Somehow I knew you were going to bring up airplanes. Have you ever seen the maintenance and replacement schedule for airplane parts? As a matter of fact, aircraft parts DO get replaced on a regular basis because of the fatigue life of aluminum. I'll pass on that, thanks.
Same goes for race vehicles. They inspect parts after every race and their sponsors buy them new ones when they crack and break.
I have to say, I'm starting to understand why other people in this forum give you shit. You're kind of a know-it-all dickhead.
So unless you can come up with any reason why I should have picked Savvy arms over Currie, I will consider this conversation concluded.
Good day.
It would probably help you somewhat, doubtful but possible if you understand I have been part of Savvy/Currie's race program for quite awhile. No, no sponsor replaces their aluminum control arms when they crack and break for 2 reasons, they don't crack and break and they don't have a sponsor for their arms, they build their own.
The other giant glaring flaw in your assumption is if an arm did have a reasonable expectation of cracking and breaking, it would be made of a different material because a cracked and broken control arm will take you out of the race. They never raced to lose, they always raced to win and you can't win with broken parts or parts that might break.
For the sake of discussion, let's chat about your high stress for a moment. The fatigue life of aluminum comes into play when (in this case) the arm would be flexed perpendicular to it's long axis at a degree which could start to cause failure. Since a control arm (in context) operates almost solely in tension and compression, it is impossible for that type failure to occur. Where it can come into play is if the threaded shank on an end has been left loose with marginal engagement, the threads can fail. The same will also occur with any threaded steel tube as well so it is an issue of no consequence since the viability of both depends on proper maintenance and use.
That should convince all but the most stubborn that aluminum in the proper alloy and size will be sufficient for use as a control arm but we do need to chat some more about actual high stress situations and uses. Here is a pic of a product I developed.
That is a 6061-T6 caliper adapter bracket being used with a 13.25" rotor and the caliper from the front of a 05 Dodge Ram 1500 to reign in 37 and 40" tires on a TJ. We built and put several hundred out there, many in front of hydroboost. 100% success rate with zero failures. Certainly that qualifies as high stress, no? In fact, we used the same material to build the same brackets in sizes for 15" kits, 16" kits, and that one, the 17" kits. A couple thousand of them in use without a single failure.
Someone knowledgeable will point out that we no longer do them that way and instead have a 1 piece knuckle for the various sizes but that is not due to anything other than the fact we could not acquire a consistent supply of core knuckles, nothing else.
As for why you should have purchased Savvy over Currie, I don't have any reason that you should have. You are more than welcome to pick either one or neither but you can not discount the Savvy arm as being a viable option due to material because that is wrong. There are thousands and thousands in use and due to the way the internet works, if there was an issue with improper material causing a problem, those examples would be very well documented and brought up in every control arm discussion.
To address the claim of being a know it all dickhead, well, the dick head part is pretty common. I generally give those that are wrong that impression. In fact, I'm often called arrogant and condescending, but never by anyone that knows more than I do about something. The know it all part I'll own most of since it is my job to know how materials work and apply them properly to a product and put that in the hands of folks whose lives can depend on me knowing what I am doing.
