suspension swap - kyb or koni ??

[james123]

right well basically i have two mr2s now which iim planning to make into one good one!
my daily one has koni suspension all round with 30 mm springs, the konis are 4-5 years old and the rest is standard and abit tired!
the other one is gonna be scrapped but has just had the front suspenion fully rebuilt with all new parts, polybushes and kyb shocks and springs (just on the front tho)
i dunno if to keep the konis all round and swap all the other parts or to swap all off it over and run kyb on the front and koni on the rear? would it be worth it??
cheers james

[Lauren]

I'd keep the Koni's tbh.

I wouldn't run KYB on the road. Too hard.

[Jimbo_Jet]

Koni's are great and a lot more expensive than KYB's. With Koni's at least you can choose how hard you want them to be, or even run them at different rates front to rear to experiment with grip and handling.

I wouldn't swap my Koni's now I've got them set how I like

[LimeyMk1]

I wouldn't run KYB on the road. Too hard.

Not with the right springs.

KYBs are great on the road with stock springs or Whitelines.

[HT]

I wouldn't run KYB on the road. Too hard.

Not with the right springs.

KYBs are great on the road with stock springs or Whitelines.

These things are all such personal taste - I too felt KYB's were too hard for everyday driving conditions!

[LimeyMk1]

What springs were they with Huw?

I had them with a set of 40mm drop springs and yes it was like the car was on solid rubber rather than shocks and springs. I used to whack my head on the roof going over bumps.

With less of a drop on the current Mk1 they're a lot better on the road and could be considered almost civilised. On my other halfs old Mk1 paired with stock springs (albeit old ones) they seemed very nicely matched.

[Charged]

No problem with KYB's on -15mm springs over here.. firm but fair.

[HT]

Chris that MK1 ran stock springs; in fact everything was stock aside from KYB's and 15" alloys with 195/50's.

It was a MK1a, and casting my mind back, it had done almost 100k at the time I changed over to new springs with the KYB's (at the time they tempted me as they were considerably cheaper than going to Toyota!), so I guess in fairness it was a huge shock after doing 20k miles with tired suspension

[james123]

thanks for all your advice.. ive decided to keep the konis but swap everything else, whats the best way to do it? do you have to remove every part off the suspension or could you swap the sus, brakes etc in one??

[Dan23]

you can get KYBs with adjustment on how had or soft the shock is, i had them on my s13

[Lauren]

The proper way (how we did it) was to remove the struts and use a pair of spring compressors. Think we slackened off the top nut first.

Also easier if you remove the U-clip and then carefully hacksaw the hole where the brakeline passes through. Then you can bend it out and take off the strut without touching the brakes. When you put it back on you just bend the tabs into alignment and tap the U-clip in which holds it tight anyway.

Obviously make sure you have a 2 foot breaker bar to hand for undoing and a decent torque wrench when doing it all back up.

[PW@Woodsport]

I agree with Chris, KYBs are fine with the correct spring, in my opinion the spring rate is more critical. I am running stock Toyota shocks (all genuine new ones) with Spax springs and i'd say my car is harder on the road than KYBs with stock springs.

I had KYB's on my first Mk1 (can't remember which springs) and it felt great, not too hard at all.

Koni's are obviously better due to being adjustable but KYBs are not too hard if used with the right spring.

[Clarky_X]

Having read several threads about shocks for Mk1, a lot of people seem to like Koni dampers with Eibach springs.

I had Eibach lowering springs on my old Passat TDI with std shocks and it was great round roundabouts.

So what are the options for doing that set up in terms of cost.

If one were to get a full Koni sport kit you get new yellow struts and Koni springs for £525 from Larkspeed, but then have to buy Eibach springs and you've wasted money on the Koni springs.

But is that still cheaper than buying Koni inserts on there own and then having to buy new struts as well as the Eibach?

I just like the idea of having nice new shiny stuts. A little bit less rusty metal under the car. I don't really have the kit to sand blast or acid bath the struts to tidy them up, so by the time I've bought all the kit to do a one time job, I may as well have bought the koni sport kit and springs anyway.

So the question is what does everyone else do when they want koni sport adjustables and Eibach springs? Where do you get them and how much?

Cheers.

[LimeyMk1]

The koni kit is just the inserts and the springs, you'll still need to tidy up the old strut casings on the car, all the shiney yellow's hidden inside.

I'm only aware of a couple of places that sell Koni's on their own, Fensport (expensive but you get 10% discount as an IMOCer) and Camberley autofactors. Not sure how much Camberly want for them.

Ok just checked Fensprout and they're £191 EACH. So yeah Larkspeed kit's much cheaper than singly which TBH is nuts!

Not sure of a source for Eibach springs but I think Demon Tweeks sell them, and again you get a club discount (contact Dave Featherstone there).

[feral4mr2]

hi, paul. can you tell me what colour your spax springs are? i think i have a set i picked up that i've put on my na beasty they are a dark green in colour. just running stock shocks until can afford some koni's. but anyways, very happy with the firm ride they offer.