Function7 Lower Control Arm Review - In Progress
 

First, Pros and Cons of these arms.

Pros:
Aluminum - in my opinion this is preferred over steel
Sway Bar Adjustability - Should allow for extremely fine tuning of the rear bar
Beefy Construction - These arms look well built, and the design looks well thought out
Pretty - They definitely look good
Price - At a $330 introduction price, they're more affordable than most on the market

Cons:
Eccentric Bolt - These are simply bolts with off-center holes through the lobe, and are not affixed to the bolt which spins inside the lobe. I don't know if this will cause an issue when it comes to the alignment, but this is the only time that these are a concern.
Exterior Deburring - Specific issues will be brought up with pictures to support the claims

Who should look at these/why do you need them?
I bought these as a preventative measure. I recently purchased some aftermarket wheels and tires (17x9 +38, 255/40 Nitto), and coilovers to compliment the setup. I am not one who will be chasing stance, or even a slammed car, so I may not need lower control arms at all. I bought them so that I could dial in my suspension to specifically what settings I want, instead of just dealing with what the suspension settled to once at my desired height.

These arms would be ideal for people who are looking for a lower control arm upgrade either to lower their cars (although there are better arms if you're going to dump it, like Stance), or if they're looking for something more rigid than the factory stamped steel pieces, to gain some camber adjustment, and/or have firmer bushings.

A little background on me:
I'm a machinist by trade, and I deal with aluminum almost solely. Because of that, I know what goes in to these arms and the machining process. My profession also makes me a stickler for the process, and overall cleanliness of parts after production. I'm being more picky than almost anyone else would be, but I'm taking on the responsibility of tearing these apart, down to every detail because these are so new to the market.



See the end of this thread for final thoughts.



According to this link/description of the arms, every Function7 unit is I can't comment on these arms being 7075, but the fact that they came to me as dirty and full of chips as they did, I seriously doubt they were I have parts at my shop anodized (no doubt what they're doing for protection from the environment), and when they leave our shop they're clean, then cleaned at the anodize shop, and come back flawless. If they're anodized, they'd be anodized clear, and when aluminum parts are anodized with clear they come back looking more dull, almost a bead-blasted finish. These parts are definitely a raw aluminum.

My specific arms were purchased from here at an introductory price of 329.99 shipped, and arrived very well packaged, and within a week. The arms are supposed to go up to the 450 range, but I'm not sure when, or if that is a MSRP price or not. Either way, 330 is an amazing price for machined arms. Most other arms (so long as they're not the GodSpeed variety) are in the 450-600 range, so I consider these a bargain even at full MSRP.

These pictures show chips:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psd9d52008.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psd00c5272.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps8c841b66.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps815409b2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps311234ed.jpg


The deburring issues I mentioned earlier are not going to be an issue once the parts are installed and suspension alignment is set. They do pose a handling issue because some of these edges are REALLY damn sharp!

Before breaking the edge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps5e1dc6b6.jpg

After breaking the edges:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps060306b9.jpg

These through holes were drilled before having the meat of the arms hogged out. This leaves a small flap of material behind after the endmills pass over the holes (it pushes the metal instead of cutting the last section). Fix for this? Run the drill back in these holes after machining by hand, and that will cut away the flap, or use a deburring tool and sweep the holes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps31637e3c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps3abb1cc9.jpg

Next issue is that the exterior lips of the through holes do not have chamfers on them. Why is this an issue?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps39f0ded1.jpg

Because the hardware they provide, and most cap screws for that matter, have a chamfer from the threads/shoulder to head. This makes the machined surface of the cap (which is machined and supposed to be the load bearing surface) not seat against the arm, unless you apply extreme torque on the assembly which would pull the head down to the arm. Solution?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psf722a8e7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps24db8a78.jpg

Use your zero flute or deburring tool to chamfer these holes. This is another process that should have been done during machining using their center drill. Simply drive it slightly deeper than what's needed to center the drill that will be going through, and the chamfer is there.


