Before we get into this review, one thing needs to be said upfront so everyone is on the same page. The stock rear control arms have nothing wrong with them. They are perfectly sufficient for the average Evo owner. This review isn’t intended for you to go out to replace a perfectly good stock part if you don’t need to.

Now with our disclaimer out of the way, we can now get down to the review. So why did we replace our stock rear control arms with the Agency Power Rear Control Arms. For some reason the rear camber in our project car wouldn’t go past -1.2 degrees. The car was experiencing some rear sidewall rub on our tire when going through tight portions of certain tracks. The goal camber setting we were looking to get was -2.0 degrees and we were definitely not going to get that out of our current setup. Trying most of the suggestions posted on the forum without any luck we decided to find another solution. With a little research we came across Agency Power’s Rear Control Arms. Each arm comes in two pieces, which gives its ability to be adjustable (a rod end mated with the main portion with 2 bushings). It was very intriguing and at this point we were willing to try anything.

With any new aftermarket part there are always pluses and minus. A minus that should be mentioned is by adding these new arms won’t save weight but rather add more (9 ounces more per arm with the 2 pieces assembled). This is primarily due to the rod end portion of the arm. It’s made with heavy gauge metal in order to maintain strength. The main portion of the arm not only has 2 urethane bushings, but it’s also extremely light in weight. Made from a very thick aluminum (6061 aluminum) and reinforced with steel sleeves, the chances of the arms ever failing are pretty slim. The plus side with these arms is obvious; we can now get more camber! Weight savings is important but 9 ounces per side wasn’t going to kill us.

Installation was very simple and with the right tools on hand it can be done in about an hour. After installation, we headed straight to the alignment machine to get everything dialed in. The following was our initial setup (Keep in mind we still run stock sway bars):

- Front: -2.5 degrees of camber with 1/8th toe out
- Rear: -2.0 degrees of camber with 0 toe

The car was setup and ready to hit the track. Luckily Car Guys was holding a track event at Shenandoah a few days after we installed the arms, so we signed up and patiently waited for the weekend. The weekend finally arrived and we logged in our first few sessions. On some of the tighter corners, the car seemed like it needed some more camber on the front (slight push during corner entry). With a few more changes to the camber in the front we went out again. This time the car felt much better. The rear felt very planted and didn’t have the usual instability experienced on the straights when running too much camber. Turn in was crisp and responsive. The car had a tendency to push from the apex out, which wasn’t too bad because it made the car more predictable. With more track time, we could definitely iron out the small issues.

Unfortunately since it was our first time at Shenandoah, we didn’t have a base line time to compare to. What we can say is the car did feel very response and gave us more confidence to push the car more, which is based on our driving style. The nice part about having these arms is the fact that the rear camber settings can be adjusted very easily for quick changes, which was a big time saver in-between sessions.

With the track results out of the way, it was now time to talk about the project car’s street experience. Since we drove the car to and from the track we got to experience how the car felt on the street. In reality it didn’t feel very different. The only time we could tell a difference was when the car hopped through road bumps. The rear felt very light while it was going over the bumps but very stable. Purchasing these arms for just the street would not be recommended because there really wouldn’t be a need to run aggressive camber (aggressive camber settings will shorten the life of your tires dramatically). We feel that the arms would be better suited for the track junkie or possibly the car show participant. What ever the case may be, if more rear camber is needed and it can’t be accomplished with the stock setup, then give the Agency Power Rear Arms a try. Stay tuned for more follow-ups and long term results!

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Cost effective, more efficient, and quality build are the words that best describe the Mishimoto radiator. Lighter then stock, this radiator is great replacement to the stock unit and provides a greater cooling efficiency. Paired with a black finished silicone hose kit, this radiator makes a great addition for those looking for a stock replacement

Installation
Installation was straightforward and very easy to do. The Mishimoto radiator fits as perfect as the stock unit without any problems. Evo 9 owners will probably have to modify the hose to make sure you have a perfect fit, but nothing major. The most difficult portion of the install was draining the fluid in the stock unit. Total install time should be less then 2 hours.

Impressions
On the street, temps weren’t any different then stock. On track was where the difference was apparent. After a full weekend of beating the snot out of the car, the overall temps averaged 7 – 10 degree cooler then the stock unit. The silicone hoses held up to the high heat without leaks and the radiator maintained its performance throughout the weekend.

Conclusion
For under $300 this radiator is a bargain for those looking to replace their stock radiators for something that runs more efficient and is lighter then the stock unit. Longevity is something we are currently testing but after a couple of months the unit has held strong without issues. If you are in the market for a new radiator with silicone hose kit, give the Mishimoto Radiator and Hose Kit a try.

