I'm in the market for a front and rear set of adjustable shocks and I'm trying to decide if I should pay the extra dough for the Yellows or get Tokico Illuminas.....

How much of a differance is there between the two?

I know there is a wide range of adjustability available with the Yellows, but is it overkill for a street driven car?

The Illuminas seem like they would be much easier to dial in to personal preferance...

If there is a big differance in quality between the two then I'd be ok with paying extra for the Yellows....

 

I personally would go with the Yellows. Are you using springs or coilovers?

 

Tein S. Tech springs on a '93 Civic sedan

It gave it a 1.8" drop in the front and 1.7" drop in the rear on stock shocks.

I've had them in for a year and now I'm starting to feel more and more "bouncy"...

Definitly not a safe feeling, and I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they really go

 

Tokicos Illumina's are good street shocks. Personally I get the Koni's Yellow and get them revalve so they are double adjustable. Throw some GC and upper shock mounts and you can't go wrong Probably better than going with the Tein setup.

 

I've heard the Koni's aren't easy to adjust in the rear...

Someone told me you almost have to take them out to adjust them (just the rear ones)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ftwlucky13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've heard the Koni's aren't easy to adjust in the rear...

Someone told me you almost have to take them out to adjust them (just the rear ones)</TD></TR></TABLE>

youre describing the koni RED line. they are "internally" adjustable. yellows (sport) are "externally" adjustable with a ****. some yellows USED to be also internally adjustable, but no longer and would be hard to find now.


i like my tokicos. theyre cheap and do the job.

when you talk about the ability to rebuild and revalve and shorten koni's, then its out of the class of tokicos. but thats not really a straight comparison considering that work isnt free, or cheap. if a tokico shock needs "rebuilding", just send it in for a warranty, or just buy a new one, for pretty much the same cost of sending in your koni to be rebuilt.

 

ttt

I'd like some more opinions...

The Illuminas are really ****?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ftwlucky13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The Illuminas are really ****?</TD></TR></TABLE>
No; the Konis are just that much better . . .

 

If you never plan to autocross or take the car to a track AND if you have stock springs than the Tokicos are a fairly decent shock. The Konis will give you more control and "feel" more controlled. But you may not notice or not care about the difference. If you have lowering springs then go with the Konis.

Personally, I would get the Konis. If you have someone else install them then the shock price difference is not too big a percentage of the total bill. The resale value of the car with Konis might be slightly higer than the with the Tokicos.

 

The install wont be part of the price because it will be done by a friend and I.
I currently have Tein S. Techs which lowered the car 1.8" in the front and 1.7" in the rear and they are on stock shocks.
I have noticed the car feels more bumpy now that I've had the springs on for a year.
It's a very uncomfortable feeling especially at higher speeds because I don't feel confident about the cars control at all anymore.
I'm pretty happy with the ride height and I would be a bit worried to go too much lower because I already scrape pretty often. Nothing major, but you can hear it quite a bit because the roads aren't great in the city and pulling out of driveways or parking lots, etc where the road is uneven you can hear it scrape. The exhaust is usually what scrapes, but thankfully no damage at all has been done to it.
As far as auto-x or anything I'm not too sure right now, but I would rather buy something now that would be a good long term investment and give me the flexibility to do whatever I wanted (I hate buying twice).
So if the Yellows are good for everything from daily driving to auto-x then I think I should go for them.
Anyone have any idea how my Tein springs should be with them?
Will it lower my car even more?
I kind of regret not getting the H&R sport springs because I've heard a lot better things about them, but hopefully the Tein's will be pretty good too with the Yellows.

 

KONI YELLOW
but get the rear external adjusted one. mine is internal which sucks ***. AND I STILL DONT KNOW HOW TO ADJUST IT!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by yO_wHuDdUp_B &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">mine is internal which sucks ***. AND I STILL DONT KNOW HOW TO ADJUST IT! </TD></TR></TABLE>

take it off push the rod all the way in and turn. It's not the easiest thing to do all the time, so pick a setting and live with it for a while.

BTW I love my Koni/Pro-kit setup. It rides great on the street and you can stiffen it up at the track. Honestly, now that I track the car more I'm looking for a better spring setup (most likely GCs) but the konis will stay.

 

Can you just buy the rear adjustable ones or do you have to send them out somewhere to be modified?

If I'm getting them, I would rather just buy them already adjustable rather than have to ship them right out somewhere again.

It would be such a tease to get them and get to just look at them for a day and them have to send them back out the next day

 

I think that you can get the externally adjustable ones from Koni. Send an IM to CRX Lee and ask.

 

he's a dealer?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ftwlucky13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he's a dealer?</TD></TR></TABLE>
No, he works at Koni.

And on a street car, I wouldn't get adjustable shocks at all. Completely unneccessary, the best setting on Yellows with any street rate springs is full soft anyway. However, if you plan to auto-x, yellows are the ticket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbohappy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
No, he works at Koni.

And on a street car, I wouldn't get adjustable shocks at all. Completely unneccessary, the best setting on Yellows with any street rate springs is full soft anyway. However, if you plan to auto-x, yellows are the ticket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I run 400f/250r springs on my 94cx (relativley mild rates), and I have to tell you that "Full Soft" on my Koni sports was softer than my OEM shocks (w/ 150k miles on them). The car was bouncing all over the place . I have mine set around half way now, and it rides great.

 

Yeah, I've never heard of having to set them on full soft.
I'm not looking for stock suspension settings anyway.

 

I set them at full soft in the back when I want a nice smooth ride. I set them at full hard in the back and 1 ull turn in the front at the track.

 

Must slide the back right out, huh?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ftwlucky13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Must slide the back right out, huh?</TD></TR></TABLE>

naw, still neutral to understeer. I have no rear sway and soft springs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ftwlucky13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Must slide the back right out, huh?</TD></TR></TABLE>

When my setup was as follows:

400f/250r (lowered 2.25")
14mm rear sway
no front sway
205/40/16 @ 32 psi
1 full turn from soft (both front & rear)
Unknown toe settings
No camber adjustment

My car would jently oversteer upon turn in. It never felt unsettled, or scary either. I really couldn't believe what a change the Koni Sports and that dinky little rear swaybar made. I have since added a front 24mm bar, and turned the rear shocks down to .75 turns from soft. The front sway made the car feel more solid, and I'm pretty sure the combo of the two removed the mild oversteer (real testing has yet to be done). The ride is still pretty stiff (my wife hates it ), so I'm planning on softening it up a little more when we go out...