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CATEGORY FOCUS: New Suspension & Chassis products
Recently released part numbers and products in the chassis and suspension category include Mercedes shocks and struts from Arnott Industries, ZF suspension components from TRW, control arms, tie rod ends, and ball joints from Mevotech, and the promise of a full-line of steering and suspension products from Delphi.
Welcome to AutoService World’s Category Focus, looking at recent announcements from automotive aftermarket parts manufacturers and distributors.
Full line steering and suspension
Delphi Technologies Aftermarket has announced its intention to reach a full-line of steering and suspension products by 2020. It launched the product line in North America last year. By the end of this year, Delphi Technologies expects to be able to offer 99 percent sales coverage in steering and suspension. Its products, all rigorously tested and built to match OE performance and precision, include control arms, tie rod ends, inner tie rods, and tie rod assemblies, sway bar links, ball joints, track control arms, bushings, bellow kits, and steering kits.
“Steering and suspension has been a tremendous growth story for us,” said Chad Smith, vice president, aftermarket for North America. “Our strong global footprint has allowed us to bring our successful European product line to the North American market, and since its launch in February 2017, we have significantly increased our sales coverage.”
Chassis line expansion
Mevotech has introduced 50 new parts to its catalogue of chassis parts. The part introductions expand coverage of Mevotech’s Supreme and TTX: Terran Tough Xtreme brands with 37 parts featuring engineered enhancements for added strength and durability. Mevotech Supreme adds 31 new parts, with 22 of them featuring innovative engineered enhancements that are application-specific. These latest releases from the Mevotech Supreme brand feature 11 first‐to‐market parts including the front lower control arm and ball joint assemblies for the 2016‐2018 Honda Civic. Also included in the December release are 15 new items to the TTX line of chassis parts including 8 control arms, 4 tie rod ends, and 3 ball joints. Most notably, the front upper control arm and ball joint assemblies for the 2004-2018 Ford F-150.
“Mevotech continues to focus on building better parts for the aftermarket suspension,” said Brian Rossi, vice president of engineering for Mevotech. “An aftermarket suspension is very different than a vehicle that’s fresh from a new car dealer lot. This is why technicians rely on Mevotech’s innovative engineered designs for their undercar repairs.”
Corner modules
TRW has added an additional 214 SKUs to its Branded Corner Module product ranges.
ZF Aftermarket enters 2019 with more “True Original” TRW parts with an addition of 676 parts to its Corner Module product group lines. This expansion gives more vehicles access to TRW’s high-quality OE braking, steering and suspension components. The TRW brand added 214 SKUs to the TRW Corner Module product ranges in the last quarter of 2018, including 136 chassis components spanning over 151 million vehicles in operation, 69 suspension components spanning more than 110 million vehicles in operation and 9 braking components spanning over 4 million vehicles in operation.
The new SKUs cover an extensive list of makes and models including:
- Honda Odyssey 2017-2005 for control arm and ball joint assembly
- Jeep Wrangler 2010-2007 for suspension components
- Honda CR-V 2018-2017, Jaguar F-Type 2018-2014 and XJ 2018-2016 for brake pad kits
“We’re proud of the growth we’ve achieved with the TRW brand and the Corner Module product line over the last year,” said Brian Rassin, product group manager, ZF Aftermarket. “Our aim is to provide our customers in the automotive aftermarket with the highest quality products possible for a wide range of applications, and this year we’ve successfully expanded even further.”
Shocks and struts
Arnott has introduced additional new and remanufactured OE rear shocks for Mercedes-Benz E-Class and CLS-Class models.
The Arnott-designed aftermarket rear shock SK-3012 fits the third generation E-Class (W211 chassis) and first generation CLS-Class (W219 chassis), both with AIRMATIC and with ADS including AMG models. Arnott’s SK-3039 is an Arnott-designed new rear shock for the 2003-2009 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211 chassis) and 2005-2011 CLS-Class (W219 chassis) without ADS or AIRMATIC and with or without Rear Load Leveling, excluding AMG models.
The new shocks bypass the aging and often-problematic Adaptive Damping System (ADS) on these older vehicles and include a coil resister which plugs in to the vehicle’s electrical system to eliminate any suspension dashboard warning lights. The new Arnott shocks, which fit both the left and right side of the applications, include a custom-valved and thoroughly road-tested damper which provides an excellent ride which Mercedes owners expect.
The shocks also include a new polyurethane bump stop, new top and bottom mounts, which provide a tight fit, and a protective dust boot.
Arnott’s SK-3199 is a remanufactured OE rear shock for the 2003-2009 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211 chassis) and 2005-2011 CLS-Class (W219 chassis) AMG models with AIRMATIC and ADS and without 4MATIC and Arnott remanufactured rear OE shocks are inspected, steam cleaned, and spin blasted to bare metal before being recharged with new high-performance shock oil. Worn components, such as the piston, rod guides and seal pack are replaced before being repainted with corrosion inhibiting paint. The shock and damping coil are dyno and functionally tested to assure OE performance.
The U.S. designed and assembled replacement shocks come just months after the company released Arnott remanufactured OE rear shocks SK-3197 and SK-3268 for the 2003-2009 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211 chassis) and 2005-2011 CLS-Class (W219 chassis) with ADS. Arnott’s new and remanufactured rear shocks are fully compatible with both the OE rear air spring and Arnott’s innovative rear air spring for the E-Class which offers a significantly faster and easier installation than the OE.
Arnott also introduces remanufactured OE rear shocks for the Mercedes-Benz R-Class (W251) with AIRMATIC and ADS. SK-3262 is an Arnott remanufactured OE rear shock absorber for the left or right side of the 2006-2013 Mercedes R-Class (W251 chassis) with ADS and AIRMATIC fitting both vehicles with 4MATIC or rear wheel drive, excluding AMG models.
Also new from Arnott are remanufactured OE front air struts for the 2010-2016 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W212) and 2012-2017 CLS-Class (W218). Arnott’s AS-3237 (right) and AS-3238 (left) are completely remanufactured OE front struts for the W212 chassis 2010-2016 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and W218 chassis 2012-2017 CLS-Class, both with 4MATIC, AIRMATIC & ADS and includes AMG models.
The OE strut is inspected, disassembled, steam cleaned, and spin blasted to bare metal before being repainted with corrosion inhibiting paint. The Arnott remanufactured strut features new high-quality tier 1 components such as ContiTech multi-ply rubber air bladder, heavy duty crimping rings, O-rings, new air line fitting and dust boot to protect the air sleeve. This Arnott strut, which is remanufactured in the U.S., is designed and tested to work with the vehicle’s semi-active damping and auto leveling suspension controls.
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