| I do not know who started these rumors, I did not know of the rumors till recently but it appears to have been going on for a while now... I hope this kills the rumors, but sadly the damage may already been done :(
Rumor 1: SPL suspension parts are made in China/Taiwan copies of existing parts
All the suspension parts we offer are either made in Japan or in the USA. For the parts from Japan, I purchase them from the original shop/manufacturer that designed the parts. I find, test/evaluate and then select what I think is the best example of a specific part - for example the S14 rear upper control arm is made by Cusco, and is the only Cusco made part I currently sell. I do not import anything from Taiwan/China, and I have the $$$ freight receipts from Japan each month to prove it. I had started out importing exotic parts from Japan, and that is still our main business.
rumor 2: SPL front upper arms are dangerous, they can break because they hit the bracket, etc.
AFAIK only one person has reported this style of arm "failing", and that was nixit. The "failure" was the threads on the arm seizing due to race compound brake dust deposited on the threads: [ http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg.aspx?forum=general&msg_id=1198105 ] Yes, it *is* possible for the front upper arm to hit the bracket if the car does not have properly controlled suspension travel in front, you can see in this picture: 
If the front suspension compresses too far, the upper arms can hit the "elbow" in that bracket. However, this problem would happen to any of the other "Midori-style" upper arms. On the version we sell, if the arm is fully shortened, the aluminum lock collar can be crushed when it hits the bracket. The other slightly modified design, which I believe was first introduced by Escort Racing, fixes the "crushed collar syndrome": 
Compare to this: 
You can see that the length of the buckle is shortened so the collar is out of the way and cannot be crushed. Still either way the arm can still hit the bracket unless the suspension travel is properly controlled - through the ride height, spring rate and bump stops. When you lower the car, you reduce the suspension travel, so it is important that the suspension travel is controlled through stiffer springs and bump stops. Damage on the upper arm or bracket would indicate that you need to either raise your ride height, or run a stiffer spring and/or more bump stop. The reasons why I opted not to go with the Escort design: 1. I have found the locking collar will miss the bracket if the arm is set at stock length or more. So the problem is limited to the very few cases where people are making the arms shorter than stock for racing. In those cases I hope the need to control suspension travel properly would be understood. 2. The shorter buckle on the Escort design reduces adjustment range, and could put the arm near its adjustment limits on cars that are dropped much more than an inch and looking to keep stock camber settings. 3. The shorter buckle means less thread engagement (ie. less of the threaded arm inside the buckle). Sufficient thread engagement is important to the integrity of the arm, and for the same setting the standard TBO/Midori design will have more thread engagement than the Escort design. This is especially a concern for those guys who have to adjust out alot of negative camber (ie. drops of >1"). BTW, a standard engineering rule of thumb is to have a minimum thread engagement of 1x (1.5x preferred) the diameter of the thread.
4. A damaged inner lock collar will not affect the arms setting as the lock collar on the outside is sufficient to prevent movement. The lock collar does not affect the structural integrity of the arm so long as there is sufficient thread engagement. For all my customers, I am fully stocked on replacement aluminum lock collars. So if you notice damage, I will send out replacement collars free of charge, and please take that damage as a warning that something should be done to properly limit the front suspension travel (stiff springs or bump stops). AFAIK, there has been ZERO reports of this type of arm (either design) breaking under normal use. I believe the original TBO/Midori design is stronger because of more thread engagement, others believe the Escort design is stronger because it avoids damaging the inner lock collar. There is no hard evidence either way, so the choice is yours... There is also the misunderstanding regarding the adjustment range. Other arms are often advertised as "+/- 4", that should actually be "-1 to +3". To get -4 deg, the upper arm would have to be ridiculously short (eg. 1" long). It should be quite clear that the longer buckle on the TBO/Midori design gives the arm more adjustment range than the Escort design. And yes, the SPL arms do have the correct dimensions (one side slightly longer than the other), and the dimensions are all individually checked when we receive the arms from Japan. We even apply antiseize on the threads to reduce the possibility of the threads seizing.
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Dispelling the rumors regarding SPL suspension - 
