shocking?

[tom2004]

where is the best place to get uprated shocks from? the best i have found in konis for about £170 each.
cheers

[Jimbo_Jet]

Individual £145 each:

http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?a=i&p=26101142&part=Toyota-MR2-Silver-1-6TC16-M48x1-5-Koni-Sport-Adjustable-Rear-Shock-Absorbers

Or a full kit with springs £512:

http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?a=i&p=2617234&part=Toyota-MR2-1-6i-AW11-Koni-Sport-Adjustable-Suspension-Kits

[tom2004]

aah excelent mate thanks a lot :D

[Jimbo_Jet]

You're welcome! I got mine from there a couple of years back, good service and the Koni kit is great. The springs are a bit too soft for my liking but good value and with the Koni's turned up 3/4 turn from full soft mode the set up is great for everyday :-)

[superwhite90]

Jeeez they've gone up in price! I bought mine three years ago as a group buy on IMOC for £395.00

Great value for money though - cannot fault them.

[tom2004]

do you know if the apex springs are any stiffer? as i already have a set of them lol
would uprated anti-roll bars help if they are a bit soft

[Jimbo_Jet]

Absolutely, an uprated ARB is the next upgrade I want to do. It's interesting playing with the stiffness of the Koni's to get an idea of how a stiffer ARB set up will work for you. What I have found is that I have to have the rear Knoi's turned up 3/4 of a turn and the front 1/2 a turn to get a similar level of roll from front to back. This is the set up I'm running every day now. But if I turn the rears up to 1 full turn it feels even better in the corners but it's too harsh for me to live with day to day - so I'm going to upgrade my rear ARB one day soon.

Mine's a MK1a but I understand the rear ARB is bigger on the MK1b so you might be better if you have a MK1b? The front ARB's I think are the same and seem to be up to the job with 1/2 a turn on the Koni's. The best/cheapest upgrade path is to get a MK2 Turbo rear ARB which will fit a MK1b with the correct bushes IIRC, but the MK1a involves changing the bracket positions to mount it.

[CecilWard]

What should I do given that the roads are unbelievably bad? (no seriously, ridiculously broken and bumpy)

(and don't say "get a Landrover", because I already have :-) )

[Jimbo_Jet]

If you're looking for comfort with Koni's and some half decent handling I'd recommend 1/4 turn up front and 1/2 a turn at the back. That's a very pleasant set up and probably similar to how I imagine Toyota would do an OEM release of the MK1 if it was in showrooms today.

At least in my mind it is :D

[superwhite90]

I have mine set to stiff all the time - can feel lumps and bumps and noises bones breaking but its all good fun

[Jimbo_Jet]

I have mine set to stiff all the time......

This may be an inappropriate question for this time of the morning, but exactly how stiff do you have it? ;)

[superwhite90]

I have the adjusters set to max firmness.

Admittedly its getting a bit silly now, because its going to start getting icy/frosty, will put them back to soft when they bad weather sets in.

[CecilWard]

@Jimbo_Jet another ignorant question for you, what benefits do eg Konis bring for non-track use? again, road use only on incredibly bumpy highland roads?

I can of course understand the advantage of adjustability for mixed track vs road use. But are they of benefit for solely fast road use?

In my case, i'm talking about roads that are so bumpy and have so many camber changes you simply have to go slow in a stiffer car. My Subaru Forester with it's ultra-soft suspension and long travel is much much quicker down the road, with my crazy wife (Frau Vettel) at the wheel, than is my 997. When the new mr2 mk1b turns up it hopefully will be softer with OEM shocks than the 997 C2S is, from memory of ten yrs prev.

[CecilWard]

> The springs are a bit too soft for my liking but good value and with the Koni's turned up 3/4 turn from full soft mode the set up is great for everyday

would you say then that the Konis set to 'softest' are softer than the OEM ones then?

[Jimbo_Jet]

I have the adjusters set to max firmness.

:wtf: How do you still have a spine?! :wtf:

I tried them at full stiffness and lasted 2 miles before I had to pull over and turn them down :lol:

[Jimbo_Jet]

@Jimbo_Jet another ignorant question for you, what benefits do eg Konis bring for non-track use? again, road use only on incredibly bumpy highland roads?

In my case, i'm talking about roads that are so bumpy and have so many camber changes you simply have to go slow in a stiffer car.

For me I needed to replace two shockers for an MOT as one was dangerous and one was advisory, so I considered all options. And, due to cost, I was originally going to buy KYB inserts which were somewhere around 1/2 the price of a Koni adjustable inserts at the time, and as I was planning to replace all 4 to match this was a considerable saving.

However, everyone I personally know, or have talked to on the forum, had agreed that KYB's were very firm and some would say harsh in the ride quality they give. This is my everyday drive and I plan to keep the car for many years to come so I thought if I buy the KYB's and find them to harsh, I've got a long , and uncomfortable, time to regret my penny pinching.

So I ended up going for Koni's and have not regretted it. What they bring you is choice, that is there strength. This morning I was early leaving the house so knowing the roads would be quieter I turned them up to 1 full turn each (2 turns to max stiffness) and had a blast down the A roads that make up 30% of my commute. Tonight I'll be be coming back in traffic so I'll turn them down a bit and enjoy the comfort.

Aside from that, they allow you to set the car up for your preferences and your local road conditions. I set mine to reduce body roll and they cope with my A roads great. If you're roads are a lot worse you can tune them to suit you which is important for bad roads.



> The springs are a bit too soft for my liking but good value and with the Koni's turned up 3/4 turn from full soft mode the set up is great for everyday would you say then that the Konis set to 'softest' are softer than the OEM ones then?

Probably, yes. Certainly they were softer than the existing sealed units on my MK1a and two of them were MOT issues, but of course does anyone truly know what a true OEM set up feels like? Even low mileage minters have been sat on their springs and shocks for a quarter of a century and the original OEM shock replacements from Toyota haven't been available for years - the replacements from Toyota these days I believe they are now KYB inserts also IIRC.

[superwhite90]

:wtf: How do you still have a spine?! :wtf:

I tried them at full stiffness and lasted 2 miles before I had to pull over and turn them down :lol:

I've got superflex bushes on both ARBs too lol - I have gotten used to it over a period of time. Its more the noise it makes rather than the stiffness. I am only young so my aches and pains heal up quicker I guess lol

I find that the soft setting is a bit blamongy really - ive had mine for about 4 years now so cannot remember what the stock setup was like. But I needed two front shockers after it emerged they were both leaking. At the time the koni kit was in the same price range as buying brand new from Toyota (4 struts) so aftermarket/uprated suspension for the same money was a logical choice - plus its adjustable compared to OEM are not.

Setting them to max stiff certainly stiffens up the body too. The only roll I suffer with is the rear tyres rolling on the alloys!!!

As Jimbo says you can set them for comfort or to play silly buggers!

[Jimbo_Jet]

the only roll i suffer with is the rear tyres rolling on the alloys!!!

:lol:

[superwhite90]

thats not pleasant when that occurs either. I'm constantly going sideways in wet weather atm as well.