| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| MusCat | I have a question for all you Prowler owners that don't have chrome front ends on your prowler (thought I better be specific) Is you upper and lower control arm coated with a clear lacquer? My replacement came today and its not lacquered but the ones on my prowler are. Trying to find out what is normal. Thanks. |
| RPL | It depends on when your car was built. The early cars, '97's and most '99's, had painted arms which had been squeeze cast. The latter arms and all replacement arms were unpainted and cast produced through a different process. |
| catfish | 97s andd 99s had clesr coat on them. ------------------
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| ed monahan | The 99 REDS were not clear coated, but had the rough cast. The clear coat ended VERY early in 99. My first one was produced in Feb or March of 99, no clear coat. |
| 392HEMI | I have applied clear coat to both, much easier to keep original appearance and free from grease and grime. They were not clearcoated from the factory, both 2001. |
| RPL | Ed, that was very late in the '99 model year. Production began in January, 1998 and concluded in June, 1999 for the change-over to the 2000 model year. Red was the color when the change occurred. |
| ed monahan | Bob, sorry, I meant early in the calendar year, not production year. I should have specified. I didn't want wannabe to think ALL 99s had the earlier version. |
| RPL | ED I understand. This is an issue for all of the early cars that need a replacement arm at some point in their life cycle. The replacements do not match the originals. If you compare the two types side-by-side you'll notice that the latter arm is slightly larger in all but critical dimensions. This was to make up the difference in material strength. Both types work equally well. The first type is better suited for chroming although both types can be chromed. The squeeze cast arms are denser and less porous. |
| Ray | quote:
Originally posted by RPL:
"The first type is better ...". "The squeeze cast arms are denser and less porous."
Sooo .. therefore early '99's, those of us with yellow or purple ... have "better" components ... you know, before the cheapening process took over -- thanks Bob for the info! 
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| BeWare | Our Kat was built August 1998 and has the squeeze cast version (clear coated). Our next major mod will be a chrome front suspension. |
| GaryE | Just a little more information on the later production units that make it more difficult to chrome them. They have both magnesium and silicon in the material. We spent about 2 years developing the procedure to chrome the later production units. ------------------
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| BeWare | quote:
Originally posted by GaryE:
Just a little more information on the later production units that make it more difficult to chrome them. They have both magnesium and silicon in the material. We spent about 2 years developing the procedure to chrome the later production units.
Gary , I have a question. When finances allow me to pull the trigger (it may be quit some time yet) and chrome the front suspension would I be better off shipping mine and havng them chrome plated or using the exchange option? |
