Sways or Springs n struts

[rougeben83]

If you think the GR-2's are harsh.. dont get the KYB AGX's... ive had them on a few cars, and even at the 'softest' setting, they are still pretty stiff / harsh. I think thats the point.. they are supposed to be more stiff than stock struts.

GR2s come stock on a lot of cars (DSMs) I do not know what subys came with (mine both have monroes) But the ride should be similar. But shocks play the smallest part of the feel of your suspension. They slow down the bouncing. Your springs really make the ride harsh, if you swap to a higher rate spring your are going to feel the road alot more.

Umm...shocks do more than "keep the springs from pogoing". Compression dampening and rebound dampening (what prevents the springs from oscillating) play a large role in how the car's ride and handling will be perceived by the driver. If you have a high compression rebound, your shocks will not allow your springs to compress as quickly, often the case for a "jittery ride", but if you have too much rebound dampening, the suspension will not be able to react to load changes quickly enough. That's why suspension engineers spend months tunning the dampening rates on a car along with the spring rates to get the right kind of ride and handling for the car that they are setting up. And why pro race teams spend a lot of time looking at suspension telemetry to set the car up just right for the driver to take advantage of the course and road.

That's also the reason some of the best aftermarket suspensions have compression and rebound as independently adjustable.

BTW, just to keep you from jumping on my back, I have experience doing this with setting up suspensions for full suspension bicycles (not the same I know, but the fundamentals of shock technology is the same), and enough reading about suspensions in general to know how to talk to other people about what I may want to change and adjust on the car when I'm at autocross/rallycross.

[kkushner4474]

So here is what happened

I got new old stock whiteline flat out springs to fit legacy sedans 95-99 cuz the opportunity arouse from eBay and it was cheap

Now I need struts and I'm a poor college student so I saw these on eBay KYB GR-2 struts

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KYB-GR-2 ... dZViewItem

Now one of the questions is would I need new top hats and is there other mounts or boots I need to worry about for the struts

The springs are made for my car and so are the struts...so from what I have read the top hats I have should be fine right??

[scottzg]

yeah, they're fine. They are a moving part of the suspension, so fresh ones do make a difference, but not like struts and springs do.

reuse your boots, they last forever.

might consider some offset bolts to help deal with the big drop flatouts provide.

[Huffer]

I'd get new strut tops. Both of mine bound up (bearings) at the same time I replaced the struts. So I had to drive around for 2 weeks with seized strut top bearings. Not cool.

[scottzg]

I'd get new strut tops. Both of mine bound up (bearings) at the same time I replaced the struts. So I had to drive around for 2 weeks with seized strut top bearings. Not cool.

sounds like you put the washers in upside down.

[Huffer]

Nope. The bearings had completely seized up. Both sides. You couldn't spin them without making the bearings go "pop".

1998 GT strut tops are SEALED - so you can't just pack them with grease.
I had placed an order with Jaime (Subiegal) and based on my VIN#, she had to special order them from Subaru.

I could have used other year strut tops, but the OEM ones were on order.

Here's a pic of the new, replacement one:

[scottzg]

whoa, crazy. thx for the pics!

[rougeben83]

Hmm weird, I could have sworn the Group N ones that I have can be regreased...I can easily see the big bearings under the cover...