You cannot compare the front to the back.. Its actually like comparing night and day.. To that org member that blew the back ones, what did you do?? did you ride them on the hardest or softest setting??!! did you always carry passengers(alot of weight)???

 

...this should be good...

 

What makes you think I'm comparing the fronts to the rears? I'm comparing the rears (on my car)to what I had. I know the fronts will have the same effect because everyone else who changed out their whole setup said the same thing. I'm mean come on now.

 

my rear struts are blown, car drives fine

 

I have KYB AGX's and they've been on the car since 80k. Now I'm at 106k and they are great. They're paired with an Eibach Prokit and set on 3 in front and 5 in back. The ride is fine. The handling improvement is way worth the addition stiffness. Unless you have a bad back or bad neck, it's nothing to complain about considering the performance you're getting out of it.

Btw, I think I need new dust boots as my original ones are ripped up.

 

do we have to disassemble the whole thing to put a new boot on?? where you we get a boot?? my rear ones dont have boots.. i have agx struts w/ eibach.

 

Nick,
The pic you show of the red AGX looks like the spring has blown to me, which may (or not) have injured the AGX. Shocks are designed to damp the suspension travel, not carry the weight load, which is what the spring does.

 

Yup, that'is correct.

 

What springs are you talking about. Springs dont *BLOW* !!! or do they??

 

I'm talling about the spring picture posted by Nick. "Blow" is certainly not a descriptive technical term, but it looks like the spring has been stressed repeatedly beyond its limits and eventually fatigued so that it can no longer support the load, which is why it stays compressed. But I agree that if the shock failed first, the spring performance could have deteriorated rapidly.

 

Nah, the spring in that pic looks just fine. Go peek up at yours through the wheel well and see if they look that much different.

 

you bought your AGX with 10k miles, how many do you have on them now?

 

this thread is a virtual fountain of mis-information.. tell you what.. somebody please lock this thread. let everyone go out and buy there kyb's, and not have an alignment done... reading what some of you people post is seriously like watching a dog die.

 

I got my KYB AGXs with Maxspeed springs since when I had 50k miles, now im at 95k miles.....45k miles on my agx's, and they are still running strong, ive run over a few curbs and actually accidently jump a curb straight on to avoid and accident and they are still not blown, tire blew but not the struts. Basically choosing a suspension set up is based on opinion. Some people dont care about the harsher ride during the winter months, but hey i had my agx set at 4 and 8 during the winter months and im not complaining. It all about one's choice.

 

serious? whats wrong about it cuz im trying to learn some info when i do my suspension this week

 

Well, mine is VERY different since I've got stock springs . But when I look at the picture, I see about 1 inch (maybe less) of maximum compression travel before the whole thing hits rock bottom. Just doesn't look right to me. If it is, I wouldn't want the go-cart ride quality.

 

the problem is a combination of people not providing vitial information when there giving their reviews, and people that simply dont know what their talking about because they lack the experience and exposure to give a comparison. id like someone to explain to me how they can give a comparison between 2,3, or 4 set-ups, when they've only had one. true, some people are trying to help, but other are insistant, and give the perception to others that they actually know what there talking about.

" MY CAR IS RIDING ON AGX'S SET OF 5 ALL AROUND WITH EIBACH SPRINGS AND THE RIDE IS GREAT "

ok.. lets examine this for a minute. joe blow's car has that set-up. first of all, did he buy it like that? or did he put in since he's had the car? if he bought the car with those in it, he doesnt even have anything to compare it to. if he put it in himself, what's his comparison to? stock set-up? his old blown struts? kyb gr2's? does he even know what the hell came out of the car?

how about the biggest thing thats gonna effect your ride? hmmm.. lets see.. what kinda rim/tire size combo does he have? if some guy is saying his car rides smooth with that set-up, and is swearing up a down that somebody else should get it and not even telling you what rims/tires hes running, theres a big problem. he thinks thats smooth cause hes on 16's... how bout i lend ya a set of 18's?? drive around with those on for a month and then get back to me. itll wake him up like a slap in the face.

