Jakartaboost

Update on page 2 on Installation, Look, Sound and Butt Dyno 2nd UPDATE

I have been around evom for more than a few years as a lurker, was thinking its about time to contribute something back for the community.

I bought the ETS intake directly from Michael, and a friend of mine bought his AMS from MAP performance. The review will be based on customer service, weight of the intakes, heat shield, air filter, build and finish, pricing and lastly which i will update 3 weeks from now, performance.

Customer service: ETS 9/10 - MAP(AMS) 9/10

Its a wash between their quick replies and willingness to go beyond for their customers. Mike answered all my inquiries with patience and follow through them with excellence. I recommended MAP to my friend as he was looking for a black friday sale whereas AMS itself didnt provide any for this year. My friend mentioned extreme satisfaction and he wont be looking for any other vendor for all his Evo X needs.

*i also briefly conversed with Dan fom AMS, his replies were also flawlessly quick and answered all my questions with patience. My friend simply decided to go with MAP instead of AMS due to their black friday discount which AMS didnt provide

Intake Weight: ETS 7/10 - AMS 9/10

I was actually really surprised on the weight differences as i was assuming there wont be much of a difference. I do not have a scale available other than my bathroom's which is really inaccurate but i figure the ratio will be 1:2.25 favoring AMS. The ETS is slightly heavier in comparison to other intakes that i have own, but it is not that much heavier, it just that the AMS is so much more lighter when u held both that makes the difference even more obvious.

Heat Shield: ETS 7.5/10 - AMS 9/10

Now my friend strictly want AMS intake due to its cool looking AMS logo on the heat shield, so i figure out that many of you are in the same boat both heat shields have superb finish and they look much better in person. I give the AMS an edge here because again their heat shield is lighter (1:1.5 ratio) albeit bigger and well... They simply look cooler. And if you are willing to pay the extra 200 dollars just to get the logo like my friend, you wont regret it, they do look really cool.

Air filter: ETS 9/10 - AMS 8/10

Biggest air filter i have ever seen award goes to ETS... Ratio wise they are about 1:1.25. AMS gave pretty big air filter for the intake, but ETS is massive. I can see how some people review that ETS sounds like some devil howl, and i really cant wait to hear it personally (will update sound comparison in 3 weeks)

Fit and Finish: ETS 8/10 - AMS 9.5/10

With slightly heavy heart i have to say that i honestly do envy my friend's AMS more than my ETS as really when you look in person the difference gets even more obvious... ETS intake is one of the nicest i have ever seen, even better than other major brands, it has also less bends than AMS. but AMS when it comes to buildnquality is on par with those of HKS or other high end quality Japanese products. Some of the small details on ETS shows slight rough edges and imperfections whereas AMS finish is almost flawless. My only major concern on getting AMS or recommending them for intake is due to below:

Pricing: ETS 10/10 - AMS 6.5/10

I bought my ETS on thanks giving for $245.79, while my friend bought his AMS with bung for $420 after requesting for discount from MAP during thanks giving as well. Notice how the price almost doubled from ETS to AMS? I have to admit that between the two (not including performance) AMS has the edge, but i cant justify the price difference as albei the fit and finish advantages, they are definetly not worth the $175 gap.

Im still trying to figure out how to post multiple pics... Evom only allowed 1 pic from attachment so i will update them soon once i figure out how to post all the pics

Its one hell of a long post... But i hope this review can help those who are as **** as me when it comes to picking their intakes.

Feel free to ask any questions that you might have, and will try to reply as best as i can

Cheers

Jakartaboost

Mods, come to think of it, im not sure if this post is in the right place, probably better on Evo X general forum? Can we move this or should i repost and/or creates a new one

Kracka

iTrader: (49)

Reviews are fine in the review section

ETS Michael

iTrader: (91)

Thanks for posting up this review. We appreciate your support. Another note that should be mentioned is the fact that you don't need a tune to run our intake. You will need a tune to run our competitor intakes since they use a larger maf housing. You can't just bolt it on and go. It's going to need re-scaling and tuning of the MAF.

