I'm in need of a new radiator because mine is leaking. I'm looking at CSF for a replacement. Their radiator with the plastic tanks looks like a nice economical oem equivalent replacement. The one with aluminum tanks looks like a nice upgrade. Anybody have any experience with them? I'm not really interested in going Mishimoto because it seems like several people have had Mishimoto radiators leak. the lifetime warranty is nice, but I don't want to have to keep replacing my radiator.

 

I've used CSF in a turbo Miata that I used to slug up and down SoCal mountains / canyon roads, and the Honda community loves them. The "tucked" 13.5" tall radiator that they sell for Honda swaps is reported to handle track duty for 25min sessions with ease.

No experience with plastic end tanks - many accept them but I don't waste my time. One run up Palomar and the tanks separated (OEM Mazda, mind you).

 

Yeah, This is the second time I've had to replace a radiator (2 different R53s) both times it was because the plastic tank broke (and both times at about 100,000 miles). I mostly daily the car, but I do like to track it occasionally, and I'm hoping to do more track days since I just moved to a place that is 45 mins away from a decent track that does a fair number of track days. My thoughts are that the plastic tanks lasted 100,000 miles, the price difference is about $200, and I'm not really in the mood to have to fiddle with getting it all back together so if the aluminum tanks make it harder to put back together then that is really going to make it a hard sell for me.