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I've personally used a wide range of arms - most coming on cars and shells I've bought and missiled around. Some were better than others, some were stupendous, and some were absolutely perfect.
TEIN: I had the tensions a few times on a few different cars. They're pretty good quality but they seemed too thin for me. I guess it's good for cars with good angle to give them a few more millimeters of clearance but I like nice, beefy arms. Don't get me wrong, the welds are great and the metal is high quality as are the joints but they just aren't anything super beef like other companies but still an awesome upgrade from stock.
PBM: I've had them on every SERIOUS drift car and absolutely love them. Every arm is perfect. The metal is super high quality, the welds are always nice and clean, and the joints are top tier. The issue with their arms is they're focused more on slammed cars and having a 'correct' slammed suspension geometry. My cars mostly being slammed, this is the set of arms that I tend to flock towards. I've never had issues with customer service or the arms themselves and recently, they DO offer a trade-up program [at least they offered when I called with an issue I was having; I lost the spacers for my toe rods and they said 'worst case scenario, you can use our trade-up program and get some new arms' which is dope]. The arms are beefy and last forever. I'm a loyal customer to PBM.
SPL: Again, some of the beefiest arms around. The metal and welding is top tier and nearly unmatched. The only company that I can see competing is PBM. SPL started using titanium with awesome joints so for people not going SUPER low but want a nice, beefy, strong, quality arm, SPL is the way to go. Their downside is the price. They do offer the trade-up program as well but you'll pay the most out of pocket up front. It's not a HUGE difference [between 20-40$ over PBM] but for people who are on a tight budget, these may be a little further out of reach. I've also never had an issue with any SPL product [I use a large array of their stuff from solid subframe bushings to arms] and I doubt I ever will. Customer service is great as well.
Battle Version: They remind me of a different colored TEIN or Megan. The metal is great as are the welds and joints, but they don't seem 'special' to me. They don't have something that makes them different. While they are super strong, they seem generic to me. I know a lot of people use them and the newer design they just released do look more beefy and less mainstream than the others, they just don't have that specialty thing that jumps out to me.
Megan/ISIS/other lower end brands: Same issue above. They're always look alike for the most part, always share the same type of joints. While I've seen quite a bit of people swear by them and run them with great success, I'm always skeptical with the thickness, quality metal, and the welds or joints. They seem easily bent or the joints just seem really low quality and mass produced.
I hope somewhere in my little short story I helped. I'm not biased to a brand but am biased to quality, strength, and customer service. While any arm is a sure upgrade to your OEM arms, not all are equal and the saying goes 'you get what you pay for' strongly in this spectrum of upgrading your car. For what it's worth, spend the money the first time and never worry about it again. Don't worry about bends, shit joints, sketchy welds, or generic painted mainstream product. Know that you're buying the best of the best even if it takes you a little longer to get it.
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