Re: Time for new suspension...

I know nothing about Toy struts, but folks were reworking Soob struts with Koni Yellows. maybe there's a DIY for your Toy struts out there that shows how to do that?

anyway, good luck.

Hi Hachiroku!

On Tue, 25 May 2010 22:21:08 -0400, Hachiroku ???? wrote:

I've been very happy with the Tokico Illuminas on my 1st gen MR2, running TRD "track" springs. I've also had the non-adjustible Tokico's installed on a different MR2 (my daughters car before she left for college) using the stock springs, and they were also good; a bit firmer than stock, and well damped. The Illuminas have lasted a long time, several autocross seasons (CSP), and lately, a bunch of commuter time. I can't say re. lifetime of the non-adjustible ones, but they were fine when we sold the car after two years under a teen driver, with a few autocross events (ESL) thrown in as well. I run Koni's on my current autoX car, a '91 Miata (CSP), with very stiff springs (like 500/350). They work very well, but I can't comment on longevity, as they have only been in use for one season plus a couple events, and have never really seen any street time. I'd go with the Tokico non-adjustibles; look for a good deal on ebay, or perhaps one of the Toyota club classified forums. Supra. Mmmmm. I just scored a '91 Celica convertible in absolutely beautiful condition, short of the front end having been wrapped around a smallish Aspen tree in a snowstorm over the winter. You wouldn't believe what the ~2 inch tree did to the front of the car. Anyway, I've already found a matching hood and bumper, and hopefully I can beat the radiator supports back into position. Once I get it back on the road, I'll be looking to upgrade the boingers as well, so let me know what you end up with.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

I believe Koni still has a lifetime warranty (for the original purchaser only, and only for the car on which they were originally installed)

nate

I had the delimna of what shocks to get for my miata and was able to drive many other owner's cars before I settled on what to get. I was looking into the Konis, Tokicos, and Bilstein HDs. I had had Konis on my MR2 and liked the adjustability of them even though it took a whil to figure it out since it isn't really linear. The Tokicos were cheaper, so they made the list. The Bilsteins were not adjustable, and people said they were too stiff in stock form. I called up a friend who knows more abotu spring damper systems than I woudl ever care to know. He worked as an engineer on Sarah Fisher's team(IRL).

He pointed out that Konis only adjust the rebound, so they give good performance in some band-aid sort of ways. For instance if you crank the rebound damping way up it will effectively cause the car to get sucked down as you go through a slalom since the side that is unloading doesn't have time to fully unload. This helps in some cars and not in others depending on where your roll centers are and how you are aligned. They are not adjustable in bump though. He pointed out that a good non-adjustable shock optimized to the spring rates will usually outperform an adjustable shock unless you have a support team of engineers, and sometimes that won't even help you. He suggested going with a custom valved Bilstein HD. It uses a different type of valve that is apparently far superior to the Koni valves. I contacted a guy named John Stimola in NY and got a quiote for four shocks at nearly 200 a pop, but they were cusomized to the springs.

I hesitated on ordering them since that was a lot of money. I then got to drive a car with custom valved HDs, although valved by someone other that Stimola, and I was sold. The car was a dream. It handled beautifully, but soaked up bumps as well as a stock miata. I was ready to pull the trigger on the order when some idiot aggressive driver in a 300zx crashed into my miata. Once the judge granted me the money for that I realized that since my car was now considered a crashed car its value wouldn't be more than 1500 bucks, and it didn't really make sense to put 1500 bucks worth of springs, coilover perches, bump stops and shocks on it. But I am still convinced that custom valved Bilstein HDs are the way to go.

I don't have John's info any more, but if you search around I'm sure you can find him. His name comes up on SCCA forums. He's pretty well known on the east coast and goes ot most of the big SCCA autocrossing events.

awesome post, I learned stuff today!