Looking to buy new adjustable struts/shocks.

What should I buy?

*Tokico Illumina
*Koni Yellow
*KYB AGX

And why? Features? Performance?

 

I currently have the stock R1 shocks with H&R Sport Springs.

I had the Tokicos for 3 years before switching back to the R1 shocks. I hated fooling with the Tokico's adjustments; valving was limited to settings 3 and 4 when mated to my old Racing Beat linear rate springs; 1 and 2 were both too soft and 5 was too stiff.

The next set of stock-style shocks wil be the Bilstein Heavy Dutys. They're self-adjusting, and offer slightly stiffer valving (than the stock R1 shocks) for competition or performance driving.

ML
MDC
www.autosportoutfitters.com/mdc/

 

Well if you looking for shocks for you FD, you can rule out the AGX. Last time I checked they don't make it for the FD. The Koni's are a lil stiff from what I hear. I would go with Blisteins myself or Tokicos. I unded up going with a set of coilovers.

 

Street only? Autox? Race? All depends.

That said I bought Koni yellows for my daily driver/autoxer. Full soft on the Koni is a hair stiffer than my factory base model struts, but softer by a wide margin than factory R1 struts. Full hard is very stiff; hardly any roll. The car became an instant rocket in the slaloms just with the Konis alone. The Konis are also infinitely adjustable and you can have them rebuilt, custom valved, converted to double adjustable, etc.

After this season I plan to convert mine to double adjustable, still feeling out the car on slicks.

 

I have the koni adjustables, and those things are really nice. You can adjust them however you want, to a nice soft ride to an extremely stiff ride.

 

I don't know if they make them but I had GAB's on my GSX and they were the best. Real stiff but for my purposes they were awesome. KYB AGX's are knock off GAB's and are a little softer. I don't know if they make them for an FD or not but my friends SE-R has them with Eibach Sportlines and his car rides and handles great.

 

I think if you shop around a set of height adj. Teins can be had for about 1000.00 USD. Might be worth a look. if money isnt as big an issue, im very pleased with my M2/AD stuff. but it is a bit pricey
1R1

 

I assumed when I originally posted this that there were AGX's available for a FD3S but I guess there isn't. Well I went with the Tokico Illumina for two reasons. One was that I got a good deal and two because the koni's scared me off by the way you adjust them. It doesn't look like there are set adjustment points so how is it that you can get all of the struts exactly the same? I don't want my left rear different than my right rear. Maybe I'm looking too hard into this and let me know if I am. I have Tanabe springs which I've heard good and bad about. I hope to god they are good! Anyone know how hard it is to change springs/struts?

 

You just turn the **** on the Konis. 1/4 turn from full soft, half turn, turn and a half; whatever. It's very easy and accurate. 2 full turns from full soft to full hard and I can feel a 1/4 turn difference on the track. The shocks always feel the same when I repeatedly dial them in at the track.

 

So, the koni's are adjustable from the top, while on the car? The ones I had on my supra needed to be taken off the car to adjust.
Thanks

 

Yes, they adjust from the top mount. On the front that means open the hood and twist the ****. On the rear you have to pop off the tower covers. Tokicos are the same way.

Double adjustables (like the GAB R or Konis that have been converted) have an additional **** on the outside of the strut body itself. One adjusts compression and the other rebound.

 

I to am looking for a good adjustable shock.
Price difference between konis and the rest ?
Have stock r1 s which are very stiff for drag racing and seem to hit hard when i drop the clutch
leads to wheelspin ect.A real soft setting should help along with an adjustable setting for the street
Hey '94 touring was that you parked on dix ave about a week ago ?

 

To add to that, GAB R's are not "truly" double-adjustable. It's an 8-setting adjustable strut that adjusts both compression and rebound simultaneously. They do not offer the variability of the Koni red's ... but, the adjust **** is on the outside of the strut body. And it's a PIA to get to on the rears. Hope your arms are flexible ...

 

if you want to have the best go with KONI...

because they are the BEST when it comes to ajustable shocks.

I have never heard of a racer that had anyting negative to say about them.

Geat ajustability and they are bomb proof...

so unless you are going for some sort of coilover with intergated shocks, get the KONI's

 

POLLS SUCK!!!!!!!!! DO A SEARCH!!!!!!!!

