Strut choices for ProKit Drop?

[Ilikemazda]

My goals suspension wise are

1.) height adjustment - partly for looks but also for all season drivablilty

2.) longevity - I don't think this will be a problem with tokico or gorund controls

3.) I will be autocrossing this car in the summer time and would overall like to almost completely eliminate body roll

4.) I'm on a bit of a budget

As you mentioned xelderx, I could be going all wrong about this, and trying to fix body roll with spring rates when instead the sway bar will have a much larger impact. but as you stated the awr 21.5 sway bar can't be used with the stock endlinks. Overall though, my current course of action will probably be get tokico shocks, ground controls with slightly upgraded spring ratings, and the sway bar hoepfully all at the same time. Two questions though

Will the illumina be better suited for the higher spring ratings because of the adjustment range or is it just valved stronger to begin with.

And how much more expensive are custom spring ratings?

 

[Ilikemazda]

the car will also be my daily driver

 

[Katya4me]

the car will also be my daily driver

You may want to look at just doing full coilovers if that is the case, there is a GB for a set for $775 right now, I think. The GCs can be noisy and costwise, Illuminas and sleeve coilovers will probably be about that price anyway.

 

[xelderx]

You may want to look at just doing full coilovers if that is the case, there is a GB for a set for $775 right now, I think. The GCs can be noisy and costwise, Illuminas and sleeve coilovers will probably be about that price anyway.

She's right. That will be around $200 cheaper than doing GC coilovers on Tokico's if you get the adjustable struts. The 2.5 diameter springs from GC (what most coilover companies use) are $60 ea. The Illuminas are the route to take if you want a little higher springrate. For what you ar wanting the suspension to do, I don't think you'll be satisfied with a basic non-adjustable strut. I'm not going to give you an idea of what springrates to get yet because I'm almost positive that I'll have to change mine once i get the front swaybar hooked up. Once I get that done in the next week or two I'll have a better idea on what setup you will want to try since you car will be heading in he same direction. Not having the front swaybar right now makes my springrates a little awkward from what you'll probably end up with and it makes it hard to guess a good starting point.

 

[Ilikemazda]

xelderx - thats sounds great

I am a bit hesitant to buy the full coilovers. One I don't know how their longevity compares to that of the tired and true tokico and gc combo. Also I will not be able to change spring rates. Or you can change spring rates and void the warrenty and how are the stock shocks affected by these higher rates?

And the number one reason is that I have not seen a shock dyno on the d2s or k sports. So I don't truely know the shocks ability or the total range of its adjustment. All I have seen is just butt-dyno-info.

 

[Katya4me]

The Ksports coilovers replace your shocks and springs and allow for greater adjustment as it is designed as a whole:

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102524

This is what you should buy instead of the GCs and Tokicos.

 

[Ilikemazda]

I admit they do seem nice but...

What kinda of warrenty and serviceablity is there?

What is the rust situaction?

And do you have a link to a shock dyno?

 

[Ilikemazda]

Can I order my gcs now and then get the tokicos later? Will they fit on both the stock struts and the tokicos without modification?

 

[moxnix]

I would ask those questions of the guy selling the Ksports not in this thread.

You can but...

If you run GC's with stock struts expect them to blow out because they are not meant to handle spring rates like that,

At least for the tokiko's you have to knock off the endcaps to put the coilovers on I do not know about the stock struts.