I'm a firm believer in buying products based on whichever company's logo looks the best and gets me mad respect when plastered on my car, intercooler, intake, EvoM sig, etc.

But yeah.. do lots of research & read reviews for every part. And if you see 500 different sigs say AMS ETS AMS ETS ETS.. that's probably a good place to start.

 

^ or who supplies the best stickers.

 

And more research, cant stress that enough.

Anyhow... The best thing is experience, in this game you will have some headaches whether you want or not. **** happens just like it can happen in anything and everything.

Finding honest people to tell you the cons of parts, brands who arent bias are very rare and those guys are the ones you really want to hear from. I am lucky enough to have at least 1 person like that (Kracka). Ei: I got cams even though it ****s with your idle A LOT even on the SST and the car acts weird before the turbo kicks in making DD a bit ****ty. Or in this case exhaust... I went with dump o2 and I replaced it in 3 months with a recirculated one as it was just retarded to have... Now, Im thinking... I should have gone with a V2 quite instead of v2 regular for a less loud and less rattle in the vehicle... I might replace that one as well.

As suggestions, ETS, AMS, Cobb and MAP make good quality parts (ams the priciest of all, for something it might not be worth it). Those are the guys that I have all my mods from (except for AEM intake, Grimmspeed 3 port and walboro fuel pump). I still had some problems here and there but they all got fixed with no problems and the customer service with all the companies listed above are awesome. Michael @ ets, Dan @ Ams, Cobb @ Plano, tx (all of the guys there), Adam and Chris @ Map are great guys and if there is a problem they wont run and hide away from the problems instead will fix them for you.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Strangly enough I think I found the exhaust I want. After listening and researching many I think I like the ETS V2. I started with the greddy I think it was and went through a lot on YouTube. As far as what I am looking for, well I want something quality of course. Something that will add to performance and sound good. I can't have it crazy loud, especially since the car has to sit there in the garage a couple of min to warm up. I don't mind loud when cruising or WOT I'm just hoping it isn't crazy loud at idle. I prefer deep over loud. I don't like loud for the sake of being loud. Harley Davidsons come to mind. Horrible sound and are loud for the sake of being loud. Ducati on the other hand is loud with a purpose. Thanks again, now I have to figure out what a test pipe and down pipe are. Quite a learning curve. The last car I did modding to was a 54 VW bug back in the earlie 90's when I was in my teens. Those were simple.

 

As everyone said, research

Everything in my signature is what i have got in my first year of modding the car, other than just saving money, i took my time, and researched, asked questions, got really good deals, etc etc

Happy modding. Take your time.

 

like everyone said, research...lol.

I havent even owned my 2011 EvoX GSR for a year and i will be making ~430hp when i get home from Afghan in a couple weeks. Kinda off topic but the tour im on with the army has ALOT of downtime so when im not work or at the gym, im on the forums and other sites doing research. In the last 4 months I have spent pretty much $10,000 in mods. Heres my list...

On the car all ready...

AMS Widemouth DP bought it used from a friend for good price so that was a bonus. Main reason why i went with that is its strong, sounds great and looks great. I didnt want a o2 dump dp cuz i didnt want my set up to be to loud....even though it will be but ill get to why in a min.

T1R Resinated TP (bought it used for $100) Knowing i wanted the most out of my exhaust set up i wanted to go catless but didnt want the exhaust to sound horrible so i wanted a resinated pipe. Why I went for T1R? price that my buddy was selling it for..lol.

Besides my aem boost and wideband thats pretty much it for whats on the car now. However, waiting for me at home is...

Ball Bearing FP Red Turbo
AMS Upper Intercooler Pipe
AMS Lower Intercooler Pipe w/ TiAL QR bov
AMS Cold Air Intake
AMS SS Brake Lines
ETS - 4" Intercooler
Tomei Expreme Ti Exhaust
TWM - Short Throw Shifter with cage replacement, bushings and weighted shift knob
Grimmspeed 3port boost solenoid
Boomba Racing Catch Can
FIC 1100cc Injectors
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Fuelab 3" inline fuel filter
AEM Fuel pressure regulator
Perrin 25mm Rear Sway bar and adjustable rear endlinks
Rally Armor Mudflaps
Projector headlights + 6000k hid for low/fog lights.
DSG full dual pod a-pillar replacement


I went for the best quality parts that also looked nice and were the cheapest but quality/performance defently came first. For example...the intercooler. AMS has a 3.5" IC for $750. ETS has a 4" IC for $700. Both IC's have great reviews and are same quality...however, why pay $750 for a 3.5" ic when i can get one bigger for cheaper...only makes sence.

