More knockoff multilink

[turtl631]

Some of you may know that SSAutochrome sells all sorts of different stuff on ebay. Some is total crap, some of it seems to actually be pretty good (i.e. the SS exhaust, made by a korean company called Motoria). Now they're selling sets of Motoria RUCAs, toe rods, traction rods, and tension rods for $325+$50 shipping. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...32720

I wonder how the quality is? Yea yea, cheap multilink is a bad idea and the pillowballs could be crap, but you never know. Building a 240 on the cheap is really getting easier lately, between the proliferation of inexpensive knockoff parts and much more turbo KA stuff, having a pretty nice all-around car doesn't ahve to cost you like it used to. It's getting closer to where Honda is in terms of availability/cost of parts. Of course, to get really good stuff you still have to shell out.

[Nismo_Freak]

They knocked off SPL's pictures and SPL's parts.

They also used some tiny, cheap looking rod end.

Those RUCA's look like crap.

I wouldn't buy that crap for my car.

The only thing you are gonna benefit by buying that cheap knock-off crap is running quality shops out of business.

[chandler]

I personally like ordering from quality shops like SPL, I have only a few parts from them at this time, but the way they do business in my eyes is excelent

[turtl631]

Ditto, I'd rather have a small shop that makes unique/quality parts and has great service than a giant company that blows you off. I was just curious if anyone had experience with the parts

[chmercer]

lol MOTORIA.

yea i bet the quality on that is crap. theres a reason they can sell that stuff for nickles and dimes, probably because each arm costs them like 3 dollars to fab. the heims will probably start creaking and crap after a week. stick with quality parts on important things like that, you dont want your suspension breaking and sending you flying off the road.

[LiU]

don't forget though that labor is much cheaper over there so I wouldn't be so quick to judge, and every company has to come up someway.

[Basic1]

true. the company who manufactures these parts is in Korea (look up motoria.kr). That's how profits are made man. There's market for everyone to appeal to. If SPL sticks with quality, it won't lose.

[djredline6]

I actually ordered a set for my s13... ill let you know how they go in about a week and a half (when i get back to the states)

[Silvia2b]

I prefer the SPL quality and service. I have searched For many parts, SPL has the market cornered. I would stick to what your fellow enthusiast endorse. Like me,I'm a dedicated customer for sure.

P.S. do you have RSX wheels on your S13? that's what it looks like in you Sig. Wierd what kind of clearance to they offer. 16" right? I 've seen plenty of z32 wheels on S13. first time for everything I suppose.

[Chingon]

for s13:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...29809

I know this is a bold statement, and is as much speculation as saying that these products are crap, but I think SPL may be sourcing their products from motoria.

It would not be the first time either, seeing how the URAS rs exhaust system for s13 and s14 are made by motoria, the corksport exhaust for the fc3s is made by motoria, the corksport and JIC strut bars for the fc3s are made by motoria and an infinity of other cat-back systems are made by them.

Other things i've noticed:deluboz ruca=c-tune rucadeluboz traction rod=c-tune traction roddeluboz rear toe control rod=c-tune rear toe control roddeluboz subframe bushings=splparts bushings (although spl claims deluboz ripped them off)

I've also seen the following, although these I hope greddy has a patent of, and some company has the molds in taiwan or something.deluboz sr20 oil pan=greddy oil pandeluboz diff cover=greddy diff coverdeluboz sr20 intake manifold=greddy intake manifold

So let's not be so gullible to believe that our asian bretherens cannot produce these pieces w/a set of specifications given to them. The best way to prove all my assumptions as true or as lies would be to have items from both companies, and test density, mass, and other physical properties (maybe even look at the crystal structure of the metals) and compare similarities of both rods and spherical joints. Let's not forget SPL claims chromemolly construction, while ssa claims chrome coated steel. This would be the easiest way to see who's misinformed or lying.

Me, I've grown accustomed to companies outsourcing from South East Asia, and if a product looks the same to the last weld, well, chances are it is.

[chmercer]

im sorry but that last post is completly assanine. kuah does NOT source ANY of his parts from ANYWHERE that puts out such ****ty quality bad fitment parts. everything is designed as such for a purpose. the tensile strengths of the metal and the durability of the coating is chosen for specific reasons, not because chrome looks cool or whatever.

where the hell are you getting your information? do you work at jic, uras, and everywhere else? or are you just going by "it looks the same".

its not hard to duplicate a part to look the same and cut corners by using cheap porous metal and inferior welds. just because somthing looks the same, says absolutley nothing about the build construction, error tolerances, etc.

just because some taiwan bull**** company got a SR greddy manifold and started churning out trash copies that happen to look the same, does NOT mean that greddy gets their manifolds from taiwan.

what makes you doubt that SPL arms are made from chromoly? go up to SPL and ask kuah what they are made out of. He will tell you straight, its much harder to make control arms from chromoly than it is from mild steel (like nearly all competing products) and the price reflects this.

sorry chingon but that post really pisses me off.

[Chingon]

URAS RS/monkey magic (read my posts w/visual "evidence")

http://forums.freshalloy.com/u...81315

Strut bars JIC/Motoria/CS

http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/...toria

Cat-back Motoria/CS/Monkey Magic:http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/...tbackh ... m/...ber=2

Take it as you may, I did not mean to insult anyone, that's why I just said sppeculations. In my opinion, too strong to form a conclusion. I never said Kuah sourced his products from ****ty companies, something that SSA is, but something that motoria is not. They've been making cat-backs for quite a while, and are popular in europe and Asia. Remember that Korea is not Taiwan. One makes ****ty products and rip-offs, the other makes US legal vehicles and the somewhat popular megan racing coilovers. Until anyone proves w/material science how SPL arms are different than motoria's arms, wheter it'd be by electroconductivity, electromagnetism, grain size analysis, or tensile strength testing, I'm sorry to say that you and me are talking out of our asses.

