i have these installed on my 5spd that i recently bought. since i havent driven the car due to no plates yet i was wondering about these shocks. the car is also lowered but i dk what springs are on there. Can ne one tell me about these? Is there a big improvement in handleing from the stock ones? I read they are similar to OEM? How long should these last?

 

They are OEM replacements. Maxmods says 5-20k on lowering springs.

 

You shoudl've gotten atleast KYB GR2's... blues wont last long at all

 

how will i know when i need to change them?

 

You may notice it bouncing more than it should. Also keep an eye out for oil coming out of where the piston goes into the strut. You said they were on there when you bought the car? They may already be blown.

 

I think it depends on how you drive and what kind of road conditions are in your area. Some say that the shocks dont last long but I have my car dropped about 2" all around. I have been riding with Topkico blues for almost a year now with no problems at all. I love them. As long as they continue to work, I'll keep them.

 

Tokico blues suck, plain and simple. They won't last long on a lowered car.

 

correct me if i am wrong but arent the blues the same strut that is on the car stock just in color? i know that when i took my oems off they were tokicos.

 

You wont really know when your struts blow because struts wear out over time. Its so gradual you dont realize it. You'll know when you push down on your car and its very easy to push down and bounces or when theres oil leaking from the struts.

 

Actually when i was stupid and went Gc's with blues, they blew within weeks. It was pretty noticable to me. The rears blew on me, and i replaced them with Agx's. I still have blues up front though...still doing its job.

 

I believe what you guys are saying, but it doesn't make much since for the tokico companies to produce the the Hp series (tokico blue) if it's just the same like the oem, I mean you can buy the oem from the stealer and it still cost less then the Hp blues, I think there has to be a different between the tokico blues and the oem one. At leasst I think the tokico Hp should some what stiffer than the oem one.

 

blues are designed as OEM replacements. I believe OEM parts from the stealership costs more than the blues.

I believe blues can handle a smaller drop than OEM, but not by much.

 

Cost of stock SE struts (same price for GLE, or GXE) on Jrnissan's website using "maxima" promo code (about 25% off nissan list) shipped to CT (no tax, but still close for shipping)=$276.40

Cost of Blues shipped from JDMwerks13 on ebay (pretty well known here)=$285 shipped. Or $307.09 shipped from SWA. Can be had for as little $275 shipped on ebay.

kinda OT, but when I was just looking on jrnissan I noticed that the SE, GXE, and GLE struts all had different part numbers. I thought springs were the only difference.

 

They are, thats why oem shocks wont last on a lowered car.

 

Nissan's SE shocks are actually stiffer than the rest. Thats why its SE for sports. When I had my back axle replaced, the body shop replaced the back shocks with regular gxe and I can really tell the difference from the front and back.

 

The hp struts are not aggressive, i guess they suck. I have had mine for 98k. time for some s-techs and illumina