Best aftermarket brands for suspension work!

[Paco_240_s13]

Planning on fixing all of my arms, rods, tie end link both front and rear. I know isis offers a complete set for the front for 400. Wonder if isis is any good? Not much of a brand freak as long as I get some quality parts for a reasonable price I dont care. Any suggestions on what brand I should go for?

[Hijacker]

If you want quality parts, expect to pay. The quality manufacturers utilize good welds, excellent powdercoating, and quality bearings/rod ends that won't crap out too quickly.

That said, you can still sneak by with the cheaper brands. They get the same job done for half the price, but a lot of times the bearings and rod ends used aren't standard sized, so finding replacement parts becomes a chore.

If you can swing the shipping from Australia, GKTech offers great suspension arms for a great price. The only downside is shipping to the states costs too much. Shipping my knuckles would have ran a little over $100 in shipping had I ordered direct from them. FRSport and Enjuku sell GKTech parts and roll the shipping costs into the price they list.

SPL is hands down some the best quality I've seen. Plus, they're an American company and source all their parts in country.

Going cheaper, you have Godspeed, Megan, and Isis plus a ton of other knockoff china-brands. QA is a joke with them, so sometimes you get a great quality part, sometimes you get a part that should have been rejected by any other company.

If you're getting a full set of front pieces, make sure that the tension arm still has the two bolt design for bolting to the control arm. Some companies when they sell their full set use this weird integrated tension arm/control arm setup, and I've heard mixed results on the actual performance. Some of the guys that know a thing or two about race setups will say that the design hinders movement of the suspension and puts too much shear load on one bolt.

[Paco_240_s13]

Alright this really help me decide what path I should take. Thanks alot!

[2_Liter_Turbo]

Definitely stick with GKTech or SPL. The Chinese/Taiwanese parts (ISIS, Megan, Godspeed, etc) use inferior bearings, metals, manufacturing/finish techniques to cut costs, and you pay for it in the long run. It may be more expensive up front, but do it right and do it once, lol.

[Hijacker]

Definitely stick with GKTech or SPL. The Chinese/Taiwanese parts (ISIS, Megan, Godspeed, etc) use inferior bearings, metals, manufacturing/finish techniques to cut costs, and you pay for it in the long run. It may be more expensive up front, but do it right and do it once, lol.

That's why SPL is replacing every link in my car and why I'm mimicing their designs to fill in gaps they don't cover anymore (RLCAs anyone?).

[2_Liter_Turbo]

Same here, my S14 will have everything from GKTech/SPL or made by me, lol.

[Paco_240_s13]

Does spl or gktech sell front lower control arms because I haven't been able to find them? Im still running oem lower control arms wanting to upgrade.

[Hijacker]

GKTech is working on a set, but I don't know how close to production they are. Last I saw, they had what's most likely their production version in hand from the 3d printer. I'm considering ordering them when they begin to sell them. They're also designing a rear arm as well, but I haven't heard much from them in a few months on the rear arm.

[Blitz671]

SPL has some great quality parts and they're very well made. I run them in my car and love them. Here's some pics of them installed on my s13.

Z32 inners w/ SPL outer tie rods



SPL Tension rods


SPL Rucas and toe rods

[pepesilvia]

I never did much suspension work to my S14 except replace a lot of the worn bushings, but I will agree that SPL parts are LEGIT. A buddy of mine replaced a few of his godspeed arms with SPL arms and you can tell immediately when its in your hands and after its on the car that SPL arms work and are well worth the price.

[Hijacker]

SPL has some great quality parts and they're very well made. I run them in my car and love them. Here's some pics of them installed on my s13.

Z32 inners w/ SPL outer tie rods



SPL Tension rods


SPL Rucas and toe rods

I love seeing quality suspension components installed. How fun was it to dial in the bump steer correction? I'm considering machining up some extra spacers of varying thickness to supplement the ones SPL sends to dial in the correction more once I order mine.