My 87 GXL is in desperate need of new front struts. It has 180K miles on it and has NEVER had new struts on the front.

What type of front struts are you guys using for your daily drivers? (I don't need a race set-up right now)

Have you installed them yourself? If you have what types of problems have you encountered?

I see that I can get some KYBs or Tokicos from TireRack for cheaper than the OEMs are at Mazdatrix. Have you had experience with any of the following struts and what did you think of them?: KYB AGX, KYB GR-2, Tokico HP, Tokico Blue.

I'd appreciate any feedback you have.

 

The Tokico blue is fine. They're called "Standard".

Their rebound/compression is the same as the Illuminas set to "3" out of "5".
These would definetely be an improvement over OEM...I had 'em on a '91 N/A before I got my TII.

 

Tokico HP's - check http://www.shox.com/ for very competitive prices.

Any reason why you're not changing the rears?&nbsp The rears usually go bad before the fronts...



-Ted

 

Ya the rears sure go out sooner than the fronts alright! I did those about a year ago. Had a mechanic do it for me. Some sort of OEM replacement.

I'd like to know if anyone has replaced the front struts themselves before.....how much a pain it was and how long it took?

Trying to guage it there is a cost savings for doing it at home.

 

it's a pain in the but job and kinda unsafe.. you need a spring compresser, but you can probably borrow one from a local store, you can here. but you might also need an air gun to get the top nut off without the shock tube just spining. what I would do is remove the strut assembly (shock and spring) yourself. it's not that hard. 4 nuts on top, and 2 bolts on the bottom. and a few nuts on the abs line if you have it. then take it to a shop and have them swap the spring onto the new shocks.

 

I changed the whole suspension on my '86 GXL just by myself and I didn't think it was that hard.. Actually, it was my first time ever to change a suspension... I used Eibach springs and KYB struts/shocks and never encountered any problem.. For the price, you might wanna check out Summit Racing @ 1 800 962 9094. Good luck!

 

If you're just a regular joe on the street, what you're doing is fine. But don't push the car, cornering wise. Mismatched shocks is going to be exciting at the limit.

I liked my KYB non adjustables.. BUt then, all 4 shocks on my car were blown at the time.. Anything was an improvment over that.

Now I'm using Konis, but that's a whole different matter.

PaulC