Ok here's the deal. With the search being down, I figured I would post this and hope for results.

Due to the ride getting worse, I am wondering if I should change springs (currently riding MaxSpeed).

Everyone that has KYB AGX's, what settings do you have them at?

Mine are currently set to 2 up front and 5 in the rear. Any posts would be extremely helpful.

 

Mine are always at 10 in the front and 8 in the rear.

 

10?? Wowzers. My version of the front AGX only goes up to 4. Did you mean 1 perchance?

btw, I leave mine at 2/4 except for at track where it's 1/8.

 

he's joking. I left my car at 2/4 but I have B&G.

 

I'm running 2/3 right now on maxspeed springs. The ride is pretty good.

 

I am running at 1/2 front/rear . I think even at the softest settings the KYB AGX are stiffer than stock replacements and some aftermarket replacements. With my H&Rs the ride is pretty good on small bumps but I still really feel the big hits much more than with the stock springs.

The struts also seem to be affected by temperature, now that the whether is a little warmer my ride seems to be better. Has anyone else noticed this? I am also thinking of removing my RSB to see how thataffects ride and handling.

 

I recall reading a post where any settings >=2 in the front and >=4 in the rear is stiffer than stock. Correct me if I'm wrong tho.

 

Yeah me too. My 2 setting in the front over the winter months seemed a little harsher than in the summer/fall months.

Since the AGX is a gas shock, temperature should affect it to some degree. The lower the temp, the less the gas inside the shock expands, therefore more compressible. (Remember that chem formula PV=nRT?) Sorry, I don't know the guts of the AGX design/funcitonality beyond that. Here's an exploded view of KYB's AGX

 

technically, the lower the temperature shouldn't affect the gasses that much, but you can't say that NO, it has no effect. I can't comment, as I am running on different tires/wheels in the winter as well, so it's not really comparable.

 

I e-mailed the company and received this.

AGX - low pressure, twin tube, damping rate adjustable.
The AGX products have the following approximate damping force values.
When adjusted, both rebound and compression damping forces change.

Setting#: Relative
Value
1 - Same as Factory 100

2 - Same as our GR2 products (10~15% firmer than Factory) 115

3 - 50% firmer than #2 172

4 - 30% firmer than #3 223


For an eight position adjustable product, the damping force values are
approx.
the following:
With #2 being Factory at a relative value of 100,


#1 = 95 (5% softer than Factory
#2 = 100 (Factory damping force)
#3 = 107.5 (7.5% firmer than Factory)
#4 = 115 (15% firmer than Factory)
#5 = 143.5 (43.5% firmer thanFactory)
#6 = 172 (72% firmer thanFactory
#7 = 197.5 (97.5 firmer thanFactory)
#8 = 223 (123 % firmerthan Factory)




Troy Horn
KYB America LLC
Phone (630)620-5555
Fax (630)620-8133
troy@kyb.com

 

i can't stand anything more than 1/3 with my H&Rs. Anything more and I feel like a Civic bouncing up and down over everything.

 

YES! These things are horrable in the cold. Most shocks are temperature compensated, but there things clearly are not. When the temp gets down near freezing, the ride gets stiff. When it gets down in the teens, the ride is horrable.

Thank god spring is here.

 

i know what youre sayin. i went to go visit my parents a couple of weeks ago when it was still cold. i took my dad for a ride and he said that he felt like he was riding in a truck.

 

what is your summmer setting? 2/4? whats your winter setting? 1/2?

 

Just changed my fronts to 3 and I'm happy
Too much roll with 2 :\

 

I can only set the rears fronts aren't here ... yet

 

Nice! So 1/2 did end up comin in @ least!
What time did they come?

 

at 11 or so... the guy just dropped it off in front of the house didn't even ring the bell

check your e-mail

 

I posted this a long time ago, when the AGXs first came out and I had them that winter. I posted about the temp change and everyone said, "no, the ride doesn't change." Well after having AGXs for 2 years on different cars, I can say without a doubt temperature does make a difference, and it stiffens them up even more. Giving you more precise handling, but a rougher ride.

 

I can confirm this, as I had to bump up the stiffness of the fronts cuz they're definetely getting softer as the temp goes up!

