If you tightened the suspension parts with the weight of the car off the suspension, there's your problem. Suspension parts should always be tightened with the weight of the car on the wheels.
Only relevant with rubber bushings. Makes no difference at all to heim joints, and in some applications no difference at all with polyurethane bushings either (like poly LCA pivot bushings) .
Hotchkis was stand up with me as well, even contacting me after I posted about my failures on another board. They then sent me replacement heims at no charge for me, and included the rubber boots in for free. Having said that though, I don't expect the heims to last all that much longer with the boots installed. They're a part that wears out, and while they are good for race cars that only see track duty and limited miles, they just weren't intended for street use or longevity that lasts into the tens of thousands of miles. Which is why I have stopped using them in the UCA application on my other cars. In something like an adjustable strut rod, which sees a lot less force, I still think they're fine. But UCA's are like the trifecta, they require a high level of articulation, are under a significant amount of load and are constantly in motion, and are in a great location to collect dirt. I've kept them on my Challenger, but only because the E-body Hotchkis UCA's relocate the front pivot point, and are the only UCA to do that (remove anti dive).