I've been looking around at suspensions since I'll soon have my car apart for ball joints and Daizen bushings and have looked at everything from H&R to KYB to stock, and the OEM stock shocks are by far the cheapest through Sewell at $256 shipped. I'll probably throw some L-tuned springs on at the same time, which the stock shocks are compatible with. Is there a reason these are so cheap? I'd always thought of KYB as cheaper than OEM, so this was surprising.

 

The KYB will be slightly stiffer than the OEM. I'm riding on stock springs with KYB shocks right now and they've definitely firmer. I kind of want OEM shocks for my stock springs, but it's not worth changing them out right now.

For what it's worth, I just sold my L-tuned springs. They were paired up with the KYB shocks (bought them new) and they rode great. The KYBs seems to match up with the L-tuneds better than the OEM shocks.

 

KYB + L-Tuned might be the best riding lowering combo out there, IMHO. If you're going through the effort pair the combo correctly.

 

interesting... I'm pretty sure I put KYB on my dad's MDX and never thought they were were an 'upgrade' over factory parts.

If they are better quality and improve the car, that sounds like the way to go I guess.

 

Depending on your budget, you might want to look into Koni or Bilstein shocks. also.

 

I replaced the lower ball joints, tie rod ends, and shocks last year with stock parts from Sewell. These OEM shocks were made by KYB (per marking), but I don't know if they're the same as the commercially-available KYBs.

After the replacements and alignment, the car (1999 GS300 with 130K) had a much improved ride and steering.

 

^what he said

 

Yea... bilsteins are a bit out of my price range. I've loved them on my more performance oriented cars though. (meant bilstein vs. H&R in the original post, whoops)

I'm looking to do L-tuned or eibach pro-kit with either KYB or OEM... after seeing some posts that KYBs died after 15-20k miles though, I'm actually leaning towards OEM...

 

Most of the KYBs that died prematurely were put on springs that lowered the car more than what the shocks could handle. When I took my l-tuned springs off, my KYBs had 30k miles on them. At that point, the damping was practically the same as the day I got them.

Not to mention, factory L-tuned shocks are relabeled KYB GR-2s.

 

cool, that's good to know... I can't remember if the people posting about their shorter shock life identified what springs they were on.

 

If you are going to go with bilstein, I think it's much ideal to get coilovers... 2 in 1.

I wonder which coilover out there is the softest...?

 

Sewell is extremely reputable and stock is stock. I would be all over them.

 

I just pulled the trigger on the OEM shocks through Sewell... Just couldn't argue w/ factory parts at such a low price. I had to draw the line at a grand for how much I was going to drop into the front end/suspension... the following parts are now enroute:

Daizen sway bar bushing kit

Daizen steering rack bushing kit

Daizen control arm bushing kit

Moog inner/outer left and right tie rods

OEM lower ball joints

OEM front/rear shocks

L-Tuned springs

 

You might want to consider replacing the upper strut mounts (for the front). Rockauto sells the KYBs for $47/pair.

 

Good move. Can't wait for the updates.