I got them from Brendan Goss (some of you may remember him - the non2002 Supercharged Xterra at GOX last year) He got them from AC as promos for his vehicle and then gave them to me once he made the same deal with Calmini. It seems that once he saw the differance in quality and build he decided to dump them.

Ask Jane at AC about it sometime.

I got them from Brendan Goss (some of you may remember him - the non2002 Supercharged Xterra at GOX last year) He got them from AC as promos for his vehicle and then gave them to me once he made the same deal with Calmini. It seems that once he saw the differance in quality and build he decided to dump them.

Ask Jane at AC about it sometime.[/qb][/QUOTE]

dude who cares.

i agree with WheelOhio@work though, who cares what AARMS you have or whose you have to have to get on the trail..as long as your wheelin'...

whatever works best for you.

Carlton,

Okay, that does sound familiar now...Jane was explaining it a while ago but it's impossible to keep track of all the info running around out there..

Glad it worked out in the long run and you've got AARMS that work for your truck.

MVM

I agree that if your arms are working with your truck then great.

I suppose that if there are variations in the frames of all these vehicles then the shorter arms are more likely to fit without problems. Just a thought.

Because someone cared enought to bring it up I cared enought to explain.

I agree that it makes no differance how I got the arms. What matters is the way that the problem was handled and resolved (or lack thereof)

I have been trying since April, but I'm not one of the major names in the Xterra community that gets free parts from SLR and I guess my opinions and problems carry no weight with SLR. I have talked to and emailed Spencer Jr. several times about different aspects of the lift kit. Each time I have be promised something that never arrives and I have to make due. I'm fed up, so I looked at other solutions.

Anyone want some slightly used (5000 miles) SLR arms?

How much you askin? It would be nice to have another set around...never can have enough spares..

MVM

When I installed the SLR lift, I had 5000 miles on the truck and it had been offroad maybe only 4 or 5 times. The suspension had been at stock ride height and none of the parts showed any signs of wear.

I don't see how a worn centerlink could affect camber, tow-out definitely, but camber and caster a set by the relative positions of the upper and lower control arms.

Hey Steve,

Believe it or not it does and this wasnt' anything I knew about myself untill building this steering setup.

If your centerlink is worn at the idler or pitman arms it will have a direct effect on your camber. I wish I had a detailed explanation as to why but I don't. It was discovered by another guy who built a heim setup also and using that washer in my pic up there is critical in this design. Not only for safety but for alignment as well.

Maybe some of the others here have an explanation as to why, but it does...

MVM

Sorry sold already for $250. Within minutes of posting I received an offer by email from Kinetic I accepted. I'll keep you in mind if the deal falls apart.

No worries, they'll make someone happy. Glad you were able to recoup some money.

MVM

Well, thanks to loyal SLR customers, this nonsense was brought to my attention.

First off, I must say that to date SLR has 70 plus suspension lifts on the market, and a few of our customers have had issues with their vehicles’ alignment.

A few of our customers have had problems getting their trucks to factory/SLR alignment specifications. In some cases, we have found OEM frames to be manufactured inconsistently. We have also found that some frames have been subjected to such extreme abuse that they have become impossible to align.

Here at SLR, we know the importance of a perfect alignment. We will go out of our way to enhance your vehicle’s performance far beyond OEM quality.

I had a customer from Arizona that could not get a perfect alignment. Our lift was installed on this vehicle at our certified installation shop in Phoenix. The alignment technician there brought the truck within our specifications with 5/8 of an inch distance between the upper control arm and the bump stop. The customer was not happy with the 5/8”, stating that we advertise a ¾” distance in our alignment specifications. We built this customer a new pair of ¼” shorter upper control arms and he got his ¾” distance. We have not heard of any further problems with the alignment of his truck.

The point being is that here at SLR, we will go out of our way to make sure that you are happy with your investment.

Aero Steve:

Maybe you should have had your alignment shop contact us. It sounds like you are having the same frame problems as our AZ customer did. ¼” shorter arms would have cured your alignment problem ("too long, camber was off").

"I did the swap, now I have camber adjustment range. Here's the differnce in arms"


To compare Calmini’s upper control arms to Spencer Low Racing's design is ludicrous. We design droop travel into our arms.





"I discussed my problems with the ride height with Spencer and he said he would send a AAL to raise the rear. That was 18 days ago, we'll see if he comes through before GOX. I'm not holding my breath."

Should ship next week, depending on the spring manufacturer’s schedule.

I must stop all of your XOC fairy tales. This is an email that was sent to SLR after sending Ian new ball joints.

Please refrain from making your discrediting remarks. In your email, you stated that your alignment is correct. In public message boards, you have discredited SLR’s lift designs and have passed on myths regarding SLR.