YOUR RIM AND TIRE SIZE WILL MAKE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE REGARDLESS OF WHAT SPRING/STRUT COMBO YOU HAVE.

secondly, what are your streets like? the guy driving around in vegas and LA shouldnt be tellin somebody in nyc about ride quality/harshness. a 19" rim on a car that stiff will not survive 2 weeks without getting slight bends in it. also, half the people talking in here dont even know what a bent rim is.. they only think its bent if they can see it, or the tire dont hold air anymore..

WRONG...


if you want good advice on what you should get, the first thing people should be asking you is what rim/tire size you have? are you planning on changing them? what are the roads like where you live? what do you want to favor, ride quality? comfort? all out handling? or something in-between?

whats the budget? some things just cant be achieved without enough money. above all else learn one thing as soon as you can.. ITS ALOT CHEAPER TO DO THINGS RITE THE FIRST TIME, THEN IS IS TO DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

theres people on here that have had 5+ different combos, and people listen to the guy that had one, just cause hes saying what you wanna hear.

heres some simple info:

h&r springs are 30% stiffer than stock. eibachs, which give you the same drop, are 50% stiffer. out of the most popular non-adjustable struts, tokico blues are the softest, made more as a stock replacement, not a performance strut, and shouldnt be used on a lowered car. kyb gr2's are VERY stiff. i would only recomend these to somebody who wanted a tight ride without a drop. these will definately eliminate your body roll in an other wise stock suspension. got rims? wanna drop? get an adjustable strut instead. id say the agx's are good for somebody who wants a drop, but didnt have any big rims, lets just say up to 17's . they also have a bad reputation for getting really stiff in cold weather. so unless you live in cali, florida, or some tropical island, chances are 4 months outta the year your cars gonna ride hard EVERY DAY. tokico illumina's have been reviewed, hands down, to be the best strut for every application. you can adjust them to give one of the softest, or a very stiff ride. this is good, and in my opinion, necessary, for somebody who wants a drop and run with big rims.(18's - 19's) you can adjust them to how you like them depending on your street conditions too.

if you dont know exactly what your gonna wind up doing to your car down the road, its best to invest in a good suspension now so it will give you endless possibilities. this is why the illumina's are so highly recomended

FINALLY.. your car needs an alignment after this is all done.. this guy is telling you it doesnt, cause he thinks that the toe adjustment, which will not be changed, is the only thing that will make the car pull to one side. hes wrong. the bolts that hold the bottom of your strut can, and will affect the camber of each wheel. as a matter of fact, thats exactly what a camber kit is, its 2 special bolts that replace the ones that get taken off when doing the struts. your camber being off can make your car pull to one side. and before anyone says " YOU WONT NEED A CAMBER KIT ". they dont know that for sure. some cars will line up to spec on a mild drop with no problem, some wont, and need a kit. it depends on the car.. generally speaking, a mild drop USUALLY wont need one, but in some cases they do. it all depends on the car

 

thanks for the info stuntin. i got eibach springs, im going to probably put them on illumina struts, and i have 17inch rims with 2245 r13 tires i beleve thanks alot.

 

No an alignment is not needed. Camber is not adjustable on these cars. If some tech has told you that the bolts need to be positioned they're feeding you crap. The hole is the proper size. Still it does allow for some movement of the spindle. But no matter how tight you get those bolts they will always slip. Now on cars that have stock adjustable camber I would agree that an alignment is needed every time you mess with those bolts. And FYI, those crappy camber bolts is the cheap and inconsistant way to adjust camber. Just like stock, they will slip. The only true way to adjust camber is via upper pillow-ball mounts.

Now, yes every drop will result in a different amount of camber. I don't have any sort of camber adjusters and I run about 2 degrees negative and my alignment people can't do **** about it until I get JIC's. It eats up the inside pretty good when combined with toe in. More conservative drops will result in a lower camber degree. Springs like Sprints or Dropzones will result in even high camber numbers than my progress setup. Especially now that my car is so much lighter I bet I'm closer to -1 degree. I now have twice as much wheel gap as I did four months ago. I'm almost back to stock ride height. Its really p!ssing me off. I can't decide between JIC's or BBK next.