There are plenty of companies in asia pulling ****ty products. But there are many others following manufacturer specifications, error tolerances, and quality assesment. Hell, look at benq, lite-on, and VIA corp. Whether this company owns the patent and other companies are redistributing is a whole 'nother deal.

[[email protected]]

I know this is a bold statement, and is as much speculation as saying that these products are crap, but I think SPL may be sourcing their products from motoria.

I may as well admit now that many of the suspension arms we offer are sourced from a Japanese company with the initials N A. It wasn't really that big a secret... There was a reason why we had to badge them under SPL, when we first started they were pretty much unknown, and in the time we have been selling these arms they went through 3 USA distributors, and the first 2 did not want to work with us at all; yes I did try to become their distributor at the beginning but they weren't interested. But I have always supported this company by buying from them, and not copying their products.

I believe our pricing on these parts have always been very reasonable, I know price is always a factor so I have always tried to bring costs and prices down. But unlike these "ebay vendors" we have to earn our margins not just by sending a part to you, but also by providing the sales service, technical and post-sales support. For example right now I am working on retrofitting most of the arms to use the Seals-it rod end seals that I introduced with the v2 tension rods and tie rod ends, the upgrade will be available at very low cost to customers who got the arms from us (I am targetting ~$20/set).

There are also items that we do design and manufacture ourselves here in the USA, couple of others I source elsewhere because I decided another design was better (eg. the S14 ruca). But more and more I am doing the new product designs, and I am planning to bring more new products to the market.

We have been facing increasing pressure from "ebay vendors" over the last 2 years, but I hope that by keeping up innovation and sticking to a high standard of quality, whether we source it or make it, we will continue to get the support from the community.

[BaliLover]

I know SPL is one of the few places I could find Tie Rod ends with bumpsteer adjustment and I can tell you, these things are beefy and look so pretty even just sitting in a box in front of me.

The tie-rods were backordered, so I called once in a while to see what the status was and Kuah was always polite and let me know what was going on. He is also one of the few people that has EVER called me back when I left a message on an answering machine, even going as far as to search for my phone number from the invoice since I neglected to leave it on the machine.

You can't get that kind of service on Ebay

[Chingon]

I may as well admit now that many of the suspension arms we offer are sourced from a Japanese company with the initials N A. It wasn't really that big a secret... There was a reason why we had to badge them under SPL, when we first started they were pretty much unknown, and in the time we have been selling these arms they went through 3 USA distributors, and the first 2 did not want to work with us at all; yes I did try to become their distributor at the beginning but they weren't interested. But I have always supported this company by buying from them, and not copying their products.

I believe our pricing on these parts have always been very reasonable, I know price is always a factor so I have always tried to bring costs and prices down. But unlike these "ebay vendors" we have to earn our margins not just by sending a part to you, but also by providing the sales service, technical and post-sales support. For example right now I am working on retrofitting most of the arms to use the Seals-it rod end seals that I introduced with the v2 tension rods and tie rod ends, the upgrade will be available at very low cost to customers who got the arms from us (I am targetting ~$20/set).

There are also items that we do design and manufacture ourselves here in the USA, couple of others I source elsewhere because I decided another design was better (eg. the S14 ruca). But more and more I am doing the new product designs, and I am planning to bring more new products to the market.

We have been facing increasing pressure from "ebay vendors" over the last 2 years, but I hope that by keeping up innovation and sticking to a high standard of quality, whether we source it or make it, we will continue to get the support from the community.

And believe me, you guys do a hell of a job. One of the reasons I look at your company first before making any kind of decision. While here, could you give me a quote on KTS fc3s rx7 coilovers? Thanks.

[[email protected]]

And believe me, you guys do a hell of a job. One of the reasons I look at your company first before making any kind of decision. While here, could you give me a quote on KTS fc3s rx7 coilovers? Thanks.

Thanks! The KTS beta dampers are all the same price, so currently $1155 + $8 shipping within continental USA...

[nismofly]

i need to find someone in the northeast that has kts so i can ride in their car to see just how they feel...i think MarkEmark may be the only one, well that i know of at least

i know ill be getting them when my car isnt my daily anymore, i just want to see if i would be able to have good enough ride quality with it being a daily...and its not me im worried about with the ride quality but more other people that im giving rides

can anyone compare these ride wise to like an agx/rs*r down setup? thats what i was considering as a step up before i went with the coilovers

[chmercer]

^^^

i daily my car all over the place on KTS coilovers, no problem at all. the only time i wish it was softer is when im on a road trip and have to piss but am in the middle of nowhere. haha!

[nismofly]

its so very tempting to just go ahead and do it

teh thinking begins

[Chingon]

I'm kind of in the same boat. My s13 agx/pro-kit is badly underdampened on the rear, and it's quite a rough ride. I've read a few accounts that coilovers can be jus a tad stiffer than OEM in the softest setting, but it kinda seems hard to believe, given the higher spring rates.

[Red coupe]

If your not expecting a luxorious or suppple ride go ahead and do the KTS, they are not that bad. Only place they get me is when going at an angle up or down bigger dips you have to watch the throttle. I think I might come somewhat close to 3 wheeling and with the open diff IF you give it very much gas it tries to burn out...

[naed240sx]

Yeah, I was in the same position as you. Im sure It wouldnt help you much to hear from another person that they feel fine, but chmercer took me for a short ride, and It was fine. Actually felt less bumpy than my car(i think I may have some blown shocks). If you want coilovers, I dont think you are going to do much better than kts for good ride quality and good handling.