I was willing to work with you on your spring pack issue and I stated that we have designed 2 add-a-leaves to replace 2 leaves in your sagging spring pack. Leaf springs are very sensitive to additional weight, and our springs are designed for 200-300 lb. of additional weight to be carried at all times. Our add-a-leaves will replace 2 springs in each pack with a thicker wire spring and will be able to achieve 1.5” of additional lift, but will not re-arch your spring pack past the original design. You will be able to carry additional weight of 400-600 lb. at all times with these add-a-leaves. You will notice a higher spring rate (stiffer spring).

Philosopher:

"So much for all the bullshit people were saying about SLR being "great" because they have so many years of racing Nissans under their belt. Give me a break."

Our Nissan heritage will never dissolve. It will only grow more powerful. We will have many years of racing in the future with the V6 chassis and the VG and VQ series powerplants.

"So what has SLR done to rectify the problems you encountered?"

There is nothing wrong with any of the components that we are building. There may be inconsistencies in OEM and damaged frames, or alignments may not be performed properly by technicians.

Calmini McMillan:

"Mike..
Don't forget that it was SLR SR. not Jr. that had all the racing experiance. SLR still makes some great things. I guess that they are just more human than they would like to admit."

I was waiting for one of your always consistent know-it-all remarks.

To be quite honest, my father was involved in the design process of our upper control arm.

"I think this problem is here because both the AC and SLR arms were not designed with the Xterra in mind. Rather they are adaptations of designs that happen to work with the Xterra (for some not all). "

Again, stating your ignorance. Go buy a set of Desert Steel arms, which are now on the market as Automotive Customizers’ upper control arms. Take a measurement from pivot to pivot of those arms, and then take a measurement of your Calmini arms from pivot to pivot. Post your results here.

Desert Steel of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, manufactures all of 4x4parts' arms. Do they build SLR’s upper control arms? Not a chance. Is the design concept the same in the tubular construction? Yes.

My father and Jim were on the same Factory Nissan team. After Nissan pulled out from motorsports, Jim started to design and build lift kits, the same kits that Desert Steel and 4x4 Parts are building and selling off of 10 year-old fixtures.

"To my knowledge the Calmini arms are the only Xterra specific arms on the market."

Rancho? Fabtech?

Your knowledge consists of spending the better part of the day looking through offroad archives to find things like your "Texas manufacturer” theory. Give up; Nissan has many different frames. 1999 was a major year for a redesign in frames and powertrains.

I have 70 plus kits on the market. I have had about 4 complaints about alignments. I have addressed all alignment issues and will do anything to make my customers happy.

I don’t know why Ian has resentment towards SLR’s not giving him our steering system. He favors the company that will give him the most free products. Maybe he just enjoys spreading XOC fairy tales? I have provided proof that he has had alignment within specifications.

The customer will have to decide. I am more than willing to help any SLR customer with the slightest alignment issue.

We will be receiving a set of Calmini arms free of charge. I will run these arms on our test vehicles and provide test results (RIT Scores), photos, and videos of a Calmini lift against a SLR lift. This photo and video feedback from various test sessions at a variety of locations (street corners, cone times, rock crawling, desert running, etc.) will be provided to the Nissan community for review.

If there are any questions regarding this post, I will do my best to reply. I have the SEMA show and Off Road Expo, photo shoots, and GOX coming up in the next few months. I will not reply to posts that are intended to flame.

Thank you for your support and your time. I apologize if my post is offensive to anyone in the Nissan community. I am just tired of constantly reading misleading information.

Thank you,

Spencer Ryan Low

Correct me if I am wrong.. Although as you stated above about Desert Steel making the UCA's for AC. Is it not correct that you do not make the UCA's for your lift? Are they not in fact made by FST in Pheonix?

Just wanting to get my facts strait as to who is making what components in the various lifts out there..

When the lift kit was new, getting it aligned was difficult, but not impossible, which I mentioned in my review. Shortly after the initial installation, the boots on the ball joints tore, and you replaced them with D21 ball joints. These seemed to fit better, and allowed the truck to be aligned closer to factory spec.

Somewhere along the line, you came up with your -0.5 to +0.5 camber spec, which was impossible to get on my truck. The best I could get was the max Nissan spec of +1.1 degrees. This is a very large amount of positive camber for a truck with longer upper control arms. As soon as the suspension compresses, the longer arms force the top of the tire outward, creating excessive wear on the outside edge of the tire.

You mentioned to me on the phone that you prefer this because the truck handles better. Sorry, but that is just not true. Using less of the tire contact patch does not increase traction, it decreases it.

Last year before GOX, I called and told you the rear springs were sagging. You sold me the 1" shackles, which were by then part of your kit. That leads me to believe the springs were not setup correctly from the beginning.