 

FWIW, the Koni yellows are "single adjustable" but also adjust both rebound and compression simultaneously. I'd venture that all single adjustable shocks do this, so to call a single adjustable shock "double adjustable" is pretty lame IMO when the settings cannot be controlled independantly.

 

Many adjustable shocks have one adjustment that does both the compression and rebound. Some just adjust the rebound. Double-adjustable lets you adjust these two things independently. There are even more adjustable shocks available that let you adjust low speed compression, high speed compression, and rebound independently. I wouldn't be surprised if there was even more adjustability available, but triple adjustable seems like it is about as adjustable as would be useful to me.

I think my GAB super-Rs have too much high speed compression damping by the time you adjust to get the low speed compression damping right, so they aren't that great for the street (bumps are rough).

Scott H has the results from some shock testing on his site that is pretty interesting:
http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/Graphs/default.htm

The adjustment on the Konis seems to be just for rebound until you get them full stiff. Their compression damping seems much "nicer" for a street driven car, and I bet they offer very good performance. Mark Valskis selected some Bilstein shocks for his car after analyzing some charts, and I think that was a good choice, too.

-Max

 

I have Tokico adjustables and I can't say that I'm impressed. Quality is not that good (one makes a 'pffft' sound). Setting 1 and 2 are too soft and are even dangerous when pushing your car. 4 and 5 are too hard. I have to use 3 and even then the compression is too stiff over sharp bumps. I'm ready to put the base shocks back on. The car was better balanced and rode better with the stock shocks. Maybe I'll try Koni's next time - never heard anything bad about them (except that they can be too stiff).

 

For those interested I have the dampening curves at various settings for the stock, R1, Koni, and GAB shocks in an excel file. I'm not sure who made these, so whoever you are, thanks. Just drop me an email at natek@ucla.edu and i'll send you a copy.

 

rotarytt,

I had the same experience with the Tokicos. I sold them and went back to my stock R1 Showa shocks. I've been using them with great effect with the H&R springs...

 

I say Koni or Tokico. I have the Tokico on my 2nd, but my friend has the Koni's on his Integ. Both very nice.

 

I went from the GAB Super R's (front), GAB Super's (rear) to the Koni Yellows. I had the same complaint about the GAB's as maxcooper ... way too stiff for regular street driving. Good auto-x shocks, but I still like the Koni's better. The GAB's were just very unforgiving ... and, if you look at the compression/rebound graphs posted, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Koni Yellows definitely have my vote. And you can have them custom valved so that you can adjust both compression and rebound. I was told ProParts can do it for like $150 each. (Yeah, kinda expensive)

On the other hand, if you're willing to go with the coilover setup, I'd be interested to see how the Koni Reds (double-adjustable) perform. I think they're kinda expensive too ... ~$1200/set

 

I need two tokicos or whatever...For the rear for a 2nd gen...Anyone? snyderkv@yahoo.com

 

I know someone has already thrown in a word for the Tein's, but for $950 (what I paid) including shipping, you get fully adjustable (16 way click stops) shocks (one adjustment for both compression and rebound), firmer springs, helper springs, and height adjustable, threaded shock bodies. The shocks themselves are also of a larger diameter (stiffer) with larger pistons (better fluid control) and work with the stock upper mounts or their pillow mounts. Custom spring rates are available and as stated earlier, you can lower or raise the car at will. I've had mine for over a month and they're superb. Easily as soft at zero as the stock touring suspension yet you are able to dial them up to your preferred stiffness setting. The click adjustables are a big benefit too and the settings are very progressive and spaced nicely apart. I can feel a definite difference between say 6 and 10. Never tried 16! FWIW, one of the Supras in the last Ultimate Streetcar Shootout in SCC used the HA's to pull over 1.0 G on the skidpad and his car hadn't even been corner weighted. For a few extra bucks, I'd go with the Tein's over any of the other choices.
Michel

 

I just took out my tokico illuminas and installed the koni yellow sport for an FD. I have the GC coil over kit with 450 front and 300 lbs/in. rear springs.

The koni rocks! The tokico is a piece of sheetz! Anyone wants a set of tokico for $50.00 with 15,000 miles on them?