Now comes my general nitpicking of these parts, just because I'm a machinist and expect clean pieces:

Unsure of when these were damaged, but because of the large burrs this caused the eccentric bolt to stand off from the arm, and would have caused the cam to bind once they were tightened. It also just causes general scratches and looks poor.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psc118f930.jpg

Just a ding, not from machining. Probably during packaging.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pscf7757e1.jpg


This DID come from machining. This is caused by the fixture/vice not being cleaned off from chips before this part was clamped down, which forces the chip in to the surface of the aluminum. Generally speaking, the guys that do the setup of machines don't do this, it's the button monkeys that we leave to run it our stead (bit of a rant, ha):mad0259:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps98267860.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psa065ec5d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps35d76f16.jpg


Chip left over from being machined/tapped. This is just another thing telling me that these pieces aren't coated, and in fact aren't even cleaned.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps281d735d.jpg





These arms are not installed on my car yet. It's currently 5* here, and not supposed to warm back up for a while, so I'm not eager about going to my cold garage to install these. I will update this thread with my alignment specs and if there are any issues that arise then, and then again once I get some mileage on my car and do a couple AutoX's.

Overall impression of the arms, my picky-ness not withstanding?
They appear to be machined well, they're something I can drool over because I love seeing machined pieces, they'll be a conversation starter if anyone else sees them, they're dirt cheap (relatively speaking), and should perform very well. I think my complaints come from the fact that I got in on these arms very early, and I would hope that the production process will get cleaner and more revised for these guys for future releases.

So far, I absolutely recommend these arms.

Reserved for alignment specs and install guide.

Reserved for driving impressions, and faults if there are any.

Looks unfinished to me. They're pretty but that only gets you so far. Hopefully the performance outweighs the "this is good enough".

Looking forward to your review... :)


Bill

Aesthetically, they look like the Honda counterparts that they produce. I'm looking forward to more reviews besides the looks.

You are fortunate that you have the skill set and equipment to fix these. If it were me I would of returned them the instant I opened the package because there is no excuse for that sloppy workmanship, even at that price point.

I have a private message in to them via Facebook, basically just questioning if this is how their arms typically ship, or if mine somehow slipped through. I'll keep everyone updated.



I also ask that if anyone else is currently running these arms, please provide your reviews of them. I know they're fairly new though, so I don't think we'll have any solid reviews for quite a while.

I have a set sitting and looking at it, there is no where near as much loose material as yours. There are very little and that's being nit picky with it. I do see your point of the holes needing to be chamfered, which I will do to make the better seating.


In regards to the imperfections, I have very little to complain about. Most of it appears to be the handling.


Also, I got them from the same site. Was recommended by someone who tracks their car.

Yep, I remember reading your comment in the original Function7 thread, and with what the guy who aggressively drives his car said, I went ahead with the purchase. You have the SPC's on your car currently, correct? Any timeframe for installing the F7's?

I know I'm being picky with these, and I also know that my complaints are very trivial and I seriously doubt that they'd adversely compromise the pieces. Basically, I'd love my set of arms to be the worst that ever leave that shop, so whenever everyone else orders theirs and they're in better shape everyone is happy. :)

Yeah, hope they improve their QC.


Not sure on when they go in. Still throwing a lot of things around and deciding when is the best time without doing several alignments.

are you sure you got the real parts...
these guys are constantly flagging companies selling fakes on their facebook page.

GL hearing back from them. I sent an email inquirey directly on their website over a week ago. No response.

I won't beg a company to take my money no matter how nice of product they sell.

They do look nice though...



Sent from Note III on BoBCaTROM

I saw that they do that quite a bit. I'm hoping that going through a big enough vendor like the one I did had legitimate parts. If these are not real Function7 arms, then this will be a public service to everyone else to not use who I did to buy these, and that these are what's expected if you get fakes.

If my Facebook message goes unanswered, I'll post directly to their Facebook page so their customer's can see (which is what I'm trying to avoid by private messaging them).

EDIT: I have verified that jhpusa.com are indeed authentic Function7 distributors. That means my arms are real. Screen capture coming later tonight for proof that they are legitimate.



This picture shows that Function 7 confirm that the vendor @chutrain and I bought our arms from are an authorized dealer:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps29d314ea.png



At this point in time, my only real complaint is that I believe these arms are NOT coated, and because of that will oxidize/get grungy significantly quicker than arms that are powdercoated or anodized.