With OE parts built to specific cost, weight and warranty requirements, certain compromises are often made in terms of durability in the name of economic and fuel efficiency.
Mevotech sees this as an opportunity to improve upon factory components, designing and engineering parts that exceed OE durability.
At AAPEX 2023, Rick Stothers, Vice President, Engineering & Research, provided the Autosphere team with an insight into some of the company’s newest products.
Mevotech’s Swivel Boot technology is designed to protect ball joint internals by having the dust boot and knuckle plate spin independently when the steering is turned. This prevents binding between the plate and the boot, ensuring the boot remains intact, thus reducing the potential for contamination or corrosion.
Stothers also showed us new Mevotech Supreme replacement control arms for Tesla Model S vehicles that are manufactured entirely from steel (as opposed to the plastic/steel hybrid assembly on the OE pieces) and are completely sealed units, preventing moisture from entering the structure which can cause squeaking and corrosion.
Given the added weight and torque characteristics of battery electric vehicles, stronger, studier control arms can make a big difference. “We’ve been putting a lot of our technology into developing products for EVs,” remarked Stothers “and we have a very strong demand for them right now.”
Autosphere also had an opportunity to sample Mevotech’s TTX line of heavy-duty chassis parts including control arms, ball joints and bearing/hub assemblies.