Hello, so to start off i am not a professional driver and my experience is limited to a few track weekends and about a year of autoX. I have been driving with the AMS SSK for nearly 25k miles and recently got the opportunity to test the new Non Stop Tuning SSK. Although i forgot to weigh both ill fix that error in the next week or so.
Ill start off with the obvious differences:
With a price point of $165.00 from Z1 the AMS SSK is three times more expensive than the NST SSK. It is a steel rod with a plastic body that allows for 4 separate levels of adjustment along with a plastic or non metallic center bearing fitted into a stock center (im not sure what it is made of but it looks like plastic.) From there you will find a duralin like center ring to prevent chafing near where the shift boot will sit and at the other end the sleeve bushing is held in place with 10 rubber o-rings. It also uses the stock steel retaining plate.
The NST SSK has a price of $55.90 from NST. It is a 2 piece machined aluminum body connected with a center pin. The center bearing is brass with a larger than stock bushing housing with rubber o-ring. At the bottom end you get a sleeved steel bushing with a duralin style hat bushing to prevent wear. It also comes with an anodized aluminum retaining plate and you can select the color (although im not sure what it matters lol)
Initial Thoughts:
The NST SSK is definitely lighter and i like the red retaining plate mine came with although as i said earlier it doesn't matter at all. Im really interested to see how the center bearing wears since when i pulled out the AMS it had a ton of plastic black shavings around the bearing. I like the o-ring idea that the AMS uses for the bottom sleeve bushing however id prefer to see proper teflon hat bushings instead.
Driving Thoughts:
The adjustability of the AMS is an attractive feature that sets it apart from the rest of the SSKs out there however, i ended up setting it full down and leaving it alone and i have not messed with the height setting since install. The NST SSK sits a tad higher than the AMS at full drop but since i liked the height of the NST kit i wonder if i should have placed the AMS higher. Both shift smooth and although they have a different bushing style at the bottom end i have yet to notice a difference there. I both are easy to drop into reverse however, during install for both i added some teflon grease around the sides of each center bushing retainer to make it smoother. I had no issues with either shifting at all.
End Thoughts:
The NST is the no brainer and i really wish it was available when i bought the AMS. For a 1/3 of the price you get the same performance at a lighter weight. After seeing the black shavings at the center bearing for the AMS i wonder if they are supposed to be lubricated over time however the instructions it came with said nothing about it. On that note ill check the NST at 5k and again at 10k to see how its doing and report back.
Parting Shots:
