Anyone have an insight into which works better. I'm hearing a lot of conflicting info. The general consensus seems to be that the KYBs ride softer and closer to stock. For what it's worth I already bought Tokico blues and installed them, mostly because I got the fronts dirt cheap ($60 for the pair, brand new in the box) I also replaced all 4 springs and the bump stops, both with brand new OEM honda parts. The ride seems a lot better and the rear of the car no longer sags like it did. But my comparisons are between blown OEM shocks with almost 400,000kms on them to new Tokico blues.

 

i have some tokico blues in my garage, kinda same deal as you got the fronts brand new, for cheap and so I bought the rears, about 4mo later, drove my hatch to florida (from oklahoma) picked up a motor, and by the time i got back to oklahoma, the rears were shot... all the extra weight in the back definatly helped but i raised the rear (skunk2 coilovers) to help compensate (or so i thought) but it was just too bouncy and too much wieght for the 1200 mi home...

for a DD though, i think they are pretty decent, anything else ive ever had on a car was not for a DD...

 

How were your coilovers set before? I know those shocks don't last if you're lowered anymore than about an inch and a half, they just aren't designed with that in mind. I'm a little worried about the weight thing, I often have a transmission or two in the trunk and occasionally drive with 4 passengers. I almost went with Integra rear springs to lift it up a little but didn't due to the price difference. (OEM Civic rear springs for a DX/LX are $32 each, OEM rears for an EX/Integra are $130 each)

 

I've used the Tokico blues before on one of my Civics and they are only just slightly more harsh than the ~160k original, but good shape, shocks before.

I've used KYB GR2's on a different car so it's hard to compare them but they did seem a bit smoother than the Tokicos ever were. Having worked at a couple of dealerships, the KYB's are a common replacement shock used, though I have also seen the Tokicos used but just not as many.

Keep the Tokicos. It's not worth the hassel buying new shocks which are still only OE replacements then having to get an alignment done and all. The Tokicos should do fine with stock springs.

Your bouncy problem and reason they blew out so quickly is because you are using OE replacement shocks with coilovers. Skunk2 coilovers nonetheless which would be one of the worst to use and lower with these shocks...

Either lose the coilovers and put stock springs back on or get new shocks that will handle your Skunk2 coilovers.

 

When I worked for Honda we used to occasionally use KYBs when a customer didn't want to pay for OEM.

Oh I'm definitely keeping them, this is more for the next time I have to do a set. I do a bit of side work so it's worth knowing what people thing when comparing the two.

 

I would wager that it wasn't the lowered ride height that killed them and produced the bouncy ride, it was the stiffer rate springs on the Skunk2 sleeves.

Bouncy is under damped. Stock replacement shocks will be very under damped with anything stiffer than a mild lowering spring.

Radical lowering can certainly shorten the lifespan and ride quality of shocks not intended for such use, but it's the high spring rates that really kill them.