I'm thinking about getting a set of AGXs with H&Rs, what can I expect from ride quality? Harsh, smooth? I live in Ottawa, Canada and we have some of the ugliest roads you ever seen, even with the AGXs setup on "smoothest", is it still a pretty hard ride?

I was also thinking about Illumina/tokico setup, would this be a better compromise for a stiff/smooth ride?

Thanks

 

I'm actually running AGXs with H&Rs and I love the ride. Its not too low but low enough to improve the performance of the car and for others to notice when you cruise by them. They are not harsh, as that is determined by the springs...(H&Rs)...nice stock feeling ride...just lower

 

I've heard AGX's can be pretty harsh and this is even more noticeable in the cold (which I expect you have a bit of ). I'm going to go with illumina's...they're not that much more and everyone who has had both seems to say the illumina's are less harsh.

I'm running a GD for $408 shipped. It will be a couple of weeks before the vendor has them, but it is an excellent price. AGX's are like $380 or something on ebay right?

 

Well I found a few going for around 350$ + 50$ shipping to Canada. Illuminas for 408$ shipped huh? That sounds pretty good. I assume it would be more to ship to Canada, how much for shipping to J9H2S7 in Ottawa.

 

Here's a quote from another Canadian who was in on the last GD. I guess the taxes are pretty hefty. Will you still have to pay them if you order off ebay?

 

I agree with nupe500 because I also have AGX's and H&R's and love it compared to stock.

 

I have the H&R/AGX combo. I've had the combo for almost 1 1/2 years. It's a nice ride, but the ride does get harsh in the winter when it gets cold.

 

That's what I'm affraid of. We get some pretty nasty winters up here. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards the Illumina/Tokico setup.

 

I'm on AGX's in the front and Illuminas on the rear. It's a mcuh better setup than AGX's all around. The rears were hard as a bastard no matter what setting they were on. I will be replacing the fronts with Illuminas next Spring.

 

What springs you runnin with?

 

The agxs are beginning to get rough in these cold maryland nights. But in the war weather they were fine and i had them set on 3/4. But then again im on Sprints.

 

As far as a smooth ride, you have made a very good spring choice...from everything I've heard they are very close to stock in comfort but with improved handling.

I've decided to go with H-techs (mostly because I got a good used set) which are supposed to be slightly less comfort and slightly more performance than H&R's but very close.

 

I use to run AGXs rears with my Koni fronts and H&R springs. I had that setup for over a year and like others said, the AGXs are harsh. The problem with the AGXs is that when you increase dampening, you also increase rebound, therefore it's impossible to tune the ride for a good street ride. In the winter even on setting 1 the ride is very stiff. I bit the bullet and invested in Koni rears and couldn't be happier. The ride difference is pretty drastic. The Koni's are only adjustable for rebound which is ideal for a street-based car. I can fine tune my ride for the conditions. Right now I'm running 70% rebound in the front and 60% in the rear and it's perfect even on my 17s, torn up and bumpy Kansas City roads, and in the 30-40 degree weather.

The other advantage of the Koni rears is that the rear perch has two settings. The first setting is the normal factory perch height and the next setting is approximately .5" higher so that you can compensate for weight in the rear or towing. Earlier this week I raised the perch to the highest setting in an effort to give my wife and new born the best ride possible in the back seat. I gained .5" in wheel gap with the rear gaps being 2 1/8" unloaded, 1.75" with me in the car, and 1.4" with my wife and son in the back. Having the additional wheel gap sucks, but my car gained .5" in wheel travel which dramatically improved the ride quality. I'm amazed at the ride difference. The .5" increase in rear gap is worth it to me.

 

If I had a chance to do it again, I would go with the Illuminas over the AGX's. The AGX's can get harsh.

 

Dave, you're saying you changed the perch to gain more suspension travel correct? Do you have mzmtg's motivational style mounts? They would give you that travel without the wheel gap if you don't already have them.

 

Dave, congratulations on your new baby .

