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Sidem / Beck Arnley vs Tesla Control Arms

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Hi folks,

I am in the process of refreshing my front suspension and purchased the OEM Tesla replacements and the Sidem to compare them.

NOTE: Beck Arnley resells the Sidem parts, but in a blue BA box. It even has the Sidem stampings on it. So, you can save some reseller markup by buying the Sidem part directly.

From what I can tell, they're pretty direct replicas. The Sidem design uses Tesla's "revised" forearm design that fixed the separation of the casting at the end. Sidem is slightly heavier (likely just a slightly different alloy), and the inner bushing is designed differently.

Pricing on the aft arms is fairly similar, though the Sidem Fore Arms are about half the price of Tesla

Sidem Aft Arm - $189 (Tesla - $215)
Sidem RIGHT Fore Arm - $107 (Tesla - $205)
Sidem LEFT Fore Arm $107 (Tesla - $210)

Sidem is on the Left, and Tesla is on the right in all pictures:

IMG_3439.JPEG
IMG_3440.JPEG
IMG_3441.JPEG
IMG_3442.JPEG
IMG_3444.JPEG
 
What I find most interesting from the side by side comparison is that the Tesla parts have a lot of tiny indentations on the casting “boss” that I suspect is some sort of microhardness or other QC test. They clearly are testing every one, and several times and several locations. What do they know?

Again, guessing here, probably they are only spending money on that after realizing it costs more not to…
 
Hi folks,

I am in the process of refreshing my front suspension and purchased the OEM Tesla replacements and the Sidem to compare them.

NOTE: Beck Arnley resells the Sidem parts, but in a blue BA box. It even has the Sidem stampings on it. So, you can save some reseller markup by buying the Sidem part directly.

From what I can tell, they're pretty direct replicas. The Sidem design uses Tesla's "revised" forearm design that fixed the separation of the casting at the end. Sidem is slightly heavier (likely just a slightly different alloy), and the inner bushing is designed differently.

Pricing on the aft arms is fairly similar, though the Sidem Fore Arms are about half the price of Tesla

Sidem Aft Arm - $189 (Tesla - $215)
Sidem RIGHT Fore Arm - $107 (Tesla - $205)
Sidem LEFT Fore Arm $107 (Tesla - $210)

Sidem is on the Left, and Tesla is on the right in all pictures:

View attachment 806097View attachment 806098View attachment 806100View attachment 806101View attachment 806102
You so bought all your parts at the right time. That store doesn't have the parts in stock anymore but I'm requesting they get more.
 
UPDATE:

I made the mistake of linking to eBay rather than posting a part number, and of course those links have now expired. Here is the catalog from Sidem, they make aftermarket copies of most of Tesla's suspension components for 1st Gen S:


With the part numbers, you can hunt down your own source of best price.
 
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