I changed them cause the one side is thicker than the other and the thin side is below specs. I believe that the caliper is sticking, which will get rebuilt later on. I tried to get a good pic.
I wanted to clear the air on the weight of the A-arms. Here we have 2 A- arms and they both have the ball joints installed with no bushings. Up first the steel one.
As you can see the steel one weights in at 5 lbs 6.4 oz.
Next the aluminum one.
The aluminum one weights in at 5 lbs 6 oz even,
.4 of an oz less than the steel one. Plus the aluminum ones are stiffer.
The cost of getting 2 steel arms plus the ball joints are about $85. The cost of a kit for the aluminum arms with both ball joints runs $185, both from Paragon.
You'll have to add in the cost of the bushings and that depends on what kind of bushings you want to run.
One last thing to consider, is what kind of sway bar will work best with with what arm and the cost of those.
All in all I think that the steel A-arms would be the least expensive to run and maintain. The aluminum ones would probably be a little bit better for the stiffness but cost more overall.