Reputable Brands

[dizzariot]

Originally Posted by turboshoebox

Diz: what is ur obsessiom with anime and keep refering to it as if jdm parts are are refered to in it? Seems ur the weeaboo. They are both Japanese but that's about it.

Oh I just assumed...but you're the expert on all things Japanese. Should've known you'd call me out for my lack of Japanese knowledge.

You still not gonna provide any evidence for us, Master Weeb?

[turboshoebox]

I don't see anyone going bonkers for greddy but arc fmic, radiaters and oil coolers

[Maxstyle]

Tomei US not really the same and Tomei Japan. They may change their name eventually
ARC - No longer in existance
HKS - Great quality but very difficult to get into US as distribution is limited
Blitz - one of the first brands to outsourcing their products but quality control is amazing
Greddy - Owned by a larger group now that owns other brands such as OS Giken. Sold all their tooling during bankruptcy and out source a large majority of their products. Great quality control
MSport - Seriously don't worry. Can't afford it.
Nismo - OEM Quality
DG-5 - Use Korean manufacture. Tuned in Japanese fashion for very aggressive for US style roads
Sard - Great parts. Costly.
Tanabe - Shocks are great when new but they go through lines so quickly that you will not be able to get you shocks serviced in the future.
Do-Luck - Not worth the eccentric styling. Great quality but alternatives are better quality and pricing
Cusco - Amazing product and quality control. Internal manufacturing in Japan. Provide OEM manufacture with Motorsports solutions
Ikeya Formula - Great quality and originators of may of the parts you see copied today. Pricey because of low production numbers. High Quality.
SSR - Amazing wheels. Great product. Part of the TANABE family
Work - Amazing wheels. Great Product. Also part of a larger trading group.
Bride - Amazing Quality but very limited production. Expensive but holds it's value.
Koyo - Quality High but has diminished over the past few years on their new line. Needs some better quality control IMO these days. No real warranty or support.
Apex'i - Amazing Quality and provider of one of the most popular tuning solutions for Japanese cars
Bee-R - More a of Japanese tuning shop. Small electronics. Great for light tuning solutions
Vertex - One of the highest grade body kits. Loyal owner to motorsports culture.
Varis - High Quality kits
Voltex - High Quality Kits
Gargage Mak - High Quality Kits
Advan - Part of the Mackin Industry group in US. Very high quality wheels

"Shity" Brands: I don't entirely agree with this

ISR - Ok brand. Decent for light tuning but life does not last as long. You will buy 2 but over the span of a certain time. Buy one now or 2 isr later
Fortune Auto - Quality components all selected. offering innovative suspension tuning solutions such as digressive piston technology and penske external components.
Mishimoto - Fun fact. US based company that wanted asian sounding automotive name. Mishi was his cat. Add moto and bam. Good warranty but distribution is a bit behind. Make sure item is in stock at your preferred shop
CX Racing - No real foundation. Good if on a budget and just need to get buy. Meh at best
XXR - Surprisingly popular in Japan. Great for 15"s Drifters. Great for getting out there and just driving
Duralast bodykits - Keep your oem.
VIS racing - Keep your oem
Seibon carbon - Slowly improving over time. Best of the replica carbon brand
ESR wheels - No opinion
Varstoen wheels - replica wheels. When you want TE's but don't think you will ever get them.
Cosmis wheels - Affordable semi-unique wheels
JNC wheels - No opinion
Spec clutchs - Hit or miss. Sometimes great sometimes trash. Most the time it's because people are not really matching what they need with what they buy. They over clutch.
Megan Racing - Improved quality over time. Engineer formerly from Tein.
BC racing - Producer of coilovers but no real R&D. Make coils for a number of major brand and takes their design and calls it theirs.
Feal coilovers - Using larger manufacture to produce but valved and spec'd by independent firm in the US. Don't purchase if you're not going to use them to their potential. Will feel like crap if just using for daily street.
Ksport - BC like manufacture
NRG - We all know what it is.
Grip Royal - Mid grade manufacture of wheels. Not Shit but not amazing. It'll due
Rocket bunny - Depends on source. Greddy distributed units have amazing fitment and quality. Alternative Licensed group units are outsourced and do not fit as well
Battle aero - Not truely function. Yes it's a wing but not competition worthy.
ebay stuff - Ebay stuff
Corbeu seats - Great Big Boy Seats.

