DarkEvo

Hey guys, I just recently bought an '05 MR and it appears, from hitting bumps, that the front driver side shock is blown. The car is lowered with coilovers so I assume the person before me did it on stock shocks. I need either a decent set of all four shocks or shocks with a lwoering spring and I will do away with the coilovers. I dont want to spend a grand on this though. Cheapest while being able to handle a lowered car and daily driver.

Thoughts on what to look for. Previously, on my other cars, I have used Tien, Koni, Tokico, and KYB.

Thanks

Smike

iTrader: (8)

05 MR had Bilsteins. If you lost those - you got hosed.

What coil overs are on there now?

KYBs (used for $250) or Used MR Bilsteins ($400) + GTWorx or Swift springs ($250) is an option.

Tein = crap.
Koni = Yellows are great.
Tokico = meh.
KYB = meh, buy usually only option.

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

Cheapest way to go will be some used KYBs and swifts or gtworx depending on what ride height you want. The extra money into used bilsteins would be money well spent though. They ride sooo much better for a DD.

DarkEvo

Well, 3 of the shocks MIGHT be the Bilsteins but when I looked in the wheel well of the front driver side, the shock was almost a goldish color, from what I could see. All the others are black. I dont know if replacing just that one would do the trick or if he has driven so long on these that this blown one has damaged the others.

Also, from what I can see, it looks like the coilovers are HKS.

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

Im confused, one corner has something completely different on it?

Smike

iTrader: (8)

What?

You can't have shocks/struts and coil overs.

Either you have Struts+Springs (really simple definition here) or aftermarket coil overs.

DarkEvo

Likewise....I looked in there, and it appears that only one is different. This car has so many patches that its insane. The guy told a bunch of bs all around on the car but, Im stuck with it now and have to fix everything to make the car right again. Plus being I am mechanically inclined so I can do all the work myself.

DarkEvo

From my understanding, a strut is a shock with a spring on it and when broken down it is a shock and spring. Never been told otherwise.....

So with that said, I say "I have _____ shocks with ______ coilovers."

Smike

iTrader: (8)

No.

Struts and shocks and coil overs are different. And your confusing seeing the spring with coil over.

Do you have:
Coil overs:


Struts (OEM MR Bilstein by the way):

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

A strut is loaded in bending as well as axially. Shock should be pretty close to a 2-force member (though you get some side loading with the spring compressing).

Our fronts are mac strut and hence use a strut, the rear is multi-link and uses a shock.

DarkEvo

I would assume it is the top one from what I can see.

I guess where the confusion is would be the fact that I consider the shock, or whatever set up it is, to be a shock no matter what is wrapped around it. Like if I took the spring off either of the above pics, I would consider what I am holding to be the shock. So I have always said I have whatever shocks with whatever lowering springs or coilovers. Apparently that is not the case. I stand corrected.

DarkEvo

I have to figure something out that isn't going to kill the wallet here. I still need to fix the tune and possibly the wheel hubs. I may go with a strut and change the spring to a lowering spring if they can handle it. I'll take the wheels off tonight and see what I have going on in there and post some pics. I need to address my ABS issue while I am at it too bc no matter how slow I go, the ABS goes nutty then trips the dash light. This car is a mess.

Dallas J

iTrader: (1)

Jesus, sounds like you have basket case on your hands.

If I were strapped for cash I would just buy KYB's and GTworx springs. Then later down the road find a set of bilsteins and pawn off the kybs.

Whats the ABS doing? What do you mean by goes nutty. If the light is just always on then you probably have a dead sensor. I don't know if the Evo has a method for scanning codes, my old talon didn't (1 year off on the ecu..). I went around and measured the leads on the sensors and found one that was open, the rest has some resistance (like 4ohms I think?). The one that's open was of course the bad one, replaced that and all was good.

grillpt

iTrader: (24)

I'm confused by almost everything I just read in this thread...

Take a pic of whats on the car and post it up, I think we can be of better help that way.

DarkEvo

Yeah its a mess. Seems like the past two cars I have purchased have turned out this way. People patch things to make it sell then everything goes wrong.

Basically, when I got the car the ABS light was on and the guy said that it came on after a shop changed the pads. So I get about half way home and am tired of staring at the Service Engine Soon light and ABS light so I decided to check the fuse on the ABS under the hood. It was pulled and just laying in the fuse box (my guess is the kid thought this would eliminate the light for the sale). Well I put the fuse back and left the gas station but even rolling and touching the brakes felt like I was trying to stop in snow....the ABS kicked in, the pedal pulsated, and a mile later the light came back on. No idea what he or the shop did at this point.