Oh My Dear God..... The Stealership

J

jonlisle20

Member
Long story short, I have 4 blown struts on my mp3, and I need them replaced. I have been having an absolutely terrible time finding them. So I finally decided to try the dealership to see a price range. I called and told them my situation, and they asked for my vin number. After a munute or two the nice lady told me the prices.

Front struts- $246 EACH
Rear struts- $401 EACH Yes... EACH

So I asked her where I could get some crack too. She was not amused.

These better be Tokico's first venture into solid platinum struts. W. T. F.

Needless to say this is NOT an option, and I'm still in need of OEM MP3 struts. Can any of you help me out!? Any ideas?! I need these.... hell... needed these yesterday! Any help you guys can give me will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jon.
 
jonlisle20 said:
So I asked her where I could get some crack too. She was not amused.
Click to expand...

LOL. I priced out injectors from the dealer and they were like 240 a piece, I got a brand new set (of 4) online for 150. I feel ya on the stealership thing. Aren't MP3 struts interchangeable with other another model pro? If so I'd look online.
 
what about some tokico blues. a set of those should be under 400 brand new or do they really need to be the oem struts?
 
I was going to say.. Uh.. I can get those for you easy.. or KYB replacements or you can upgrade to Illumina adjustables.
 
mountjonas said:
what about some tokico blues. a set of those should be under 400 brand new or do they really need to be the oem struts?
Click to expand...

those ARE the OEM for the MP3. Tokico Blue HP is the stock MP3 strut.
 
Yeah dude, I got all 4 illuminas + springs for 500 or something(can't remember exactly) a while back off of ebay. If you just want the blues, and no springs, then you should be able to get all 4 for less than 400

One of the many results for "tokico protege" on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)
 
The MSp and MP3 both used tokico blues up front and KYB in the rear . there is no reason why you cant run Tokico blues and get the same great handling that you got when the car was new .
 
And I carry both at a very competitive price... so you are getting them from a reputable vendor (no e-bay shadiness) and you'll be all set.
 
Thanks a lot guys! Damn, I love these forums!

I came across both of those during my horribly long internet search. I just never knew they were the stock setup. (hand)

Now that I know this I'm going to go back and buy them from one of those stores....... just kidding. Might as well support someone from these forums right? I'll be sending you a PM TurfBurn. :D

I do have one more question though. Should I go with the blues up front and the KYBs in the rear, like the stock setup? Or should I just go with the blues all around? Why did they use both? Weird. What do you guys think?

Again, thanks a lot!
 
It likely had to do with using slightly different damping rates for a handling characteristic they were trying to get out of the car. Most people have gone Blue's all around or the Illumina's and have been very happy.. So I'd recommend going that route at this point, I don't have any data that is of any worth that would tell me or you that KYB's in the rear would be of benefit. (I've never actually heard before today that the rears were KYB's... but I'll assume the gent above knows what he is talkinga bout... I'll check my suspension to see.. I know all 4 corners are painted blue, but I never checked the stampings for a brand)

Thanks!

Steve
 
I used to sell mazdas at a stealership..and yes prices are off the wall for nething from them. Even with my discount it was still outrageous !!!! my mazdaspeed license plate cover was 35 bucks...just for that with a fricking discount....50..if u were just a joe off the street.
 
macklum said:
The MSp and MP3 both used tokico blues up front and KYB in the rear . there is no reason why you cant run Tokico blues and get the same great handling that you got when the car was new .
Click to expand...

That's a new one. New rumors start everday on the internet. Anyhow, just for correctional purposes. The MP3 used Tokicos all the way around. This information was discovered by the folks at AutoRnD about 4 years ago now and it waas straight from Mazda North America. Racing Beat used the Tokico HP's (Blues), but had an engineer from Tokico design/change the damping a little bit for the MP3.

Now that we have that all cleared up, I think that if you got the Mazdaspeed Struts which are made by KYB's or the Tokico Illumina's you'd be good. Better to upgrade to something adjustable.
 
good call. I remember reading about that.

APEXistud said:
That's a new one. New rumors start everday on the internet. Anyhow, just for correctional purposes. The MP3 used Tokicos all the way around. This information was discovered by the folks at AutoRnD about 4 years ago now and it waas straight from Mazda North America. Racing Beat used the Tokico HP's (Blues), but had an engineer from Tokico design/change the damping a little bit for the MP3.

Now that we have that all cleared up, I think that if you got the Mazdaspeed Struts which are made by KYB's or the Tokico Illumina's you'd be good. Better to upgrade to something adjustable.
Click to expand...
 
APEXistud, it is very entertaining watching the pic in your sig while listening to some music!
 
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