Here is just some insight on the brands. Everyone has different experiences. Purchase with caution and remember, When you give someone your money, what are they doing with it? Bigger house or more innovation in motorsports. Your call.

[slider2828]

Dayum Maxstyle, you write that.... Pretty on point I'd say.....

Someone should sticky this thread for future.... Also on clutches

RPS Clutches - US base clutch maker. Quality is very good, but distribution is lacking.
OS Giken - Japan based. One of the original still very good clutches made but need to make sure correct TOB is selected
Ogura Clutches (ORC) and Diffs - Very high quality, quite expensive, but all rebuildable and uses a lot of stock components.
ATS Cross (Clutches) and Diffs - Highest quality clutches and diffs available especially their carbon line. Gotta pay to play
ACT Cluthes - Simiar to Spec(?) Maybe someone with experience chime in.

[dorkidori_s13]

Originally Posted by slider2828

ACT Cluthes - Simiar to Spec(?) Maybe someone with experience chime in.

ive had 3 ACT clutches since 2008... zero complaints. i had a small defect in my second 6 puck which i sent back to ACT and they repaired free of charge. outside of that hiccup, never had a single issue with them. beat the holy crap out of my ACT 6 spring 6 puck in my last S13 on the track (lots of clutch kicks), still worked like the day it was installed! currently have an ACT Street/Strip disc in my S13 along with a heavy duty pressure plate and Tracklight flywheel... perfect combination, drives great and have had zero issues since installing some 2-3 years back!

[jumpman2334]

Originally Posted by turboshoebox

I don't see anyone going bonkers for greddy but arc fmic, radiaters and oil coolers

plenty of people outside of the s chassis community specifically look out for ARC stuff (evo/Miata guys come to mind right now). you just have to pull your head out of the 240 world for a few minutes.


its hard though because ARC is no longer in business and there is no NOS (or if there is, its incredibly hard to find). so everyone is left to scavenge in the second hand market.

[turboshoebox]

Originally Posted by jumpman2334

plenty of people outside of the s chassis community specifically look out for ARC stuff (evo/Miata guys come to mind right now). you just have to pull your head out of the 240 world for a few minutes.


its hard though because ARC is no longer in business and there is no NOS (or if there is, its incredibly hard to find). so everyone is left to scavenge in the second hand market.

U read that wrong. Im saying people love arc parts.


Arc is in back

http://www.arc-brazing.co.jp/product.html

[wkpainter]

An intercooler uses ambient air flowing over metal fins to cool charged air. How much r&d do you need to figure that out? Wether you spend 400 bucks on mishimoto or 1000 on a greddy your putting a few hundred dollars into an aftermarket part into a 20 year old car that may be worth 2 grand on paper. If you can afford to spend more on the name brand... good for you... you're a winner...

[theStig880]

Originally Posted by wkpainter

An intercooler uses ambient air flowing over metal fins to cool charged air. How much r&d do you need to figure that out? Wether you spend 400 bucks on mishimoto or 1000 on a greddy your putting a few hundred dollars into an aftermarket part into a 20 year old car that may be worth 2 grand on paper. If you can afford to spend more on the name brand... good for you... you're a winner...

I think part of the problem is people not seeing the value in "real" versus low quality parts because the cost is usually hidden in materials, certifications, and engineering. You show that pretty well in your mishimoto/greddy statement. Intercoolers are actually pretty technical, they just seem simple on the surface; which makes it hard for people to justify spending more when they look the same.

A low quality intercooler work, sure; but not as efficiently. Even so, I personally buy "real" stuff as a quality assurance that it wont crack or leak or have bits break off into my engine.

