How good are GR-2's????

[Reptil_3]

See I really want to purchase some Tokicos, but my father (the boss) is really doin a job on me, so he wants to get cheaper struts. He found the GR-2's are the cheapest and the place said that they are guaranteed for LIFE!!! Now, how is the feel on these and can you lower your car with them like you can the Tokicos?
THANKS
-James

 

[Installshield 2]

GR-2's are the standard KYB's right?...I can't remember...They are said to be of equal quality as the stock pieces...are similar in dampening rate, and hold up no better when lowered than stock...So if you are looking for stock replacements that will just see daily driving duty, they are fine...But they will not hold up like Tokico HP's as far as stiffness and dampening rates when spring rate is increased...So I would say look elsewhere if you are planning or have already lowered the car and stiffening the suspension...

 

[Installshield 2]

Also be weary of the "guaranteed for lif" ploy...That rarely holds as true as it seems...I am betting they are guaranteed against manufacturer defects, but not against normal wear and tear from a driven car...It gets tricky...If they blow out for some unknown reason, then they will probably replace them...But if all 4 struts are showing problems do to extremely stiff spring rates, they probably won't cover them...Bilstein does the same thing...and realize that no modern strut will last forever...They all wear out eventually with enough driving and bumps...But look into how KYB's guarantee is issued...To my knowledge they are not performance struts, and are not designed for other mods made to a stock suspension...so I would bet if other than stock springs are used, they won't cover them...

 

[Reptil_3]

Well I wasn't soo sure about the "guaranteed for life" deal, but they are still a good price. I actually found out that a friend of mine that has a Mitsubishi Eclipse has KYB GR-2's and his car is lowered on Eibach Springs (I believe Sprotline) and it drives very well! So, I think I am going to go with the GR-2's for now and I will let people know how they are in the future. I am not necessarily planning on lowering my car anytime real soon, but I just wanted to know just in case.
THANKS
-James

 

[Installshield 2]

Yeah the Eibach springs are generally accepted by the stock struts...so the GR-2's should not have a problem with them...But if you invest in much stiffer springs like the H&R's or Tein S-Tech's, they probably will not hold up as well as the tokico's...

 

[Stealth5]

i have s-tech springs and i may replace the stock soon.
i was having a hard time finding all my options and a good place to buy them from
what are good ones to get that arent a huge amount of money

 

[Reptil_3]

S-tech springs? What the heck are those? aren they not any good or what? I would just say put out good money to get the best quality springs (i.e. EIBACH.) YOu do get what you pay for afterall.

 

[Stealth5]

TEIN is good quality, its just japanese instead of Eibach and H&R which are german. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with TEIN's products and their stuff is used on several race cars, and if you can circle a track at 100+ mph on their suspension stuff, im pretty sure its ok for my p5

 

[Reptil_3]

is tein what you meant by "s-tech?"
if so then yeah they are nice. i thought maybe u were talking about a generic brand or sumthin

 

[Stealth5]

yeah, s-tech is just one of their lines of springs, i think they have another one now

 

[Installshield 2]

I have the Tein's too...they are great, and the quality/packaging and fit is as good as I have ever seen...Just as good as the german pedigrees...

But don't buy because of a brand...Tein's are stiffer than Eibach's, and similar to H&R's but lower a little more...I wanted about a 2" drop with decent stiffness, so neither German springs had it...and although you can find Tein S-Tech at a few vendors for about $200, they retail at over $240 which is more than the german makes...If you look around you can get any of these 3 brands for about $200...Tein isn't really that small of a company either...They have just recently started the NA operations...But they claim about 2/3rds of the domestic Japanese suspension market (selling more than JIC and BuddyClub, and everything else)