 

yea, 2 is too much roll....i have 3-front and 4 or 6 in the back

great turns i have to say and oh yea im running on eibachs'.......
:smile:

 

 

wow they wrote back to you! Awesome. Thanks for the information! I have been thinking about setting mine to 3/6 when I put my summer wheels back on.

 

I have noticed before even with stock suspension that the ride gets stiffer in colder weather. There is a lot more going on that just the shocks changing rate with temperature.

1. Tire compound gets harder as the temperature drops.
2. Springs contract slightly with colder temperature
3. Suspension bushings harden up a little with colder temperature.

 

Thank you for posting this. I'm so tired of people bishing Bout the AGX, when it's NOT just the AGX that cause a stiffer ride in extreme temperatures.

 

Good points!

 

All I had for comparison was my stock suspention with 100K miles on origonal struts, but the temperature did not seem to make much of a difference in ride before I put in my KYB AGX. With the AGX there is a very noticable difference in the ride with temperature changes. Now that the wheather is a little warmer I went back to 2/4 f/r and it is definatly a better ride than in the sub freezing and single diget temps set at 1/2. Now the ride is pretty close to my stock SE suspension.

I have snows on 15" rims so hopefully that will help the ride out in the colder months.

 

Different tires and wheels make a big, big difference. When I switched from my summer setup to my winter setup, SAME SIZE WHEEL, it made a huge difference. The day after. And my car is garaged.

 

I guess I wasn't clear, I switched to my stock SE rims at the begining of March, we still had some very cold days in march. I was driving on the same wheels and tires in cold wheather and warm wheather. I just changed from 1/2 to 2/4 yesterday because the ride seemed much softer with the recent warm weather. The ride set at 2/4 now is much better than 1/2 in colder temps with the same wheels/tires. Now that I know how twpeature affects the ride, I may leave my snow tires on until it gets warmer if they help soften the ride.

 

I'm getting a little bit of bounce on the highway... its on 2/4 now

should I turn it up?

on h&r and agx



edit: just set it at 3/6 feels A LOT better, corners with less roll and less bounce when I'm going 60+

 

aha, got it. Yeah, I just switched back to my summer tires last night. I'm going to bump up the ride to 3/6 I think, and I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

Had the fronts on 3, just bumped up the rears to 6. Feeling a smoother ride w/ the sprints, and better handling too

 

told you ... 2/4 may work with soft progress springs but it won't work with your loooow sprints


is it like mine now?

btw nathan getting his thing done tomorrow at 6! not sunday they changed time

 

I ordered my KYB AGXs yesterday. Just curious, why is it better to have it stiffer in the rear?

THanks - Chad

 

haha thanx for the tip there d

6pm...i'll c if i have to go to skool tomorrow :\

indecisive - its not stiffer in the rear. The max setting on the fronts are 4, and the rears are 8. So 3 (front) and 6 (rear) is almost the same setting in terms of stiffness.

^^edit: actually its the exact same stiffness (172) front and rear if set on 3 and 6. No wonder the car still felt funny when on 3/4

 

I have the front at 1 and the rear at 2 combined with Eibach springs. It's still a very stiff ride.

 

What is being adjusted with the dials is REBOUND (extension). The ***** don't do much for COMPRESSION.

The front KYB's seem to be quite a bit stiffer in compression than the stockers. This isn't going to change much, regardless of how the shock is 'dialed'.

As the **** is adjusted to make the shocks stiffer, what is really being adjusted is the rebound, or how hard the shock extends, or seperates. THIS is what helps control the more aggressive springs. Without this extra rebound dampning, the springs spring back too quickly, and give the car a 'bouncy' feel.

If the car is feeling bouncy, turn the shocks up to a stiffer setting, and see how they feel.

Good Luck!

 

anyone using the KYB's with stock springs? how does it ride?

 

that's a good way of putting it. thanks for the information.

 

njmaxseltd (Tom) runs that way in the winter. He says it's a great ride.

Okay so I put my setup at 3/6 today. Feels great! And with real wheels and tires back on the car...wow...I can turn and drive for REAL again. I am going to be such a terror on the highway to/from work heee. Wait, I already was....