall]

I went new, funny story (read below page 3 of 2nd link)

These might be of interest

http://wwwe.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopi ... ntrol+arms

http://wwwe.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopi ... ntrol+arms

[srwilson]

Thanks Jay. I think I'll be calling Csaba this week instead.

[RRoller123]

You never go wrong with Auto Ricambi, and a few others like Allison's as well.

Pete

[srwilson]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, on these assemblies, it appears that the bottom shock mount has been modified to accept the standard shock without modification to the shock. I think that might have been an issue for some with these control arms early on. Just wanted to point that out.

[4uall]

LMFAO!

Tell me about it

[srwilson]

Hey Jay,
Just so I'm clear, other than this shock mount issue, was there any other issue you had with the parts? It looks like from your picture you were able to remedy that issue quite nicely. Being able to remove that bottom shock bracket does seem like a good to me.

[4uall]

I did not remove the piece I merely pushed through and cut off excess to make fit waste of my Koni's I was beyond frustrated at this point and wanted this done

If you look up in the post to my 2nd link you will see the adventure that was had

[bradartigue]

Are they really called "Prima 1"? Based on the links above I would expect "Prima 1" to imply some form of quality control.

[wizard124]

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... a&start=60

I rebuilt my original control arms. The above links gives good details (some linked photos have disappeared, but you can find them on my photobucket page). Not so hard, it was my first front end job ever. I highly recommend you have a bench vise if you intend to press out the upper bushings yourself. The lowers i had to take to a machine shop. Some extra time and effort, but no fit or shock mount hassles.

[bradartigue]

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... a&start=60

I rebuilt my original control arms. The above links gives good details (some linked photos have disappeared, but you can find them on my photobucket page). Not so hard, it was my first front end job ever. I highly recommend you have a bench vise if you intend to press out the upper bushings yourself. The lowers i had to take to a machine shop. Some extra time and effort, but no fit or shock mount hassles.

And the OEM parts were badass in terms of quality. They were stout. The stuff floating around since hasn't been so hot, some of them downright dangerous. Search mirafiori and you'll find the bad years for this stuff, and they all look a lot like those "Prima 1" made in china pictures.

By the way, don't advertise (Vick's) Made in the USA and leave the fricking Made in China stickers on the ball joints, as shown in the pictures in this thread.

[BEEK]

when i operated my shop in atlanta, we would change the lower bushings on the car, can be done easily, uppers i changed in a vise