Over this Summer, the springs continued to sag, to the point that I had 3" of clearance from axle tube to bumpstop, which is what a stock Xterra has. Basically I had a 0" lift in the rear.

I mentioned this to you on the phone, and you told me I was carrying too much stuff in my truck. You stated the springs were never designed for anything but an empty Xterra.
I carry about 200 lbs of gear in the back, plus myself, Leslie and a 60 lb. Pit Bull. That sounds like a normal amount of gear for anyone who 4 wheels their Xterra.

I asked you about the warranty on the springs, and you said you didn't know of one. I asked if I should call National Spring, and you said that would be fine.
I called National, and they requested that I load my Xterra up with gear, find a truck scale, and weigh just the back half of the Xterra. They then said they would see if they could make a new leaf for it.

At no time did you say you had, or were making, a 2 leaf replacement set for this spring pack. And if you indeed had, wouldn't that mean you were fully aware of the sagging issue ?

At that point I just gave up.
I was tired of crawling under my truck every month to adjust the sagging torsion bars, then taking my truck to the dealer for an alignment.
I was tired of bottoming out over anything with my camping gear loaded in the back.
I was tired of watching $700 worth of tires wearing away on the outside edge.
I was tired of the rear tires hitting the body work because the spring pack relocates the rear axle an inch too far forward.

So I tried something else. CALMINI wanted their lift reviewed, so I offered to do so.

Next year I may have something completely different under my truck, who knows...

You got your ads on XOC, 3.4 million of them, and they've driven 4,731 customers to your site. I got a lift kit for 18 months, and I was happy with it for 10 of those months.

Call it even.

Damn! It looks like FST knows what they are doing even if they are fabricating parts designed by SLR.

FST

I told you on the phone, I am not interested in your steering system, free or not.

The only companies I favor are those who go out of their way to help this site and the Xterra community. I favor CALMINI because they are involved in the community. They help sponsor GOX and goneMOAB. Xterraparts.com sponsors this site, and pays to keep it running. What events have you helped with ?

As for 'free' products, your lift kit was $1685, which is a sum larger than any other vendor has given me.

If you truly believe that I am in it for free parts, then I will gladly pay you the $1685 for the lift kit, and send you a bill for 3.4 million ad exposures at $1.25 CPM.

You owe me $2565.

And here I was, thinking SLR was actually doing their own work on their trucks...

Does that mean that when you say Calmini makes the best , you're not really saying it's the best; you're just saying it's the best because they sponsor GOX? That's sorta what it sounds like you're saying.

I favor the company, not necessarily what they make. Xterraparts.com doesnt make anything, but I like the company, and what they offer Xterra Owners and this community.

In the same vein as Eric's post,Ian, shouldn't the parts build quality and fit be the only factor in determining your recommendations?

What would be the case had AC been the one to sponsor GOX or GONE and contribute to maintaining this site? Even though you feel they are an inferior alternative you probably still wouldn't recommend them would you ?

After reading your post and SLR's post you didn't follow up his comments with a responce to the issue of the allignment. It might be helpfull since that was a major factor in this discussion if you could clarify that issue.

DesertRat, is there some purpose to your post besides (yet again) complaining about one phone call you had with CALMINI and (yet again) advertising your board ?

I don't recommend anything. People should decide themselves which vendors to buy from.

It's obvious that build quality and fit should be the most important aspects of a purchase. Customer service comes second, and really isn't important if the products work.

I like a lot of the stuff SLR is making, and EOE and CALMINI, but there will always be parts that I am not happy with.

Should that matter to anyone ? No. Make up your own minds, it's not my job.

Since I started this thread and posted the comparison photo, I feel obligated to give a more indepth explanation of my reasons to switch to Calmini arms. This has blown up more than I expected. My apologies to Spencer this was not my intent. I am not interested in flaming anyone's product, only what works for me and my truck. I chose to swap arms to Calmini because they were instock and I couldn’t count on the AAL I needed for ride height to be here in time for GOX. I’m not singling out SLR, in my opinion they are no better or worse than any of the other Xterra aftermarket suppliers (Calmini where’s my bumper ).

I was unhappy with the front ride height required to be aligned. I probably didn’t express myself strongly enough to Spencer in 2 emails and a couple phone calls since I got it. I could get aligned, but only at ¼” gap on the bumpstop, even then it was at the edge of SLR’s spec in camber and caster. (I misspoke about SLR’s looser tolerances in an earlier post, I found out today in positive camber they are actually tighter than Nissan’s) But as soon as the torsion bars sagged it was out and I did not have any camber adjustment left. This was complicated by the fact the truck is settling in the rear. For the front to be in alignment it rides nose high. I preferred the ride with the front end lower than this but couldn’t be aligned at that ride height. The solution to me was shorter arms or jack the back up and live with the high front. I sent Spence an email on 6/19 describing my situation and asked specifically for shorter arms. Ten day later I got a canned response “you must maintain 3/4" to 5/8" between the upper control arm and the upper control arm bump stop”. I do not know what your X is set at but I will do anything in my power to help you attain a perfect alignment.” No mention of the rear sag. I responded immediately and reiterated my problem. No reply. I spent awhile out of town, but 4 weeks later I called and got a call back from Spencer. This is when he promised AAL’s. With the front as high as it was, I was also concerned about blowing a CV joint.

