aright, i just want a basic drop with good ride. i want a 1.3-1.5ish drop so thats why im goin with eibach pro-kit. and i was told tokico blues were pretty good and i could slap those on with the pro-kit.

any input on ride quality? i dont have that much money to spend so im not looking at too many options. and i def want the eibach pro-kit cuz im not a fan of slammed cars and also i tend to hang out with a lot of people and im always the main driver so a may have a full car every now and then

 

get illuminas, you wont regret it.

blues dont have a good reputation. tokicos do great, and the lifetime warranty is worth it alone. dont think "i dont need adjustability", consider it a bonus compared to the great shock that it is for the money.

i like pro kits as well. prokits/illuminas are a great combo.

 

well like i said, i dont have a lot of money to work with right now. $5/600 is about the max i can go. that can get me pro-kit + tokico hp's.

but the thing is, i really dont need adjustability. i just want a tiny drop that can survive with a full car, 15/16 rims, bad winters, and no camber/rubbing issues. but i also want a drop thats a little noticeable.

plus, my suspension is already squeeking after 165k miles so a mild upgrade wouldn't hurt

 

you can get illuminas for under $400. thats still in your budget.

do what you want, but blues suck and wont get my vouch.

 

The problem is that any "drop" requires new springs. The new springs must be stiffer than OEM because they will be lower too. A stiffer spring means that the damping of the original shock may no longer be adequate. The end result is a bouncy ride even though there are no bumps because the OEM shock cannot control the stiffer aftermarket spring...

Tockico Blues are basically OEM replacements (with similar valving). They may or may not control your new springs well enough to maintain good ride quality.

Honestly, I think you would be better off buying only purchasing the springs and reusing your OEM shocks. If the new springs don't work well with your OEM shocks, they certainly won't work well with Blue's. Then if you feel the car is too bouncy, you can save up some more money to buy a good adjustable shock that can be made to match the damping you feel is required by the new springs...

 

94eg:

well the thing is, i dont want adjustable shocks. i just want decent shocks that'll work with pro-kit. i knew from the beginning tokico hp's weren't that great and thats why i posted this thread in the beginning.

other than adjustable shocks, what else would you recommend? it'd help if u gave exact product names cuz i dont know much about suspension and just saying koni adjustables or something doesn't help much

 

If you only want to lower your car about 1.5", I would recommend buying Koni Sport shocks ONLY (commonly referred to as yellows). At $500 shipped, they are well within your budget. They have multiple spring perch settings that allow you to lower (and sometimes raise) your vehicle on OEM springs. The lower perch setting is about 1.5" of a drop, and you can still maintain a comfortable OEM ride quality. Koni's lifetime warranty and customer service are top notch as well (Koni reps are on H-T to help with questions).

I understand that you don't want to spend extra money on adjustable shocks, but there are many advantages they offer that I feel should not be overlooked...

The ride quality can be adjusted by changing the rebound damping of these shocks via a **** that snaps onto the top of the shock shaft (under the hood or in the trunk). Stiffer settings will make the car feel sportier & more planted. Softer settings will make it feel smoother & less harsh (until it becomes bouncy). Sometimes girls don't like stiff suspension settings because it makes their ***** hurt (may not be an issue with OEM springs). These shocks allow you tune out the whining...

The bonus is that with the adjustable rebound setting, you can fine tune your vehicles tendency to over/under steer. By making the rear shocks stiffer (or the fronts softer), you can help to induce some over-steer (or reduce under-steer). Also, it works in the exact opposite too...

Also, all the aforementioned tunability is available with the Tokico Illumina's, but I recommend the Koni's because they also include the lowering option. The Koni sports also offer a much larger adjustment range that can suite a much greater number of options..

 

well 94eg, u just convinced me a lot to go with koni yellows (now that i know what theyre called )

so all u have to do is turn a **** on the shock shaft? do they turn in increments or do they just turn like a regular door ****? id find it hard to keep track how much they're turned and it'd probably be a major pain for me

 

koni's alone will eat up your $500-600 budget.

plus, ive used them on stock spring rates. theyre not good for low spring rates because the rebound damping even on the lowest setting is too high and compression is too low that it suffers from suspension jacking. basically when going over a bump, the shock will compress easily, then too slowly extend with less shock travel, not ready for the next bump.

shrug, get whatever you want. illuminas are just as easy to adjust. you find the setting you are most comfortable with and forget it. yeah, set it and forget it....

 

so u would recommend tokico illuminas with eibach pro-kits?

ne1 have input on kyb?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get illuminas, you wont regret it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amej8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so u would recommend tokico illuminas with eibach pro-kits?

ne1 have input on kyb?</TD></TR></TABLE>

illuminas and kyb agx are pretty similar, but id definately go with illuminas over agx.

dont get the GR-2, same deal with the blues.

 

what im wondering about tokico shocks, is why they have 2 diff part #'s for FL and FR and same part # for both rear?

and i guess out of illumina/agx, ill get whichever ones cheaper

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amej8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so all u have to do is turn a **** on the shock shaft? do they turn in increments or do they just turn like a regular door ****? id find it hard to keep track how much they're turned and it'd probably be a major pain for me </TD></TR></TABLE>

They do trun like a door ****, and have an infinite amount of adjustment range. I think about 2.5 complete turns. It's actually really easy to keep track of where your at. When adjusting, first trun them to full soft & count the number of rotations. Next you count the number of rotations as you turn them up to your new setting. You just need to make sure they are set very close from left to right.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amej8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what im wondering about tokico shocks, is why they have 2 diff part #'s for FL and FR and same part # for both rear?</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is due to the brake line mounts on the shock. Left and right are opposite.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EG6_GUY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is due to the brake line mounts on the shock. Left and right are opposite.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thx for clearin that up

