Aftermarket strut/shock/damper query...

[Famine]

Okay, so I figure my front-left shock is a bit wibbly and now would be an ideal time to do the works - new shocks all around.

Well, it's a fine plan, but I cannot find any supplier in the UK that I can source aftermarket shocks from. Which is a little on the irritating side.

So far I see my options as:

• Koni Red strut insert (requires cutting, not happy with that).
• Tokico shocks from Corksport.
• KYB shocks from fordprobestore.

So, really, my question is... what have people used for their aftermarket shock solutions (excluding the Escort ZX2 solution - that requires too much bodging for my liking and it's a car we never got in the UK)? Feel free to expand on the options above if you have alternate solutions.



There is a further tiny little mystery which could be cleared up by the luminaries here... I was given a quote for some Bilstein shocks by a local car parts dealership. I investigated these parts as much as I could and could only find them listed as "OE by Part No." and, from one source, as MX-3 1.6i parts. I'm not totally familiar with the differences between the 1.6 and V6 models so I'm not sure if these will fit - or indeed are fit for the task. The part numbers listed were:
VNE-4751 (O/S/F)
VNE-4752 (N/S/F)
VNE-4898 (O/S/R)
VNE-4899 (N/S/R)

If they are suitable, it's something of a coup, being about half the price of the next option and about a third of the price of OEM parts.

Thanks in advance!

[1992blazeredgs]

I dont know what your plan for the mx3 are, but i have kyb gr2 struts lowered on h&r springs and i am pretty happy with my setup. The car rides great, but upon hitting big bumps you can tell the kyb struts are only 20% stiffer than stock. Not necessarily ment for lowering springs. But if you are staying with the stock coil springs i would reccommend them.
If i could do it all over again i would go with the koni inserts. If you are mechanically inclined, making the inserts work really is not that difficult.

Nate

[Famine]

I dont know what your plan for the mx3 are, but i have kyb gr2 struts lowered on h&r springs and i am pretty happy with my setup. The car rides great, but upon hitting big bumps you can tell the kyb struts are only 20% stiffer than stock. Not necessarily ment for lowering springs. But if you are staying with the stock coil springs i would reccommend them.

I intend to go for a very subtle 30mm descent on Apex springs. Just to fill those wheelarches a little better.

Mind you, you raise another good point - I have no clue what the relative stiffnesses of the selection of dampers actually is. This information is not readily available to the British consumer, annoyingly.

From where did you acquire your KYB struts and for how much, if you don't mind the enquiry?

If i could do it all over again i would go with the koni inserts. If you are mechanically inclined, making the inserts work really is not that difficult.

Nate

I am as mechanically-inclined as a basking shark.

However, I do have (now) a flat driveway and garage, a pair of 2-ton trolley jacks and a tame MX-5 expert to hand. Though I'm no fan of any solution which requires hacking into things with sharp objects, I by no means exclude it.

[1992blazeredgs]

Here is the link to where i got my struts. This price is still the same.
http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/Susp ... &brand=all

Replacing struts is a very stimple job. If you have somebody to assist you, i would definatly reccomend doing the job yourself. If you plan to slightly lower your mx3 and only use it as a daily driver, i think the kyb struts are the way to go. But if you plan on doing any kind of fun on the track, i would say go with the koni inserts. Do a search on here for them. It really isnt that hard of a job. I was in your same position when i first lowered my car, and after seeing how simple it is in person. Could easily have modified the strut to use the koni inserts.

Nate