goon9

iTrader: (13)

I take back anything positive I said about KYB. I ran them with sprints for 30k and took them out the rears today to slip in intrax and they are dead. One has very little return to full throw, the other has none. Fronts seemed Ok though.

Time for Koni's, Now Where to get Koni's for the best price?

maxitech

iTrader: (7)

Check out ebay and Brian's site for Konis. I bought the rears off ebay because they were back ordered from all suppliers and I got the fronts from Brian.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

has anyone ever had to deal with a koni warranty?

I tried getting the kyb's warrantied and was turned down because I bought them off ebay.

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

sorry, brian, but shox.com has better prices on konis. $582.40 vs. $675.00. (neither price includes shipping...)

best price on ebay for a set, free shipping
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-94...spagenameZWD1V

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

that sucks. one good reason to buy from a distributor.
you may want to check to see if the ebay seller u used was a certified kyb distributor. if they are, you should be able to get the warranty.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

I'll check it out.


Maybe they are ok. When I last drove it it didn't bounce, I just don't remember if I was able to push the rod down by hand or not.

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

with or without the spring?...(j/k)
I think you should be able to, was able to on my brothers camaro(new monroes, cheap ***...) but it took some effort.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

KYBs are good for STOCK replacement.
If you're going for a drop get Tokicos.
If you want ability to adjust get Konis.

just a FYI...Toks are lifetime warranty...but i believe Konis are NOT but they are rebuildable.
but from legit suppliers (shox.com) and not off ebay.

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

I have seen "legit supplier" stamped on some people's ebay stuff. not for any KYBs, but other stuff. they said they were, anyway, and their stuff would include manufacurer's warranties. like i said mebe the kybs can be IF the vendor is legit.

(but take it as a chance to go with Tok's or Konis...)

goon9

iTrader: (13)

Toki's are better on my wallet, buuuut I heard they don't hold up well. I just want a better strut that will last.
Though, I'd love to be able to have more tuning ability! I may pony up the dough...

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Tokicos are nice. a bit stiff, but not too terrible.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

After searching around, I've seen alot of ppl kicking themselves for getting toki's and only a couple in the 5th gen section had a koni fail. So when I get my taxes back I'm going to get them shox.com will get an order.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

are you really that likely to ever adjust them? in 9/10 cases they may be adjusted once and that's it. to me they don't make sense for anyone other than someone who is looking to eek the last bit of handling out of the car.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

You also need to remember that 3gen != 4/5 gen. Toks and KYBs are vastly different for 3 gens vs 4/5. the Toks for 4/5 suck. KYBs for 3 suck. Toks on 3s are decent.
Koni are better, but Toks are decent.

Koni and Tok also both have lifetime warranty, except for abuse. i.e. I bottomed out a koni and blew up the adjuster. they wouldn't cover that. but they'll cover wear out if there's no signs of abuse.

Tokico is the same way. I had a couple sets warrantied over the years. one set from wear-out, another set from the shaft shearing off at the top because I had camber plates with no monoball bearings. eventually they snapped the threaded part off the top of the shaft. fortunately I was going 20mph and was a mile from the house. (and still had my GXE parts car with stock struts I'd swapped onto it from the VE) I putted it home and swapped the stock strut on and sent the Tok back for warranty. I wasn't sure if they'd cover it, but they did and sent me a refund for the replacements I'd bought (from a legit dealer.)


This is one of the major reasons it's better to pay the extra $50-100 to buy from a legit dealer than a discount ebay reseller. Chances are with the way we drive our cars, we will eventually need a warranty replacement on something, and if you bought it from ebay to save $75, you're skrood. Pay a bit more and buy from a dealer that will honor the warranty.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

Damn it Matt. I had my mind set and now I'm not feeling like koni's aren't going to be Much better than toki's.

I AM going to use them on intrax. With that in mind, is that going to kill a toke faster than a koni? Also.. I'd be more pissed about blowing a set of koni's because of the money.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

the problem with the Konis is that you MUST NOT bottom the shock out. After the set I blew because the "stock" bumpstops died and I bottomed them out, I stuck a 1/2" urethane bushing in there and about 1/2- 3/4" of metal washers above it for spacers. it's a much harsher bump stop, but with the metal stuff there I'm 100% positive that I won't damage another $300 worth of front shocks and alignment from hitting an unexpected pothole...

For the ride quality, the Konis are much better- especially if you're going to run something as harsh as Intrax.

