I gots a 97 dr civic lowered on tein S techs. Im considering replacing my stock shocks/struts. What are some good struts that are pretty reasonable in price?
Also if i replace the struts i want a decent improvement in handling.

 

Kyb agx

 

those kyb's seem a little spendy for me. ($400+ for a set) Im looking more along the lin of koni reds or tokico blues

 

Then get those

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turnsignalandy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">those kyb's seem a little spendy for me. ($400+ for a set) Im looking more along the lin of koni reds or tokico blues
</TD></TR></TABLE>

The quality on the blues isn't very good at all. The Koni Reds will kick the hell out of the KYBs. FYI, your car has shocks, not struts.

 

so whats the difference in between the two?

 

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/4997
http://www.accctiresonline.com/shocks.htm
http://www.monroe.com/tech_support/tec_faq.asp

the difference is explained better than i could in those links

basically, the struts/springs acts as structural support as well as holding up the weight of the car, where a shock/spring just holds up the car's weight

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turnsignalandy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so whats the difference in between the two? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Konis have an excellent build quality. The Reds have the same internal build as the Sports (yellows) but are about 30% softer, and aren't externally adjustable (you have to take them off to adjust them). For a street car, it's a great compromise between cost and performance. I've had a pretty bad experience with KYB, and won't ever use them again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AutoXer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I've had a pretty bad experience with KYB, and won't ever use them again.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've heard nothing but good things about the agx's, what was your experience?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by got_no_sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I've heard nothing but good things about the agx's, what was your experience?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I found out the hard way that you should be very careful about who's advice to take on this board. A lot of the people on here who praise products and parts have no first hand experience with them, but just going around giving thumbs up to companies because they heard of their reputation (from others with no experience and so on).

I had a set mated to Eibach Pro-Kits. Somewhere around 20K miles (about 6-8 months) I had major handling problems. Thought it was the springrate, so I ordered the Koni / GC setup. Turns out all four of the KYBs had just completely self destructed. The quality was pretty poor, and they just didn't hold up.

 

What handling problems?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by got_no_sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What handling problems?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Honestly, it's probably nothing that a normal street car driver would notice; which is why I think alot of people give them the thumbs up, while they could be driving on damaged ones.

I was getting different responces depending on which way I turned. Sometimes felt underdamped, sometimes over. Had erratic rear wheel hop. In a slalom, sometimes it stuck like glue, othertimes it would break loose uncontrollably. The settings seemed to have no effect; and it was really frustrating, because I thought it might be my driving.

WHen I pulled them off, they were just a mess. I pushed one shaft in, and I couldn't pull it back out. One I pushed in, and just got some crazy gurgling noise and I had to pull it back out. A third had so litttle resistance that it would just slide in and out with no pressure. I don't even remember what the last one did, but it had crapped out too.

My stock suspension had 80K on it, and I had raced on it for two years. When I pulled them off, they were almost as good as new. I figured the KYBs had to be better put together than the stock junk, but that was far from the case.

 

what can i expect outa the koni reds, more handling or more comfort. Also i have 68k miles on my 97 sedan, how much longer will the stock shocks last?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turnsignalandy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what can i expect outa the koni reds, more handling or more comfort. Also i have 68k miles on my 97 sedan, how much longer will the stock shocks last?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Suspensions are a compromise between performance, comfort and lowering. You have to choose what compromise you're willing to make.

That being said, the reds will yeild some performance benefit over stock (and quite a few aftermarket offerings) but would still be comfortable for a street ride.

I've worked as a product engineer in the automotive industry, and most of the OEM shocks are designed to last more than the warantee period. Essentially that means they aim for 60K miles for a safety factor; but I've knowm plenty of people to go the cars lifespan on the original shocks.




Modified by AutoXer at 11:51 AM 4/1/2006