Congrats on your purchase and I can't wait to hear your reactions once installed.

Thanks!

Michael

Kracka

iTrader: (49)

I would imagine that weight difference is steel vs. aluminum, which probably also accounts for the cost difference.

ETS Michael

iTrader: (91)

Aluminum is actually much cheaper than stainless steel. Aluminum does offer a weight difference but if you get into the thermal properties of the two metals the stainless is actually much better for an intake. Stainless steel takes a lot longer to transfer heat which keeps the inside of the pipe cooler and away from engine bay temps. Aluminum works great as a heat exchanger (intercooler) due to it's ability to transfer heat.

This doesn't even touch on durability. You could jump on a stainless steel pipe and it will still be round, if you jump on an aluminum pipe it's going to crush. The same goes for tightening down the clamps and bracket durability while under vibration.

Thanks!

Michael

whiteEvo08Y

iTrader: (5)

But i must say that ETS Air filter is massive
Also thank you for the review.
ETS All the way for me Have there inter-cooler kit and i love it.

Kracka

iTrader: (49)

Ahh ok, thank you.

Jakartaboost

Thanks Cracka and thanks Mike.

I cant wait myself to hear the intake, im sure it wont disappoint!

Yes i forgot to mentioned about AMS 's larger MAP, but Dan claimed no need of tune as well and since i have not install them, it wont be fair to say otherwise.

I was however thinking last night, since your pipe has less bends and larger air filter, it might be more beneficial than AMS in terms of performance. In 3 weeks we will install and dyno them, base vs with intake and hopefully give my friend some spanking

Ether way, ETS all the way for me too, UICP order will come soon!

Cheers

Andrew@AMS

iTrader: (11)

We appreciate the review and continued support from the EvoM members here.

We actually choose to use aluminum for the weight savings it provides. We have used it here for years for intakes and intercooler piping on vehicles ranging from 300whp to over 1200+whp with no issues. If the clamps are tightened properly there should be no reason for the piping to be crushed at all.

Stainless steel does take longer to transfer heat but this also means that it takes longer to dissipate heat where the aluminum piping cools faster.

Also with an Evo X intake, we have never had a customer tighten a clamp enough to crush the pipe or have a customer complain about one distorting or crushing from vibration.

Thanks

beetle_orange

iTrader: (58)

Now this is what a review should be instead of the ..... Well never mind.

Since you are on board Andrew. Care to rebut the claim a larger maf pipe doesn't need rescaling? That it would be ok to simply install and go?

Andrew@AMS

iTrader: (11)

You can install our intake on a 2008-2009 Evo X with no need for a tune or reflash but if you are installing it on a 2010+, then it is recommend to get one. We have seen a few of the 2010 and later models run a bit lean with the installation of our intake and that is why recommend a tune or base flash once installing it. Just another safety measure for the customer to take to avoid any future issues since most of the bolt-on customers don't run or monitor a wideband gauge in their car.

Jason S-9

Great review, and really nice to see the Vendor's defending there products on the forums. Can't go wrong with either one, but a $175 differance is huge

Andrew@AMS

iTrader: (11)

I understand that our pricing is not for everyone and there are other brands out there to choose from which are cheaper. We choose to offer the community a high quality product with the highest quality components available using our years of racing experience and knowledge. As the OP stated, we take the time to not only manufacture the product in house but to also go back over it once completed to ensure the highest quality finish with no flaws or imperfections. Due to this, it does add extra steps which cause the end cost to go up.

We also have a very large dealer network which stocks and sells our product and we don't want to under cut them. This is the main reason why you almost never see sales threads or heavy discounts from us on our products here. We don't want to take away from their sales or else there really is no reason for them to stock or sell our products if we are just going to under cut them.

ETS Michael

iTrader: (91)

During promotional periods or discount periods we offer our vendors extra discounts as well so our vendors do not get undercut. The customer saves from our vendors or us depending on who they decide to go with. We also have several vendors who stock and sell our product.

We won't let anything out the door that would hinder performance by any means and backed with a lifetime warranty you can't really go wrong

Thanks!

Michael