Gallery:

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As many of you already know, when you start on a path of modification sometimes it’s difficult to figure out when to stop modifying your car. You initially set up a goal in order to give yourself a sense of accomplishment. The funny thing is when you reach the top of the mountain; you end up saying to yourself “Can I do more?” Everyone knows the downward spiral from here. You immediately start thinking about the possibilities, which start to brainwash you. You convince yourself that your car is boring and you need a change. At this point this is where you end up in a “fork in the road” type of situation. Should I start a new project or shouldn’t I?

You immediately start to rationalize and think back to the pain and struggle you went through to get the car to its initial goal. Thinking to yourself, “That downtime wasn’t too bad”. Well now you know how we felt when we got a chance to try out Tanabe’s new set of Sustec Pro Seven suspension and the TEAS unit to go along with it. We wanted change and this setup could help us with that change.

Before we received the suspension I started to research the set up through the site and any other resource I could find. The list of features the suspension had to offer was very attractive. I immediately looked for the spring rates to see what I was going to be dealing with: 12kg in the front and 10kg in the rear. Pretty high rates but Tanabe claimed that this set up could be used for various driving environments (street and competition), which is very appealing. I wanted to find out for myself.

Installation
After a week of waiting, the UPS man came with the goods. After tearing the box, I could see four nicely packaged coilovers. I had to get these on the car! I immediately got the car on the lift and started the install.

Installation was very simple for the suspension and was completed in less then 2 hours (I love air tools!). The TEAS installation was also an easy install and took us about an hour or so to install. We did spend a little extra time making sure that everything was torque’d down correctly so we wouldn’t run into issues later. After the final inspection, the car came off the lift and was sent out for the initial test drive.

Product Build
We usually don’t talk too much about the build quality on some of the parts we review, so I figured I would take the opportunity to do so with the Teas and Sustec pro. The overall construction of the Sustec pro is pretty nice. The welds look strong and overall appearance looks very good. The hardware (camber plates, height adjustments, etc) were very well constructed as well.

With the Teas, the overall build is very basic and simple (small and light), which is what I prefer when it comes to electronic control boxes. The unit is small enough to fit it most places of the car, so mounting solutions shouldn’t be too difficult.

Initial Driving Impressions (Street Only and the car was not dialed in)
This initial drive wasn’t to test out the handling characteristics of the car, but more so to play with the TEAS. I initially set the damper setting to 1 (front and rear). Driving around with this setting was interesting. The setting was very soft and many of you who like a firm setup will not like this setting. I had to turn the dial up. The next damper setting I went to was 5 (front and rear). Finally we are getting somewhere! The ride was firmer then the previous setting. This setting was a good compromise for the street, firm but not so much that your head gets knocked around.

Finally I decided to see how far we could take this. I tried 10 (front and rear) and 16(front and rear). Wow what a difference. Definitely something I wouldn’t leave set especially for the street. My body was bouncing around like a rock in a can. I have to admit though it was pretty fun to drive the car in the stiff setting because it made the car feel very responsive and minimized body roll.

After an hour or so of parading around town, I decided to get the car dialed in to see how the setup truly feels.

Part 2 – Driving Impression (Street Only with the car dialed in)
Now that the car was dialed in, it was time to find out the car’s road handling characteristics and to really use the TEAS to its full potential (speed sensitive dampener controlling). The impressive thing about the TEAS active mode is you can also preprogram the unit to specifically set the dampener settings on the suspension based on a specific speed (as slow as 5mph).

TEAS Impression
The only other car I’ve ever been in to have some type of automatic dampener control has been the MB E55 AMG, but without the speed sensor option. I felt that this feature would be great on an Evo especially for owners who don’t want the full “Race” setup all the time and would prefer a way to adjust stiffness settings whenever they feel like.

The best place to test the TEAS was on the highway and some of the back twisty roads that most of you are familiar with. The first test was the highway. I set the TEAS to active mode and got on the on-ramp of the highway. The TEAS immediately started to tighten things up during my trip on the on-ramp. Once I merged onto the highway, I gave it a little gas and it continued to tighten things up. Very cool! The next test was driving the car on some twisty back roads.

As I did in the previous highway test, I set the TEAS in active mode and headed out on the back road. The TEAS did its job of stiffening the suspension to accommodate the driving, but there was a big difference between this test and the highway. Highway speeds are always consistent, whereas, other forms of driving where not. Tuning the TEAS was necessary in order to get the right dampener setting for this type driving.

After playing around for about an hour, I finally programmed a setup I liked. The car was crisp and in control.

In Conclusion
Overall I have to say that Tanabe’s Sustec Pro Seven and TEAS is a fairly good package all together. It can be overwhelming at first because of the many different features you can play around with, but once you figure it out it can be a blast to drive around in. As I said before, the one thing I liked about this set up is its ability to accommodate a wide range of driving environments. You also have an option to fine tune your settings and save them as preprogrammed options. Great for the daily commuter and weekend track monkey. All you need is a little patience to get the setup tuned right for your needs and some gas money. Stay tuned for part 2 when we take the car to the track.

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