Hi.

I was thinking of buying some shocks for the spring time.

I need GAS shocks to go with my H&R Sportlines....

Eventhough the city driving was alright this passed summer (despite the harsh pot-holes and F*cked-up pavement that I dealt with...), I experienced very difficult highway driving.

See, as I experienced, when you have lowering springs and stock shocks, The ride gets bouncy, and specially on high speeds, car tends to jump off the road. This makes it very difficult and dangerous to drive on highways... God forbid if your lowered car gets into a bump on the highway at 120 Km/h ..... VERY dangerous.....

This summer with the car lowered, the highest speed I DARED to go was 140, and ONCE 160.... And that was on the edge of the knife, before I would totaly loose control of the car...
However, now that the car is back to stock height for the winter time, I can easily and rather safely go high speeds, with confidence and total control of the car.... And so, I did 190 couple nights ago !!!

I know it wasn't wise to go that high and blah blah... I would probably never do it again neither... The point is that I could control the car with confidence and total control...

Long story short, I now believe that Gas shocks are essentially important, and are a must, to go with lowering springs...

SO MY QUESTIONS IS: Which shocks are the best bang for the buck, and how much do they run for, in USED condition?

I thank everybody in advance for the useful tips, and sorry for the long read....

 

If you can afford them buy Koni Yellows....I think most people will agree...however, they are more expensive than other shocks ie. KYB AGX, Tokico, etc.

I have KYB AGX and like them.....I got mine for just under $600 (brand new).

 

Hmmm... $600 for NEW shocks doesn't sound bad at all James....

I have seen USED KONI reds go for that much...

These KONI yellows are adjustable, aren't they?
Is this adjustability really functional? Say you want VERY comfy ride for normal everyday city driving, and much stiffer suspension for AUTO-X .... Would these KONI yellows do that?

 

yes the koni yellows you can adjust the stiffness
but they are pricey u pay what u get

 

best bang for the buck is either the tokiko blues or the kyb agx...

 

I agree with red90dx.

when koni talks about the yellows having adjustable stiffness, they go from stiff to VERY stiff.

 

 

tokico blues are pretty much just straight stock replacement!! Get Koni Red

 

I was looking into prices b4 for koni reds and new they were around 600-650

 

Whats the prices of these two? How long do they last?

 

i myself own the KYB AGX's. i think they were the best bang for the buck. work awesome no complaints and ride great. running them on progress springs

 

Prices differ from place to place. not much a few bucks. hit teh yellow pages or see if u can get a member discount at one of the affiliate shops

 

KYB non adjustibles
94 bux each

www.absoluteperformance.ca
ask for Jeff, these guys have the best prices in Ontario.

 

reds are ok, but damn I dont want to take the damn thing out to adjust it, and what if they are not both even....what a pita man..

the kyb's have no warrantee issue ive read about...no good if you dump the car...

tokico blues are nice stuts....alot of v-dubs have them..i have a few buddies with the blues and love them..

 

Got myself a set of Koni red and Eibach sportline springs for approx $800 at speedtech. I think the ride is very nice. Not too ruff but controlled enough to make some confident lane changes above 160km/h

I set it at minus one turn from the stiffest setting.

I've also had koni yellows on my heavy vr6 GTI and that was hard to get right setting. It was either too stiff or too soft. Great for the track at the tightest setting. koni yellow and Eibach 1000 installed.

I had Bilsteins on my other golf and those where by far the best riding shocks i had. but cost 1200 with H&R sports.

I know these aren't the cheapest around but when i get stuff it is with convienence as the numberone factor.

 

How much are Tokito Blues?

 

the kyb agx's void there warrenty if lowered more then 1.5" so if you above that then get those...

 

I'm not sure how low the ride is...

I know H&R Sports are some-where around 1.6" on a 5Gen...

So then I suppose that would void the warranty...
Say the shocks blew. How would they find out how low your car is anyway?

 

i'm not 100% sure... that is just what i heard... maybe you have to get the shocks installed at a licenced place who will well kyb that the car is now to low?? or just get a similar place to check it....

 

Tokico blues go for about 600 for all four... I have a set they ride great, lowered almost 2"... They are not just a OEM replacement by any means... They have a nice compromise between ride quality and stiffness for handeling on the "street".. Basically the setting you would be trying to achive with an adjustable shock, so its done for you... This is assuming you will be using them for street not track...

And how would they (ie. kyb) find out if the car was lower than the warrenty permits? IMO personally i think its BS, they just say that cuz theres a greater risk of them blowing... Basically it says that just to protect their name, if everyone slammed thir cars on them and they all started poping the struts than it would give the company a bad name...so now they have a "I told you so" argument written right in the warrenty... im just speculateing...