Out of curiosity, does anyone know what is the maximum spring rate that AGXs can keep up with?

After all, adjustable shocks aren't really for changing track conditions so much as they are for finding the ideal rate for a set of springs, or for dual-purpose driving (street vs. track)...

So the real question is what sort of spring rate would the maximum setting be ideal for.

Or if I wanted spring rates above 5 kg/cm, would I have to get custom-valved shocks (ie, coilovers)?

 

IIRC from what I've read springs on the order of 400lb/in front and 275lb/in rear are about the limit. You can go a little stiffer with Koni Yellows, but not much, but they can be re-valved to handle more.

If you price out shocks, coilover sleeves and camber plates then that starts to be in the range of the lower end coilovers, some of which are pretty good. I'm using Tein Flex's and they're really quite good, lots of autocrossers I know use them. If you add in the cost of rear mounts and maybe a re-valve then coilovers really do start to be a good deal, and you get other features on some, like independant preload and shock height adjustments.

 

Yeah, if you buy a full set of GCs and street shocks, you're within a few hundred dollars of TEIN or STANCE coilovers...

Although before that, I need new bushings, diff mounts, a dashpot, engine mounts (ideally), brake lines, clutch (and clutch line)...

 

I wouldn't go more than 400lbs front and 350lbs rear with the AGX's.

The Koni or Bilstein dampers will be higher quality then Tein or Stance (a set will dyno much closer together and the adjustment ***** actually work). A set of Koni/Bilstein's and GC sleeves will be much better then a low-end coilover.

 

I dunno about stance, but I've seen shock dynos of Tein Flex's and they're quite good, lots of adjustment range, little hysterysis, good matching side to side and pretty good shape to the damping curve.

 

I thought AGXs were considered to be the equivalent of the Konis?

Also, what do you have to do to modify the original housing to fit the Koni inserts (which are like 400 for just the front?!?!)?

Just for the record, the Koni part numbers are 8641-1200Sport 8041-1111Sport

 

http://www.negative-camber.org/crisp...c/fcpart10.htm

There's a quick description of it. I've always heard that Konis are better and can handle slightly higher rates. The AGX's can't be re-valved as far as I know, whereas the Konis can. Custom valved Bilsteins are apparently very good, but not so good if you like twisting ***** and changing setups.

 

Oh, so it's held in by a bolt on the bottom...

Still, Konis are $$$ and Bilsteins are $$$$$...

So for the money I think coilovers make more sense...

 

That's the conclusion I came to.

 

Hey Black91n/a - do you daily-drive your Teins? I'm considering a switch to full coilovers and but I'm wary of the the ride quality off-track.

 

Yep, drive on 'em every day, that's one reason why I went with the "soft" Flex's. Note that even though they're "soft" compared to some others out there, they're closer to what most of the FC racers are using, with many other brands out there being a fair bit stiffer. Stiffer doesn't equal better. With my 7kg/mm front and 5kg/mm rear springs that's still over 3x stiffer in front and almost 3x stiffer in the rear than stock, so soft it 'aint. If it was going to be for autocross and street driving I'd have kept the stock front springs, but I wanted it a little more stable on track, so I went with the stiffer fronts.

Make no mistake, no one will think it's a Lexus, but it's really not bad, I find it perfectly livable on long drives. Lots of others daily drive on stiffer susepsions too. It'll crash over bumps and so on, but it's not harsh.

 

I once got a ride in a Trueno (in Japan) with 7/5 TRD springs, and it wasn't so bad. It basically felt like a stock FC...lol