N0P1st0ns

After researching ive seen people say that these are basically the same thing. that agency power uses progress to make these. Is there truth to this? is there any difference? Because im finding agency power front and rear sway bars for cheaper than progress tech. So what are the differences besides the paint and price if any? any personal experiences with either? if none i would rather agency due to price obvisously, and i would prefer a white sway bar. Looks better IMO. Thanks guys

JCrane82

iTrader: (3)

As long as you are talking about the adjustable Agency Power bars.....then yes, they are the same as the Progress bars. Progress is actually the manufacturer of the AP adjustable bars, and AP just adds white paint to them and call them their own. My source of this information was Brice at Race Roots.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

A questionable source indeed. I trust Brice about as far as I can throw him. Seeing as he shipped a recent customer freshly spray painted white sway bars.

GK1707

iTrader: (10)

According to alnielsen the AP bars were out first and Progress ripped em off.

In this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/good-guy-bad...-douai-251637/

But yeah to answer the question, they're pretty much the same sway bars.

N0P1st0ns

Thanks guys

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

First off, Progress Tech was around an had been around for almost ten years in 2005 and are a well respected suspension parts company who made parts (all in the USA IIRC) for a few platforms. I came from decades of Honda ownership and Progress Tech parts were on a lot of Track cars I knew of back in the late 90's. I highly doubt they are the same bars as the AP bars and cannot believe they ripped off AP since AP is not known for quality parts, just Chinese knock off stuff. Brice if full of s@!t so anything he says is suspect. If you really want to know, call Progress Tech.

Edit: I just checked, AP wasn't around until 2003, when they started selling endlinks for the WRX.

N0P1st0ns

BUMP..? Any other oppinions?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Okay, just for ***** an giggles I just called Progress Tech and spoke with a customer service rep. She said that to her knowledge, no Progress tech products are rebranded. But she said she would double check and call me back with a sure answer. I will update when I receive a return call.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Okay so I spoke with Michelle at Progress Tech and she informed me that at one time way back Progress Tech was making the bars for AP but that she would need part numbers from the bar to confirm if a particular bar from AP was made by them. But I knew al was wrong about Progress Tech was not ripping off AP, that is just silly. Apparently complaints to them about Brice/Raceroots are not unheard of either, big surprise.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Oh and right now you can get the front and rear bars for around $325.00 shipped when you use the promo code winterspec at www.progressauto.com.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

That's hilarious if you think Progress Tech ripped off Vivid Racing/Agency Power.

Vivid Racing is a local company here and all they do is buy parts and ship them off to China or Taiwan to have them copied, nobody likes them.

I have the Progress Tech bars and they are awesome.

GK1707

iTrader: (10)

N0P1st0ns

Fair enough. So at one point in time maybe AP was the same as Progress, but no longer. Thanks 9k for going the extra length to find out that info. ill go ahead and go with the Progress tech when its time for sways.

Smutterbutter

For what it's worth, contacted Brian at Goodwin Racing and he confirmed Agency Power is still manufactured by Progress.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

I am sure Progress tech themselves would know more than Goodwin.

Smutterbutter

You would hope. However, Brian contacted AP for me today and they said their sway bars are manufactured by Progress and built to the same specs. Might they be full of it, sure. Might the Progress rep you spoke to not know what she's talking about, absolutely. What I do know is I've gotten great, honest advice from Brian starting years ago in my miata days and believe him still.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Of course AP would claim that, they're the ones that make a ton of knockoff parts lmao.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Maybe, but I dunno, she seemed really knowledgeable and her answers to my questions about it were instant, it seemed as if I was not the first to ask. I got the feeling Progress Tech was not a really large company. And we had a chat about a certain vendor here that was pretty entertaining, I guess some disgruntled customers have contacted Progress Tech directly. And yeah, Brian is great, I have purchased from him quite a bit over the years.

Smutterbutter

Just wanted to put this out there. I think I just got really lucky. Purchased the Progress Tech Front Sway from THMotorsports yesterday. The price came up $175 shipped! I double checked and the specs and part # were right. Checked the site again today and it had been "Fixed", now the price is $204 shipped. Agency Power who...

I should add I am in no way associated with THMotorsports, hahaha

N0P1st0ns

SCORE haha