 

..... .....

 

Haha. You think you're funny. Disprove me oh wise one.

 

for the past 10 alignments I've had done , all they did was " set the Toe and let him go" I have never seen alignment tech actually remove the strut to knuckle bolts and adjust them in any way.

maybe because when i have installed my 6 or more different setups - I've tried to set both sides as equal as possible.


Nick.

 

touching on what stuntin 101 said, wheels & tires do play a big part of ride quality, but not how much he is emphazing. My eibachs & agxs are still rough as hell w/my stock 15 inch Se wheels & strut settings on 1&1, tire size this winter was 205/65/15, a frickin pizza cutter w/enough sidewall for a suv. W/my 18s, the ride is even rougher!

 

When I had my car aligned last time. The left camber was -1.0. The right was -1.8. The technician loosened the bolts on the right side and pushed it out. Now I have -1.0 on both sides.

Camber CAN be changed a little with the stock bolts.

If camber changes, the toe changes, fact of life.

Now if there is this much slack in the bolt holes, you tell me the chances that you will be able to put the suspension back together EXACTLY as it was when you swap struts. Slim to none.

This is why you need to get an alignment done every time you take the suspension apart.

 

i just removed my stock susp and got KYB AGX adj shocks w/ Eibach Prokit..1.5/1.3".. Do i need an alignment? When i drive it feels fine, when i let go of the steering wheel it continues to go straight. As far as cambers are concerned, do i need to do anything to the car since i dropped it slightly. My wheels look fine and do not lean in or outward. I need Proffesional advice. Thanks

 

The fact is that the moment you hit a moderate bump your camber will be back to the "natural position". After 10 miles I'm sure it was back to -1.0 and -1.8. I've done some rudamentary aligning myself. Once over the summer I decided to try to get less negative by myself. I popped off the wheel and loosened the lower strut mount bolts. I had my buddy pull the body of the strut outward while I tightened them. I turned up the impact all the way and tightened it down. I drew around the nut with a sharpie. I went for a 15 mile drive and pulled the wheel back up. Sure enough, each bolt and nut had moved a couple millimeters from the sharpie outline. The top moved inward and the bottom moved outward. In other words, the camber changed after just 15 miles. If you wanna try this be my guest all you need is a sharpie.

 

If my camber had changed since the alignment, the toe would have also changed.

Right?

Well, if the toe had changed, I would be able to feel it in the way the car drives.

Right?

I haven't felt any changes in the 6k miles since the alignment.

 

According to me, you need to get it checked any time you work on the suspension.

According to Broaner, you don't.

Your call I guess

 

A lot of stuff you said is true but Broaner is right about the alignment. It's good to do it but it's not necessary for every case. I haven't gotten an alignment since I dropped my car 2 summers ago and my tires are still wearing even and the car drives straight as a pin.

 

I agree with Ben.

I have been riding on my AGX's and H&R's for over 2 years now. When I first had them put on I had an alignment done. A week later I had a broken strut mount. I went back and had them put in new mounts. I asked the technician if I needed another alignment, he said no. He was dead wrong. My new tires had very noticeable wear on the inside within a short amount of time. I went and got it realingned after that. I looked at the #'s and the toe #'s were way off.

 

your tires can still wear "noticably even" with the camber slighty off. both my toe settings are in spec, i have one camber in spec, and my passangers side is off, and needs a camber kit.. the camber being off still causes my car to pull.. yes, you can get away without doing it, but by doing so you invite a handfull of problems.. why would anyone knowing do that?

 

good info.

 

Yah that 4th gen with Illuminas was mine.

 

Seven months later....................

Maxima.org where old threads never die .

 

thats a Sprint Spring and AGX strut... i know because i had that setup in my max.

Ant