tokicos or bilsteins?

[Insidious Surmiser]

Which one? My car has TEMS (first mk3 out of 5 to have it) but after reading that it adjusts it's-self on the fly, that doesn't really sit well with me. I was going to go with the TEMS compatible tokicos, but now I'm leaning towards ditching the TEMS. Anyhow... let's hear some input.

 

[hvyman]

Kybs are like a 100$ for all 4 and have lifetime warranty.

Although tems are nice. Personally I'd never keep them.

 

[tyang82]

Are all those bouncy?

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

kybs were real soft on my 87.... then again it had springs w/ 230k miles... so I have no idea. shocks were new, installed by previous owner. that car had body roll like IDK what.... somethin crazy, that's for sure.

 

[hvyman]

If it had stock springs there all bouncy. Stock springs are no where near hard.

Shocks only dampen the spring oscillations.

 

[Canuckrz]

I have the tems compatible tokicos on eibach springs. No complaints for use as a DD, other than the way it rakes to the front makes my lip awfully close to the ground. I'd likely go with the bilsteins if you intended to track it at all as the tokico's are fairly soft even on the highest setting. But to be fair I haven't upgraded my sways yet either.

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

sounds like I need to go with bilsteins

 

[mkiii222]

I have Illumina 2 with B&G springs. If I had the money to do it over I'd be going with coilovers.

Sent from my HTC Droid Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[suprageezer]

I have the tems compatible Tokicos Illumina II's on eibach springs. I could not be happier, smooth ride when I want it, firm when I need it. I also love the slight rake of the front drop, it really changed the aero of the car.

 

[SupraMedical68]

Kybs are like a 100$ for all 4 and have lifetime warranty.

Although tems are nice. Personally I'd never keep them.

Just out of curiosity, what's your source for the Kybs Hvyman?

I'm currently using Tokico HP shocks on Eibach springs. The ride quality isn't terrible, but I wouldn't really recommend them either.

 

[hvyman]

I use them at work all the time. They make old bouncy noisy cars feel like new.

 

[Supra_dan]

kybs were real soft on my 87.... then again it had springs w/ 230k miles... so I have no idea. shocks were new, installed by previous owner. that car had body roll like IDK what.... somethin crazy, that's for sure.

Just a little heads up on the body roll situation.

While yes, springs can definitely help, you want to prevent most of your body roll with sway bars.
Get some heavy duty bars and it will help the body roll a lot. Pair that with stiffer springs awwww yeah, shits gettin real

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

my 89 had tired suspension too, but was worlds away from that 87... the 87 would body roll into next week... crazy. I know it was because of the springs w/ 230k miles on them... so no one in here has bilsteins? I've always liked their product. and I don't mind shelling out more $ for quality. Sure I could have prtty much afforded coilovers by the time it's all said and done, but I really love the way progressive rate RS*R springs ride. soft ride, but once you get into the corners it gets stiff.

 

[hvyman]

I have a set in the garage that need a rebuild.

There nice shocks. No doubt about that. I've had tokicos as well and I liked those with h and r too. Currently on coils and prefer them. Nice and soft when I want and super stuff with a turn of the wrist.

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

are yours adjustable on the fly or are you talking about manually adjusting dampening with a wrench, or are you referring to progressive rate springs as well?

 

[hvyman]

There is a knob. No wrench needed.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

I've driven a Mk3 with a broken mounting tab for the rear sway bar. That was nasty body roll, and sounds like what you're talking about. Don't know how much time you spent under your car, so I'm just sayin.

My '89 has a really tired suspension. The rear struts are now basically completely blown. I've got a new set of KYBs, but I've never had the time to install them. Even so, body roll is still better than a brand new RX8.

 

[Insidious Surmiser]

that's exactly what I was thinking Dan.... sadly that car was stolen in early 08 and never recovered. I did spend a lot of time under it, but never saw a broken swaybar end link

There is a knob. No wrench needed.

what coilovers did you end up with? IDK if megan racing makes ones for our car, but I heard they use apex-i units... never looked into it though.

 

[1988ma70supra]

I'm using the Tokico illumina II's that work with the TEMS and got a hold of the HKS TEMS controller to manually ccontrol the stiffness and over ride the self adjust feature on the fly from the cockpit. I did upgrade the springs, front, and rear sway bars to Tanabe as well. The difference was like night and day

 

[Flateric]

I swear by my Bilstein's, but way back when I got em coilovers were not even an option at all. Nowadays good springs, Bilstein's are about on equal ground as far as cost to a set of coilovers. I have always loved the ride and handling I got from my H&R and Bilstein combo, unfortunately my Bilstein's are currently totally worn out. Have not decided which direction I'll be going in the spring yet.