Pretty much it boils down to what you want for power and how you want your car to look and sound. I was going to go for a ets v2 exhaust cuz i didnt want my system loud. But after the research i decided i wanted the tomei expreme since its less the 10lbs....on top of that my buddy sold me his for $700.

 

I went though almost every single performance-based testing thread uploaded since the platform's introduction and picked the parts according to my needs. If I were to suggest anything, I'd say zero-in on what it is that you want. I wanted to have a car with factory-like (or better) drivability and a little more power, and that's what I got. Understand your goal and thing will fall into place a lot easier.

 

first of , i set up my goal, What do i want to accomplish . let say for example for power.
So i know aprox what is my power goal . Example 450 whp.

Then i start looking how is the most efficent way to achive that, including maintanace and so , like which gas i like to use. (race gas - E85 - pump etc)

When i have a good idea how is my 450whp goal is the most efficently achivable. I am lookung up parts by reviews and racing back ground of the company.
Then i am picking up at least 4 different company. each part i have to buy to achive the 450 whp goal.

Then i start looking a compability and look the separate parts together, Like an intake with an upper IC pipe so on and so forth untill the whole engine bay and power goal/picture gets together.

Then i have usually a good idea which brands i would like to go based on compabilty and look so as performance.

Then i look up how the overall pricing would be a cheapest to get to my goal to the 450 whp.
This is how i do it. But i do a same with all the other car parts including seats and floor mats etc.

I am picky and i am **** what i buy. for many reasons, but the fore most is, i am not rich to buy parts twice. (although i still do many times , based on my bad decisions , like e-bay or discounted parts... part of me is very cheap, and it is always bites me in my ***... LOL)

 

Well here are some of the brands I have on the car now. Supertech, GSC, AMS, Buschur, FP, garret, AEM EMS, manley, wiseco. I picked these brands because they are everything that I said I look for. And all these products are proven by the best. Like Buschur/AMS/ STM just a few names and more. But just read up on what your looking to buy and make a decision. Good luck with whatever you purchase


Robevo RS makes a very good point!

 

I trust Greddy and HKS completely, but that's from a decade of using their parts

on top of that, I like to support active forum vendors who contribute to EvoM. They aren't gonna sell junk and still hang out like it's all good. ETS, AMS, MAPerformance, etc, are all active forum members with good standing and good products.

 

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone! If you guys ever have any questions, send me a PM or post up. I will do my best to help out where I can.

Thanks!

Michael

 

This is another reason to go with ETS. Michael has always been available to answer my questions and is very helpful.

 

When it comes time for power upgrades, look for a good tuner in your area that comes highly recommended and has experience tuning your platform. They will have their preferences of fuel/air parts and tuning hardware/software. Go with what they recommend and have experience with.

We are an injector and fuel pump manufacturer. We have a drop-in fitment high-flow fuel pump for the Evo X, as well as higher flowing drop-in fitment injectors.

If you have any fuel related questions, please shoot me a PM.

 

I would do as much research as you can. Ask questions if you can't find an answer or don't understand something. I support active vendors on the site and try to buy through them. They usually have good customer service and you know what you getting as opposed to some no name company or an ebay seller. Try to find a good shop near you that specializes in Evos and pick their brain.

 

I generally buy from places like Buschur, AMS, ETS, MAP, Toxic...etc... because I would rather a part that is made by hand and by a smaller company that I hope pays more attention to detail! I never buy from the larger brands for things like exhausts, intakes, intercoolers. Some things like BOV's and computer systems you don't have to much choice but to go with the larger companies and they are good at those. --JOEYD