Believe what you want...

[Vecia]

I noticed in Mooneggs WL that there was some questions raised about the whole ZX2 Struts thing and I just had to comment seeing as how I just did this mod not too long ago.

I know allot of us here don't quite have the funds to go out and just snap together a bad-a-- ride in 2.2 seconds or heck, even a few years. My take on the ZX2 struts is this; if you are on a strict budget and don't have the grip to just throw on some high performance gear like coilovers or the high end Tokico struts or whatever, then the ZX2 Tokico strut mod may be right for you.

You get better suspension than stock OEM through a smart buy from Ford Racing due to a Mazda/Ford engineered and intentional similarity. Not saying that it is the best but if you have completely shot 1994 suspension now, then you will love what the mod does to your car.

There is no hype and what's said isn't just words. The struts are awesome... for me. I love them. I installed mine with the BNG springs and no they are not the best either but they are deluxe for my budget and it has allowed me to pump saved money into other aspects of my car... such as a rebuilt engine in the next week or so.

In conclusion, the Tokico Struts for the Escort ZX2 S/R are perfect if you are doing a budget build to a daily-driver. If you are painting your car with Duplicolor, spending 5 days a week at the wrecking yards and going a week to 2 weeks before adding a Millenia Flying "M" to your hood after you've spent your last few bucks just so you could compound a paint job from 94 with no clear then you just might be doing a budget build.

No offense to you guys doing the heavy mods because I love what you are doing to. It gives the rest of us something to shoot for. From Ryan's work on his engine and the quickness he is able to troubleshoot to Solo_rider's pristine restoration... all of you guys do some amazing work.

But I just have to say, the budget suspension is freaking awesome and the ride is excellent. Especially for a daily driver. One day we'll have the best but if you are like me and don't mind compromising the higher priced stuff so you can enjoy a little more of your car on the road with a little of the saved money vested in other areas of your ride, then waiting a little longer for the best won't matter one bit... Just my take on it. Thanks guys.

[Ryan]

You sound 100% reasonable to me. I spent a full year scrounging for parts for my engine build in order to pinch pennies, and even then, I've spent way too much and now I'm in loan mode for school... but I can't help myself sometimes, a guy has to have a little happiness in order to function and not be a cynical man b----.

Glad you're happy with the ZX2's. On my old RS I put straight up OEM zx-2 struts from a jy escort... raised my car about an inch but it didn't bounce like a trampoline anymore. I was happy for $80 and a few hours invested.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

I think you got the wrong impression from Moon's WL. Nobody hates on the ZX2 struts. If yo start going through the worklogs, you'll see a lot of guys have them.
But what's good for a daily driver is seldom good (or even suitable) for any serious racing. In that scenario, shocks and springs are chosen for performance, not comfort.

[Mooneggs]

I've never even used the ZX2 struts and never ridden in an mx-3 that had them. I was just saying that for my budget, getting used intrax springs and kyb-gr2's was a better deal and I am incredibly happy with the lowered height, ride quality and for normal daily driving the handling ability is great.

[tehbrookzorz]

Had em, loved em, lost em to my ex. Ooops.

[MrMazda92]

Had em, loved em, lost em to my ex. Ooops.

I'd give mine a kidney before i'd give her a car...

[MrMazda92]

I've actually been deeply considering the ZX2 swap myself, depending on what I do with this particular car. I'm not super into having a separate car for DD and "racing", so I want to keep some of the comfort of a stock feel. Hell, my 1 year old OEM replacement suspension is a rough enough ride here... Coilovers MIGHT be in my future, but I'll probably go the ZX2 route at this rate.

I'm not liking the thought of lowering my car though, since no matter how hard I try, I can't stop scraping my poor GS lip as is... my driveway's a b----, even hitting it diagonally.

[Nd4SpdSe]

I think you got the wrong impression from Moon's WL. Nobody hates on the ZX2 struts. If yo start going through the worklogs, you'll see a lot of guys have them.
But what's good for a daily driver is seldom good (or even suitable) for any serious racing. In that scenario, shocks and springs are chosen for performance, not comfort.

Exactly. I never said the setup wasn't good, I just said that they didn't last. The struts failed after a while, maybe because the cars drop was too low. Hard to say.

[tehbrookzorz]

Had em, loved em, lost em to my ex. Ooops.

I'd give mine a kidney before i'd give her a car...

You know her too?

Well, she paid for it, and her share of the car loan she got me into.

[DeadMaker]

One guy here said that you get what you pay..I think this is the best answer

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Had em, loved em, lost em to my ex. Ooops.

I'd give mine a kidney before i'd give her a car...

You know her too?

Well, she paid for it, and her share of the car loan she got me into.

yet another great reason for staying single...

[concealer404]

Good and reasonable points made here.

What's comfortable doesn't usually make for a good race car. What makes for a good race car, usually isn't comfortable. Nor is it cheap.

The S/R struts.... now i've been this discussion many times with the Protege/Escort guys. Some of those guys swear by them, and for the money, how can you go wrong? You can't. Even if they blow every two years, who cares? They're $200/set. I can't even buy two of the tires i run for that price. They're GREAT value.

But really, now that i've had those, the GR2s, and the Tokico HPs in short order... there isn't much difference between the three. I'd give the performance AND longevity edge to the HPs. 2nd place for performance would be the S/Rs, followed by the GR2s in 3rd. Longevity second place would be the GR2s, last place for the S/Rs.