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They do trun like a door ****, and have an infinite amount of adjustment range. I think about 2.5 complete turns. It's actually really easy to keep track of where your at. When adjusting, first trun them to full soft & count the number of rotations. Next you count the number of rotations as you turn them up to your new setting. You just need to make sure they are set very close from left to right.</TD></TR></TABLE>

is this the same for all kinds of adjustable shocks? (kyb agx, koni yellows, tokico illuminas, etc)? and are the ***** circular or do they actually have corners to make it easier to keep track how much uve adjusted the ride height?
edit - is it ride height that u ajdust on the shocks or just ride stiffness?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amej8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is this the same for all kinds of adjustable shocks? (kyb agx, koni yellows, tokico illuminas, etc)? and are the ***** circular or do they actually have corners to make it easier to keep track how much uve adjusted the ride height?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's not the same for all shocks. Some have clicks, but those offer individual adjustment settings, and not a full range (no bid deal).

The ***** are circular, but they have raised printed marks & triangular logos on them, so you know whats going on. You get one **** per pair of shocks. Usually I keep one **** in my glove box...

My personal experince with Koni shocks is that on their softest setting they are noticably softer than my OEM 94 Civic CX shocks.

 

thanks for clearin that up 94eg. is there a difference b/t koni yellows and kyb agx's? both adjustable and both seem to have fairly same prices

im just so stuck b/t kyb agx's, koni yellows, and tokico illuminas. not enough vouches on any to convice me . and no ones even brought up ground control if they even make shocks

oh yeah, and my car would only be a street car. close to rarely/none at the track

 

There is tons of info on this stuff. I understand that it would be hard to sift through though.

Advantages of Koni Sport over Illumina: Much larger adjustment range with a more digressive rebound damping curve (see "shock dyno" sticky at the top of this forum). Koni offers an infinite number of adjustment settings, while illumina only has a couple positions. Koni shocks can be set stiffer than Illuminas giving them the ability to control much stiffer springs. Koni shock offers ride height adjustment with OEM springs (1.5" lowered, normal, and sometimes 1.5" raised). Koni's can be easily serviced, rebuilt, re-valved, shortened, or made double adjustable for racing by a number of facilities w/ quick turn around (does not really apply to your case though). CRX Lee is our local H-T Koni rep who is very helpful with any problems you have with your parts...

Ground Control makes "Racing" shocks (called "Advanced Design"), but you definitely don't want to use them on a street car. They cost a ton, are double adjustable (more complex), and require frequent rebuilds...

 

okay..now im def convinced to get koni yellows. do u know any particular + very reliable websites that sell em at a reasonably cheap price?

also with the whole adjustment thing, just need 1 more thing cleared up. u can adjust ride stiffness AND ride height? or does the adjustable **** do both at the same time? just not clear on that yet

edit - 1 more thing. u think id have camber issues if i left height setting at normal on the koni yellows and rode on eibach pro-kits?


Modified by amej8 at 4:25 PM 5/2/2006

 

good luck with those.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good luck with those.</TD></TR></TABLE>

u say that as if its wrong to get koni yellows =/. i know ur minds set on illuminas but do u see any negatives with koni yellows?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amej8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1 - okay..now im def convinced to get koni yellows. do u know any particular + very reliable websites that sell em at a reasonably cheap price?

2 - also with the whole adjustment thing, just need 1 more thing cleared up. u can adjust ride stiffness AND ride height? or does the adjustable **** do both at the same time? just not clear on that yet

3 - u think id have camber issues if i left height setting at normal on the koni yellows and rode on eibach pro-kits?</TD></TR></TABLE>

1 - I bought mine from shox.com. They price match any other authorized dealer (even eBay auctions from dealers). I paid $515 shipped almost a year ago...

2 - Rebound stiffness is adjusted via the snap on **** on top. Ride height is adjusted by moving the lower spring perch to a lower setting on the shock body. The shock should be removed from the car to change the setting. Also, there is only two or three settings on the shock body & they go like this:

top setting = raised 1.5" (civics & integras only have this one on the rear shocks)
middle setting = normal ride height
lowest setting = about 1.5" lowered

3 - Camber change will be the same at any given ride height no matter what shocks & springs you use. Any lowering spring you use should only be set on the "normal" ride height setting of a Koni shock. If you don't, the spring will be much too soft for such a low height. This will damage your suspension.

You won't have any camber issues from lowering your car this much. Just make sure to get an alignment every time you change the ride height to correct your newly messed up toe settings. As long as you do this, you won't experience any abnormal tire wear. Camber may be out of spec from the factory tolerances, but that's okay (alignment place may tell you it's not okay though). Added negative camber from lowering actually helps the car handle better in turns & will help combat outer edge tire wear from "spirited" driving...

 

such awesome info 94eg. thanks a ton man.

and with those settings... does middle setting mean it'll ride however low the eibach pro-kit springs lower the car? and top setting will raise the car after the spring drop? and lowest setting will further lower the car beyind spring drop?

 

You are correct. I did just add this part though (you may have missed it):

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any lowering spring you use should only be set on the "normal" ride height setting of a Koni shock (or raised). If you don't, the spring will be much too soft for such a low height. This will damage your suspension.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is important info to consider also (highlighted part):

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">top setting = raised 1.5" (civics & integras only have this setting on the rear shocks)
middle setting = normal ride height
lowest setting = about 1.5" lowered</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

ooohh okay. thanks for clearin that up. well i guess ill be riding with normal setting .

but ill definitely have to play around with rebound stiffness. do u have any suggestions before i get em? harder in back, softer in front is what im guessing