Suspension help please - OEM Replacement?
 

Greetings all,
I have a buddy of mine that has an all original, very clean 1985 rx7 GLS and i have been doing all the work for him. He needs new shocks/struts really bad, but before i went off and ordered oem replacement parts i wanted to ask the community if you know of a better after market solution for about the same price?

He DOES NOT want to lower the vehicle, so it must retain stock height and prefer a stock ride, nothing too bouncy or rigid.


Thanks for your assistance in this.

Tokico Blues without question.

i liked the blues in the front and stock GSL-SE shocks in the rear. blues all around was too stiff. at this point i'm not sure what you'd get if you ordered a GSL-SE shock from Mazda..

good info. How was the handling?

Not KYB's. I have 2000 miles on mine and I have hated them since the install.

Which KYBs? Gas-A-Just are supposed to be the stiffer ones and GR-2 supposedly is OEM equivalent.

And I take it Tokicos are back in supply?

I just checked again and Tokicos appear to be almost available.

Check out the note from Mazdatrix near the bottom of this page. Looks like you can at least order them now....

https://www.mazdatrix.com/h3.htm



I plan to run Tokico Blues F&R and most likey Racing Beat springs coupled with Techno Toy Tuning front control arms.

I've found the GR-2 can't handle the RB springs well. I did my springs and shocks
a long time ago and the car always had a bounciness and porpoises thru long sweepers.
I'm sure its the shocks but I'm too cheap to replace them until they have done their
time. That said, I'm thinking of getting the tokico adjustables when they come back
in production. Which sounds like soon.

The KYB's dont handle stock springs well either. They are garbage. I have a pair of GSL stock rear shocks in the wings that are around 50% stiffer on bound and rebound at least twice as fast as the KYB's.

The fronts I have nothing to compare to, besides the fact that I changed my shocks out on my 85 when they had started leaking, and the new KYB's in their place made almost no difference in improving the ride over BLOWN and LEAKING shocks.

They are certainly NOT factory equivalent.

Had KYB's in the front on mine before they got replaced, unknown mileage and they were pretty sad. I'll let the pics talk for me. . .