The other thing you can do is shorten the Koni by about 3/4" from cutting some of the threads off the bottom and trimming the bolt to fit. That will give you a bit more travel without touching anything else.

the only problem there is that you're now relying on about 3/8" of thread to hold the shock in place. what I did to remedy that was used the little rubber sleeves that came with the inserts and pressed them into the strut housing with the strut. (They're supposed to fit over the outside to keep water from getting into the assembly..)
but I had to use a hydraulic press to get the insert pressed into the housing with that rubber boot, so it fits VERY snug. that's exactly what you want with that. then I used some loctite on the small bolt at the bottom to hold it all in place.
been ~3 years now and everything is good.

maxitech

iTrader: (7)

What kind of springs were you running at the time, Matt? And would one be more likely to bottom a strut out if using, say, Intrax vs. Eibach?

soulsmax

iTrader: (2)

I have Toks with B&G springs, ride is not to bad, a little "bouncy" for me tho. Toks so far have held up great, with the crappy *** NY roads. I've hit some potholes, unfortunately that i couldnt avoid, nothing has happened yet to them. But let me know talk to quick....lol.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Eibach 2.5" ERS springs. 7" long, 450lb/in.
(custom coilovers... set WAY too low- I was lowered about 2.5" below stock.)

I've since gone to 8" long springs and raised the car up to Eibach level (about 1.25" lower than stock), and don't have the bottoming problem at all anymore.


If you want a car to perform and last more than a few months, stay away from the Intrax. they lower the car too far and they're too soft. take a look at the car once it's on the ground and you'll notice the car is sitting on whatever bumpstops you have on there. that gives you ZERO compression on the suspension because the car is so low.

Run with the Eibachs and you'll be good to go.

maxitech

iTrader: (7)

Love the Eibachs, not too high and not too low...

The reason I asked was you initially gave the impression that it's fairly easy to blow a Koni. In fact, the other day I took the car out because my beater was out-of-comission for the day due to a brakeline that had rusted thru and I was on a backroad with it. I guess the roads are quite a bit rougher than normal this time of year due to the cold and the ground being frozen. Anyway, I went to pass a slow-moving car and hit a large bump traveling at 70+ mph. I swear the car skipped off the ground for a second or at least it damn near did...Michigan Roads FTL

goon9

iTrader: (13)

Matt, have you heard of a top-hat mod? I've seen it done on a vw and a honda. The rod is mounted an inch or 2 above the regular mounting point. Though I'm not sure how it would be possible to safely remove the strut. The intrax are staying, I may just go with toki's

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

4th gen mounts are supposed to be worth an inch of travel IIRC

goon9

iTrader: (13)

Orealy, does that mean it will bolt up?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

the fronts do, the rears aren't even close IIRC

goon9

iTrader: (13)

So the killer is having the shock operate at a greater compression at all time. Well we an fix that

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

sure. but you can't use the stock springs. you have to use a custom upper spring seat. (i.e. my coilover mounts). not sure if the 3 gen top hat would mate up with the 4 gen upper mount. I don't think it would due to the difference in the strut bearing design.


moving the top ot the strut up helps only so much. go look in the advanced suspension forum about all the problems with overlowering the car. whether you still have strut travel or not, the steering geometry is FUBARd and your handling suffers bigtime.

keep the car within 1.5" of stock and you'll be okay. lower more than that, and your suspension goes to hell in a handbasket.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

I am right on the bubble with my current setup, I was waay past this when i was running sprints, car handled like ***, bump steered like a ****..

goon9

iTrader: (13)

Thats part of the reason i went from sprints to intrax. Intrax are supposed to be 1.6ish.
Do you think addco bars would help preserve strut life? It would stiffens things up, at the same time take more from the strut to control the bounce.. Hmmm.

I'm going to look into modify the strut mount, maybe an inch offest.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

I've never had intrax on my car, but i heard they are little soft for a progressive drop spring.

How did you like the b&g's when you rode in my car?

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

the addco bar won't make much difference there. your big issue with strut life is the condition of the roads you drive on. spring rates, potholes, and bumpy roads do much more than the sway bars and turning the car ever will.

maxitech

iTrader: (7)

That is the very reason I have Konis. I knew the road conditions the struts would be used in would be severe, so I bought what I thought would last the longest. My Suspension currently has about 30,000 miles on it and it still feels solid, although I pushed on all 4 corners earlier and the passenger side feels a bit softer than the driver's side.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

I Heard that intrax were more firm that sprints. I donno yet.

Your B&G's elt great, I don't know how they compare with intrax, but it didn't have that About to bottom out feel that I had with sprints.

I been going nuts of strut options. SO, I'm going to see my kyb's hold up and and look at this a little more. I got side tracked and forgot my car Isn't near running condition. Priorities

If I have money when they do tear up completely (actually start bouncing) I'll go for koni. Toki's if I can't afford them.

Oh the roads around here are great in comparision to most places I've been. But forged 18's Adds a ton to the abuse.