Also a Greddy isnt $1000, mine cost $450.

[jumpman2334]

i see. I had to read your post a couple of times and I still did not get it.


neat to see ARC back. when I had my NB Miata I remember people would shell out hundreds of dollars for beat up/shitty cross over intakes. some had dents and even punctures on them and people would still buy them with the intention of repairing because it was the best intake (performance wise) they could buy at the time; it being a premium Japanese intake was just a bonus.

[Kingtal0n]

I have the fix for all part name brands whether good or not






$1 walmart acrylic paint

added bonus for melted crayon which acts as a temperature sensitive indicator and runs right off the car when it gets hot enough,
thus leaving trails of colors everywhere you go

[FaLKoN240]

Originally Posted by Kingtal0n

I have the fix for all part name brands whether good or not






$1 walmart acrylic paint

added bonus for melted crayon which acts as a temperature sensitive indicator and runs right off the car when it gets hot enough,
thus leaving trails of colors everywhere you go

I was going to hold my tongue, but once again. This isn't funny.

[turboshoebox]

That's Florida for u

[Kingtal0n]

that wasn't a joke, its some advice and exactly what i did to my car on purpose.



since when did owning a car become about brand


isn't it supposed to reflect something more important? And how will you express that.

I think the less something costs the more meaningful it is. The mods you can do for free like cleaning/maintaining and self-fabrication, organization can be most rewarding.

I saw some stripes like this on an S14 once in a magazine. No way I could ever effort/afford to put something like this in actual paint on a car. I backed into an engine on the ground because careless and now there's a dent back there on the rear bumper. Dents, holes, whatever happens, its fine: thas what I do. You can almost see the quarter sized hole in the middle of the purple stripe. So; $1 walmart paint washes right off with water and some rubbing. Its like a temporary tatoo. It isn't perfect or permanent but it still exists and pretty easy to see and maintain if wished. I'm going to make some stormclouds over mountains on the front side bumper because I covered some cracks there with different colors and it accidentally made a sort of cloud line looking effect with mountains. Stuff at random sometimes leads the way when you can sit and do free activities as art.

[dorkidori_s13]

Originally Posted by Kingtal0n

whats your brand?

DorkiDori

well that and HKS lol

[turboshoebox]

What a world we live in people defending mishimoto

[wkpainter]

I don't even have a mishimoto... I have a huge Janky Godspeed intercooler that is oversized for my needs.

I also have a house filled with Ikea furniture, I don't have an iPhone or samsung phone, I have a vizio TV, I eat store brand cereal and soda, and my kid wears target brand diapers. I guess my whole life is poor quality products. ain't care though, do you?

[feito]

Nistune is a full standalone...

Originally Posted by wkpainter

I don't even have a mishimoto... I have a huge Janky Godspeed intercooler that is oversized for my needs.

I also have a house filled with Ikea furniture, I don't have an iPhone or samsung phone, I have a vizio TV, I eat store brand cereal and soda, and my kid wears target brand diapers. I guess my whole life is poor quality products. ain't care though, do you?

^that's the way people get rich.

[oLemurs]

i can vouch for ISR exhaust but other than that i wouldnt waste your money, maybe the radiator and fans if you want a cheap but good value cooling setup other than that its probably a better idea to stay away

[S13greencoupe]

Nistune is great and way cheaper then a full standalone. I just ordered a ACT 6 puck sprung and a ACT flywheel, I hope they are as good as people say. Iv heard a lot of negative with SPEC, Iv also had a SPEC clutch brake on me (a couple of the springs broke in the clutch.)

As far as suspension arms. I would say 90% of the company’s use the same bulk China made metal and joints. And it’s not like the internet or Zilvia is flooded with posts about broken Godspeed, IRS, CS, Megan etc etc suspension components. Most of us can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on the top shelve suspension arms nor even have use for them. I’d say spend the money on a good set of coilovers.