Hey everyone, I just thought I'd share my experience so far with the version 2 control arms from ISIS. They aren't supposed to hit the market for another month or two, but I've gotten my hands on them. The rumored price for the complete package is ~$550 shipped, so a tad bit more than the v1 arms.
Now, before I start, let's keep this thread free of any hate. Before anyone chimes in calling me a cheap ass or fanboy, let it be known that I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for". I'm rocking SPL arms in the rear and Kazama/Tein in the front of my s14, but this car is my budget weekend warrior so I wanted to keep the costs down.
I originally ordered the v1 arms, not knowing that these arms were even in production. A few of the V1 arms were on backorder, but after paying a little extra, I had these being shipped my way.
I helped my friend install the V1's on his car, but wasn't impressed with the quality of the rod ends. They didn't move near as smoothly as the ends on my SPL arms, and to even get them to move much at all we had to lube them up before install. But they worked. I have another friend who was running them on his s14 that he put into a pole, and the toe rod mount on the cast iron upright snapped off, but the toe rod itself was fine. So after witnessing that, I decided to try them out. I figured if anything went wrong, ISIS is known to replace them with little hassle.
Unfortunately all I had to take pics with was my phone. Fortunately, it's a Samsung S5, so it's not too bad. I do apologize, regardless.
I arrived at my parents house(they have the garage) right as the UPS guy was dropping the box off. I quickly opened it up. I know with the V1 arms, you got a large box with a bunch of plain white boxes inside. It's pretty much the same deal, but they've actually started putting their label on the individual boxes.
Now, after seeing the v1 arms looking exactly like repainted Godspeed arms, I expected these to look like GSP Gen2 arms. They didn't. They actually look quite nice.
You will notice that these new arms are quite a bit beefier. I was told the bearings are much better quality, although they didn't say what kind they were. I highly doubt they are QA1 or Aurora, but anything is an improvement over the v1's. I do like the rubber dust boots on them though:
The RUCA is angled for more clearance on lowered cars, not that that's an issue with s13's. The toe rod, however, isn't. The RUCA also has some extra bracing welded on, which makes me feel better about them. No, the welds aren't anything to write home about.
The rest of the arms:
And the lucky candidate:
I first started with the front tension rod. Simple, except the passenger side bolt seized to the bushing inside, which took way too long to get out. Luckily, a friend reminded me that the tension rod brackets come out individually so I was able to take it off and pound the bolt out. With that said, I didn't take many more pictures.
Tension rod:
Rear arms before:
Rear arms after:
Final Thoughts:
I'm really happy with these arms, considering the price I paid. They are a significant improvement over the V1 arms, and while they aren't the SPL arms I have on my s14, I'm confident in saying that they were accomplish what I want out of them. The finish is also very nice. I believe they are powder coated, or have a very strong painted finish. After the install, I looked over them and found no nicks or anything, and I know I slipped a wrench or two.
I have yet to drive the car, so I'll have to update later on the driving feel after installing these.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If there's any more pictures you'd like me to take, I'll do my best. Hopefully when these arms hit the market, this can help people make an educated decision as to whether this is right for them or not.
Lastly, I'd like to give a big shout out to Vitaly at AceUpMotorsports for once again hooking me up.