GR2s vs. S/Rs? Toss a coin. Price is about the same. HPs are better, but i don't find them worth the $ premium over the other two options.



What are the majority of you guys looking for in a suspension? Good looks? Ride comfort? Performance? I did quite a lot of research on the BG chassis suspension options a while ago when i was laying out my build (no holds barred SCCA SMF car), and came across some interesting findings.

If you're stuck on staying away from 1-piece coilovers, your best bet is to track down some Koni Reds. I don't think they're the best out of the box that you guys can somewhat easily use, that honor would go to the Tokico Illuminas. But what the Reds really have going for them is that any Koni rebuilder can modify them to your specs down the road. Or if they DO blow, you can rebuild them. I just had 4 of them rebuilt for $192 shipped back to me. Can't beat that. If you want adjustability out of the box, and potentially even better performance in "stock" form, you wan the Illuminas.

Bear in mind that i'm not 100% familiar with these cars other than tearing down my donor car, but i'm pretty sure that you can use anything the BG cars can use. And the BG cars CAN use 2nd gen MX6/Probe Illuminas. You'll need spacers between the spindle and ears on the rear, and that's about it. They also have a shorter stroke, which would be a good thing for autox application in particular.

[Vecia]

This is actually an awesome discussion. There are allot of posts out there that I read on this forum concerning suspension but this kinda puts them all in one place.

Of course, one day I will definitely graduate to a better setup. I'm not really experienced at this whole mod thing but one day I would like to make my car race-worthy; maybe not on the track but definitely on the streets within the limits of my vehicle class so I know suspension is critical to handling.

Let's say you are simply pumping your car up for local street stuff. Would coilovers be the way to go or a static system with zero adjustment? And, for a street racer, what would be the normal amount one should expect to spend on such a setup?

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Of course, one day I will definitely graduate to a better setup. I'm not really experienced at this whole mod thing but one day I would like to make my car race-worthy; maybe not on the track but definitely on the streets within the limits of my vehicle class so I know suspension is critical to handling.

Let's say you are simply pumping your car up for local street stuff. Would coilovers be the way to go or a static system with zero adjustment? And, for a street racer, what would be the normal amount one should expect to spend on such a setup?

You need to understand there's no such thing as a "better setup". There are better setups for a given application. For example, for normal driving, the stock setup would be the "better" one, but the same setup would be pretty much worthless for any kind of serious racing. On the same note, an all out "generic" racing setup would make your car handle much better on the track, while it'd probably make your molars fall out of their sockets for everyday driving. And finally, if you REALLY want to go all out racing, the setup that gives you the best performance on a given track, under a specific set of conditions, may be completely inadequate for a different track, or even for the same track, under different conditions.

Besides that, just as a heads up, the concept of "racing in the streets" is highly frowned upon in this forum. Street racing is not cool, nor fun: it's stupid and irresponsible. I'd advise you to avoid that kind of comments here.

[solo_ryder]

GR2s vs. S/Rs? Toss a coin. Price is about the same. HPs are better, but i don't find them worth the $ premium over the other two options.

Why do you state that the HP's are the best of the bunch. I think the S/R's are the best of the 3. I had a set of HPs and I hated them. Blew 1 in 4 months of owning them on measly, soft a-- suspension techniques springs. I was not impressed for the 400$ I paid for the shocks.

The S/R's on the other hand have lasted over 3 years now and are still kicking. I blew one strut after 2 years of usage all while being on stiff a--, lowest setting ground control sleeves which are way to stiff for the dampening/rebound of the S/R's. If I had the HPs I would almost guarantee you the HPs woulda blown within 6 months. I realize the S/Rs are made by tokico but the valving is just that much better to make the strut better suited to lowering springs etc. Not to mention the sturt shaft itself is shorter in the ZX2 front shock so it gives you alil more travel in the shock.

The GR2s do come at the back of the pack I agree, but there is one thing they have that the others do not offer and that is a lifetime warranty, even with lowering springs that do not go lower then 2". At least that is what I was told by a reputable parts store fellow when I was pricing them out. If it wasnt for the cheap pricing of the S/Rs (GR2 isnt that cheap in Canada, about the same as HP) I woulda went with those and replaced them no questions asked whenever I needed.

The HP is not a high end strut, it is a OEM replacment with slightly better valving specs. The GR2 is basically OEM replacement.

The Tokico Illumina is a higher end strut and so is the KYB AGX. Both offer dampening adjustibilty and increased valving. Sadly they are not options for us MX folk (direct bolt on) so we are stuck with these mid-low range options that really dont need too much discussion. Unless of course you can afford to shell out for Koni inserts.

Bear in mind that i'm not 100% familiar with these cars other than tearing down my donor car, but i'm pretty sure that you can use anything the BG cars can use. And the BG cars CAN use 2nd gen MX6/Probe Illuminas. You'll need spacers between the spindle and ears on the rear, and that's about it. They also have a shorter stroke, which would be a good thing for autox application in particular.

This is true, I was contemplating taking my brothers illumina/GC setup and running it on my mx, but he ended up selling them with his car. The ride difference was quite noticeable front he S/R and GC combo. It did not bob as much in the front end leading me to believe the valving was much better. The strut shaft was also alot beefier in the front and rear so they would be fairly heavy duty for a MX, good for track and auto-x for sure.

As for the spacers, actually I think they are needed on the front, you will also need the probe/mx6 strut bolts as since you will be spacing them out you will need a longer bolt. The rears should bolt up fine