Aftermarket Brand Education

[NahumCC]

So one of the things I'm struggling with is recognition of aftermarket parts suppliers brand.

Coming from tuning Saab's I'm used to dealing with marques such as Remus, BSR, Koni, and quality in house speed shop development such as Taliaferro Imports (who do plenty of projects for other marques with high quality craftsman ship at their core).

Partially at fault for my trouble with quality recognition is those that have the annoying "fart can" builds.

So please give me some quality education on the brands and who are the top quality producers that are worth gaining me as a new customer when I'm ready to pull the trigger on changing my FR-S up in a tasty and sleeper way.

For my frame of reference here was my last sleeper build. A 9-3 viggen clone running 20 psi on a TD04-15T 5cm2 turbine housing, 3 inch downpipe, Spec 7.5 lb flywheel......you can probably imagine the rest.

[Starkiller]

Congrats on the 10 Series! As far as good tuning companies... There are several different schools of thought on that. You will have your JDM elitist who only want uber cool parts from Japan. There are many good tuning companies in Japan that include Greddy, HKS, Tomei, ARC, and many many more. But there are also several good companies and shops in the US and Australia. Just decide how you want to mod your car and do a little research and proceed accordingly. From the style and quality of your Saab, I am sure you will be fine. Good Luck!

[Obja]

Originally Posted by Starkiller

Congrats on the 10 Series! As far as good tuning companies... There are several different schools of thought on that. You will have your JDM elitist who only want uber cool parts from Japan. There are many good tuning companies in Japan that include Greddy, HKS, Tomei, ARC, and many many more. But there are also several good companies and shops in the US and Australia. Just decide how you want to mod your car and do a little research and proceed accordingly. From the style and quality of your Saab, I am sure you will be fine. Good Luck!

What he said ^^^^^

[jadewbj]

I am personally a fan of the JDM companies and you don't have to be crazy flashy to build an "import".

To add a few names; MXP, Project Mu, Volk, Advan, Recaro, Bride, Tein, Whiteline, Beatsonic, BC Racing.

[J.C.]

I gained a wealth of knowledge by just searching around the forums and seeing what products the various vendors here carry. Nice Saab by the way and good luck with your build!

[campy]

Some of the best parts for this car don't necessarily come from Japan. Perrin (USA) makes great exhausts and KW (Germany) makes good coilovers, for example.

[zerodark]

As was previously mentioned.. perusing the forums will help acclimate you to the different brands. Reading reviews can also help give you a better sense of the quality of various companies' products (that is how I learned about Mugen, Spoon, Chargespeed, J's Racing, Back Yard Special, etc. when I was in the Civic scene).

I would just caution you (but I am sure you already know) to take everything with a grain of salt.. sometimes you may read "reviews" from people who might not have the depth of knowledge regarding what they are talking about (not that they are purposely trying to mislead others), were one of the lucky few to get a quality part from a company that produces "hit or miss" products (companies like Seibon), or are just brand "fan boys". As with every forum.. you should get a sense of who the senior membors are but most importantly who the knowledgeable members are (members like Moto-P).

As for companies that have parts out for the twins (aside from those already mentioned):

RS*R (specifically the sports-i coilover system for the twins.. I remember RS*R more for their exhausts in the Civic world back in the early 2000s).

Toda (produce quality internal components like pistons.. I thought I read somewhere tht they were going to be producing some for the twins.. I know they already have a lightweight pulley kit out for the twins).

Jun (like the above mentioned.. produce quality internal components.. it looks like they have released.. after TAS 2014 it looks like they have/will have an intake box in the works)

Bride, Recaro (mentioned in a previous post.. produce aftermarket seats)

Volk, Advan, Work, SSR (wheels, wheels, and more wheels)

Autofactory (a much smaller and lesser well-known company.. I bought their exhaust and the quality is top notch.. apparently they collaborate with a bigger company Power Craft.. I didn't know of either before I started looking for exhausts.. they also more exhaust components for the twins).

Those are just a few companies out of the bunch. I would also caution you (again.. I am sure you already know) that yes a good amount of the products from these companies can be on the more expensive side.. but that the old addage "you get what you pay for" doesn't ALWAYS hold true. Just due your due diligence in your research.

Welcome to the forums and enjoy your FR-S

[ModBargains.com]

When entering a new market where you're unfamiliar with the parts, I typically just browse around the forums, see whats popular, see what guys are doing, and gather ideas from it. Not only that but looking at vendors such as ourselves, and looking at what parts are available to get an idea of what is available out there.

There are a few that will carry over such as Remus who now makes an exhaust for this car, but they're not very well known in this world, they're more of a European brand, but still nonetheless, Remus is the largest producer of exhausts in the world, so it's not like they're not known, it's just not as well known in certain markets.

[raytrix]

You'll find 10 times more domestic and China/Philippines/Taiwan made product reviews than typical German and Japan made item reviews here. The rare stuff which not many people are able to obtain are Essex, Bride, Blitz, Varis, Volks, Revolution, Zele, Jun and so forth. If you have having a hard time pronouncing the company name then those are most likely legit JDM parts. Majority of JDM parts are quality made minus a few (HKS welds known to snap some times). Domestic parts in the USA are also good as long as they use high grade material like 316 SS or minimum 304SS and not mild steel. Avoid any replica parts or replica wheels if you care about your safety. Spend a little extra on a company thats well known for their quality and customer support.

Know your spending limit, saving up for a part and having patience will ultimately net you happiness in the end. Don't just start spending on certain things just because it's cheaper than so and so part but does the same function or looks the same thing. Most likely in the end you'll be disappointed at your purchase just because you didn't want to wait the extra 2 weeks of saving to buy the higher quality version from another company with a great track history.