Kevin Wong

Hi,
I've been asking stupid suspension questions for awhile, please bear with me. I noticed people complaining about the front Tokicos with lowering springs, especailly Eibachs. Many say the rear are fine. People say to go with the Adjustable Koni, however, they also say the rear is not easily adjustable (you have to remove the strut to adjust). I was thinking about ordering the front Konis for $116 each, and order a set of either rear Tokicos or KYB for $60 each. Total would equal $352 total.
Are they any holes in my setup? Is mixing strut brands a bad idea? I know two people on this board are mixing the same brands. What do you think? Oh yeah, I was going to throw on a set of H&R's too.
Oh yeah, shox.com said they receive the front adjustable konis yesterday.
Thanks

Max I am

There doesn't seem to be any point in having rear Konis unless you go to the track...and since I don't plan on doing that, I'd like to know the same thing...if it'll save me some money and not have any adverse effect..I don't see why it wouldn't work.

seven

iTrader: (1)

all around and they should last the life of the car. plus when they get softer over time, take it to your shop(or do it yourself) and have them adjust the stiffness up a notch. you probably won't do this more than 2 or 3 times while you have these shocks.

Keven97SE

Kevin and Max I Am, you're absolutely right in that there's really no need to get the rear Konis. I bought all 4 Konis and now have them installed, but I had only the front Konis on for a week (not enough time to do the rears), and with the rear Tokicos still on, the car drove really well. I'd guess that 90% of the handling improvement came from the front Konis, with the other 10% coming from the rears. The only real change with Konis on the rear is that the car understeers a hair less and turn-in is tighter. Not that much of a difference, though.

Front Konis with KYB/Tokico rears are a very reasonable alternative to Konis on all 4 corners.

Dave B

Keven is completly right about running decent rear shocks and Konis in the front. About two months ago, my car's handling and ride went to crap (maybe it had been that way for a while). I realized that my rear stock struts were toast (I've had ST springs on for over a year with stock struts). I bought the KYBs and the rear became very firm, tight, and I loved it. Unfortunately the feel of the new rear struts made me realize how junked my fronts were. I came to the conclusion that over 65% of the weight of the car sits over the front. Therefore I NEED the best strut available plus I'm getting really serious about drag racing and the adjustable settings can reduce some of the lift on launch. I installed the Konis and my car feels VERY PLANTED. I've got mine set at 75% firmness and it's awesome. My car has never felt this good AND my car hooks up like it never did before. I used to be able to smoke of the hell out of my tires from a 10 mph 1st gear roll, now all I do is get traction. I used to smoke my tires on the 1-2 shift, now it just chirps. I can now launch at 2500 rpms and my car hooks. I had no idea that changing front struts could make such a night and day difference. The front Konis might have to be the best handling bang for the buck mod I've ever done.

As for the rear KYBs. I compared the Tokico and KYB rear struts and the KYBs have a much heavier duty body to them over the Toks. The Toks almost led me to believe they are no different than the black factory Toks that come on the SE. I have a feeling that the KYB GR-2s may last a little longer than the Toks. When my KYBs fail, then I may go ahead and consider the rear Konis. Maybe by then they will have a more adjustable version out.

Dave

Max I am

the tokicos and do they have any warrantee? I think when I am ready to do my struts and springs I am going to go with Konis just for the front, and a solid rear strut like the KYB or Toks.

Keven97SE

Go to http://www.shox.com and use their quote form. They'll get back to you in a few days with a quote.

Ask for a quote on rear Tokicos and rear KYB GR2s. They're actually both fairly inexpensive...but I think the GR2s are ~$10 ea cheaper. Like $60 ea Tok and $50 ea GR2.