Spencer, If you are going to conduct business over the internet step one is to answer email from customers in a timely manner. Review my emails, there is something you promised to send over a month ago or at least tell me the size

After I saw Carlton’s comparisons of AC and Calmini arms I started thinking about using the Calmini arms. A couple of the guys in my club had AC arms and we all had front ends that looked the same. \ / What finally convinced me to swap to the Calmini’s was when one of the guys in my club swapped his AC arms for Calmini’s and I got to compare my tires with new Trxus and saw how much mine were worn on the outer edges after 10000 miles, 5000 lifted

Thank you for classifying me as a disloyal customer full on nonsense

Nice story, I guess you do not remember the email I sent requesting shorter arms or offset bushings for the UCA. I was told I didn’t have my truck properly set up.

The alignment shop did contact you (I have a fax from you to them) The alignment shop in question is very well respected in this area and has experience with modified vehicles of all sorts.

Your right the designs differ and the SLR kit has more travel from what I can see on my truck. The SLR arms are longer as illustrated by my picture. From my experience with your product the “droop” travel was negated by the need to set the ride height so high for alignment. With the torsion bars cranked to support this height, the front was stiff and up travel was limited as well.

Thanks they will be appreciated, but it won’t help me for GOX if it arrives while I’m there. So I found a solution that worked in the timeframe I had.

I too have found that SLR takes a long time to answer Emails... Most of them are answered, though I've sent a few that have disappeared into the ether somewhere...

As for UCAs, I've made up my mind - Calmini. It's the only UCA that I've consistently heard "I installed it and aligned the truck perfectly" about. SLR's UCAs are $100 more expensive and require the diff drop bushings be installed. That's more work than I care for right about now. I've heard nothing but bad things about the AC arms, so I'm not even considering those.

Generally, I like SLR's stuff - and have a good bit of it under my truck. The quality is excellent - no doubt about that. The pricing however, is a bit steep on some things (UCAs and steering system, for example).

Lastly, I don't understand why these types of posts ALWAYS turn into a pissing contest. Who cares! Use what works... As for Ian's "reviews" - well, like any review, they suck. It's nothing more than one person's opinion. Like movies - judge for yourself based on multiple accounts. Simple, really.

Carlton McMillan:

"Correct me if I am wrong.. Although as you stated above about Desert Steel making the UCA's for AC. Is it not correct that you do not make the UCA's for your lift? Are they not in fact made by FST in Pheonix?"

I must say, you have way too much time on your hands. Some of SLR’s production-orientated parts are made at FST.

xoc:

"Blah blah blah"

This is like talking to a wall. Blue and yellow look great together. Happy wheelin’.

Again, misleading information.

"And here I was, thinking SLR was actually doing their own work on their trucks..."

You are jumping to conclusions. :rolleyes:

Ian, my intentions are not to create bad blood here. I do enjoy reading this message board and applaud what you are doing for the community. I have worked very hard to design parts for the Nissan community, and I don’t need this ignorant and misleading information to be constantly posted. I have worked way too hard to have the same people constantly discrediting my products.

I have many new parts coming to the market in the upcoming months and also have some huge shows and photo shoots. I would like to keep busy with my products and not have to defend my parts. And we wonder why Nissans have such a weak aftermarket parts selection.

I love the Nissan product. I would not be racing and designing parts if I thought there are any design flaws in the Nissan product. Yes, there are a couple of OEM flaws, but for the most part, it is a solid platform and aftermarket solutions.

When do moderators come into play?? Do they at all?

DesertRAT:

Thanks for your interest. This is a typical XOC flame/discussion.

Aero Steve:

I do apologize for all your wasted time and effort with my product. I will do anything in my power to make you happy in the future. Maybe a beer at GOX?

I am sorry that I cannot answer your questions and emails in a reasonable amount of time. I am spread thin and there are only so many hours in the day. I hope all of your components work well for you.

Please send the CNC shock spacers to the person who purchased your arms or have him contact us at 928-667-4757.

Again, I apologize if my post has offended anyone. I am just tired of seeing misleading information and constant flames. I work hard to be publicly discredited.

Again, thanks for your interest and support.

>>>SLR