Hey was just going thru some searches and havn't seen much talk about the Tokiko Illumina struts.

Now i know there are much better adjustable struts out there and they're just hanging in there mid-pack, but I was curious to see who's used them or is on them or hates them or loves them, etc.

I've had them for years and years now simply because I bought them way back when I was into autocross and a pair of national champs i knew said to get them - so i did.

I've been to plenty of auto-x's and track days running them first with eibach pro-kits, then neuspeed race springs, and now with just some linear sleeved coilovers (10kF/8kR)

I've heard lots about Koni and also hate posts about KYB's (which i agree on)

Who has dealt with Illuminas? I know they have lots of droop which i havnt noticed with many other adjustable aftermarket struts, but then again they are made for a car with stock springs or basic lowering springs (not race - long body). I've noticed that they get very very firm on the top two settings (out of 5), 3 is middle, and 1-2 are underdamped. I havnt had the time or extra money to go upgrade because college = $$ and time... thus less and less track time. But despite not hearing about them much at all, I havnt had one major complaint, i've put them thru hell and back with years of street, autocross, and track driving and no leaks or loss of damping. considering the price i paid and the use i've gotten from them.



Discuss?

 

I love my illuminas. Ive used them with ground control sleeves on my integra for about 2 years with zero issues or complaints. My spring rates on my gc sleeves are 450 front and 380 rear. The illuminas feel underdamped on 1-2 but feel great on 3-5.

I have ridden in alot of different coilover and spring/shock combos and my illumina/gc combo feels the best. My father runs the illuminas with the tokico matched springs on his dd crx and is a good setup as well.

 

I don't know if I would consider them mid-pack... Koni Sports are some of the best OTS dampers you can get for Hondas, and the Illuminas are probably just under the Konis.

The reason I rate the Konis higher is the adjustable spring perch, and also the fact that you can get GC's made specifically for them which do not use the Koni spring perch at all, which makes for a much cleaner setup IMHO.

 

yeah at the time I was in high school when i bought my set - so money was a big issue and i could only afford the tokikos before autocross season. Those are very good points about the konis. Adjustment is #1 in my book - but back then something that adapted to stock worked.

I think the reason i said mid-pack is because i'm also comparing them to full coilovers :-P

 

nah I wouldn't do that, that's like comparing apples to oranges.

 

when you're poor you try to make apples taste just like oranges.

 

lol... I prefer peaches myself... mmmm freshly-picked off the tree

 

love my illuminas, took a while to find the right setting thought. i live in jersey and we have shitty roads. hard to find a middle ground between bottoming out and fear of bending a rim.

 

i have them up front on my EJ2 and i couldnt be happier....they are set to max which is 5 and i havent had any probs out of them....