 

I've already have the ME strut mounts. The additional travel helps keep the struts to operate in their ideal range. That extra .5" really does wonders when soaking up small bumps and road inperfections, especially in cold weather.

Thanks. It's a blast.

 

H&R......................

 

ive got AGX's with Eibach prokit on my I30...its pretty damn harsh if u ask me. but its not that bad if u keep everything on soft

 

I use 1/1 or 1/2 for daily use. Its stiff but c'mon ppl what do you expect? We are talking enthusiest parts! You have to give a little to gain a little. I also have bens rear mounts which help smooth out the rear.


I would buy the full tokico kit over the H&R/AGX combo any day. The tokico set up is very nice, perfect for street use.

 

Where can one find these ME strut mounts?

 

ME does not make them anymore. The good news is that Ben is selling some increased travel mounts here on the Org. Here is the link.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....0&page=1&pp=30

 

Harshness absolutely does not depend on the springs. Only if you cut the factory springs, but when you do that... congratulations, you just made your car junk.

I know when my dad switched to KYB Gas-A-Just shocks on his '72 Mustang his ride got extremely harsh. They were nothing of the sort with the old shocks on the same springs.

 

Looks like the popular opinion is that all KYBs are harsh. I guess that's why they're cheapest.

This is your ride, guys. Don't go with something just because it's the cheapest.

 

Actually, both struts and springs have an effect on harshness. AGX evidently give a harsh ride, but try putting eibachs on illumina's and you have a harsh ride there too my freind.

 

well i did not lower my car for it to be smooth......agx's work well for me
i am on h&r's and i love the setup. i have a stillen kit and it is just the right height for me not to hella scrape everywhere.

 

i think the problem is not the struts being harsh, its the fact that you are comparing them to used OEM struts, which are most likely blown. Yes Dave has a great point about the compresson and rebound, and the stiffer the compression the stiffer the ride. But if you were to take a brand new OEM strut and test/compare it to an AGX on 1, i think you'll be amaized. Its probably a closer stiffness than ppl realize. I could be wrong, but im sure someone will see at least a flake of logic here.

 

Except that people who have used both AGX and Illumina's (or a combination)overwhelmingly agree that the illumina's are better.

 

i never said they were or werent better.

Illuminas are stiff too

 

It's not the same feel at all, though. The Illuminas give a more compliant ride if you adjust them in the middle range, say 2-4. The feel they provide is that the suspension is buttoned-down and well-controlled, not the crashing or jarring sensation some of the other shocks give. The Illuminas are well worth the extra cost, IMHO.

 

The problem I had with running "1" on the AGXs was that the strut remained way too soft from the spring. This resulted in a harsh ride. Then I'd dial up to 4 and the dampening would be good, but the rebound still wasn't enough. Then at 6 or so the dampening was way too stiff, but the rebound was ideal. I just couldn't win. I got suspension harshness regardless of settings.

With the Konis the ride is well dampened (non adjustable) and the rebound control is perfect at around 60% or so. The difference really is night and day. Auto-X and road race guys are in full agreement that for a street-based car, Koni Yellows are the only way to go. They also agree that the AGXs are counterproductive because they can't be adjusted for rebound and dampening seperately.


Stiff doesn't mean great handling. Take notice of how BMWs ride.

 

From everything I've read, the dampening on the KYB AGX struts don't change as you change the settings, it's only the rebound rate that's adjustable. That's why people tend to report that higher settings such as 3 front/ 6 rear is actually more comfortable than 1 front/ 2 rear. The 3/6 setting actually does a good job of balancing the amount of dampening and rebound. When I had the eibach/agx combo, I definitely found this to be true. Now the higher settings tend to work better if you've got stiffer springs. If you've got softer or stock springs, I'd stay away from AGX's, since they're actually more comfortable with stiffer springs. After having the eibach/agx combo for about a year, I temporarily switched to stock springs and the agx's, and the ride definitely felt harsher.

 

Taken from KYBs website: