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KYB vs Bilstein


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Hey guys,

I'm after a little advice or perhaps, reassurance.

I've had enough of my 2nd hand, unknown kms Bilsteins as my travels over summer were rather unenjoyable.
They've just become quite bouncy and not as tight and responsive as they once were and the dreaded knock is coming on in the front now too.
Car is an '04 SpecB GT.

A mate who works for Repco is trying to talk me into a set of KYB Excel-G shocks and he's very close to doing so with the price I would be getting them for!
Andy_Mac, you were so close to convincing me too but this is my baby so I wanna make doubly sure I'm doing the right thing here!

Has anyone here done this and if so what are your thoughts?
Are there any issues with running the springs from the Bilsteins in the KYBs?
Would I need new top hats?

As always, any advice is much appreciated.
Cheers! 
 

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I would stick with the bilsteins personally. The KYBs are a good shock, but they are just a normal shock, as in they aren't sports oriented. The advantage with the bilsteins is that they can be rebuilt.

 

I depends on what you want from the car really. If you want something new but sports oriented, KYB AGXs or Konis are a good bet, but given you already have the billies I would just use those!

 

Top hats would probably be fine. Check for cracking in the rubber, and that the bearing is still smooth. I changed mine, but then i wanted everything on my car to be new, as my car is 26 years old :P 

 

Edited by Firenza
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@Firenza Cheers for the reply. 

 

I think deep down I know that's the thing to do but price wise it's a hard decision as I can get such a sharp deal on the KYBs and nothing off the Bilsteins which are around $300 a corner from memory?

 

Anyone here getting any sweet hookups on them by chance? haha 

Just for the record, a set of the KYBs would set you back the same at retail.

 

No option for the AGX for my wagon and Konis are even more expensive than the Billies are they not? 

Would it be worth my while to rebuild what I've got already?

 

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Fronts are but not sure about the rears. 

But then with these being RevA spec and meant to be the most rough riding of them all am I better off going for some of the newer spec ones for a little more comfort? 

Or screw the lot, blow the budget, forget about doing wheels and tires anytime soon and go down the coilover route? 

 

Decisions, decisions.... and not easy ones it seems.

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Pretty sure you can't rebuild the rears in these cars. Looked into it a while ago when seeing if I could regrease mine, no easy way of pulling them apart. They aren't like the older subaru's with Mcphersons in the rear aswell.

Still reckon you do what I originally said and say F the budget and get some MCA's

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Not sure of any in NZ but a heap of them are moving that way over in Aus on BL/BP's. General concensus seems to be that when properly configured they're better than Billies. They talk about them a bit on the liberty.asn.au facebook page.

Helps that you can actually talk to them regarding your preferences so they can have them set up in a way that works best for you and not just a hit and miss / trial and error shamble you do with some other brands

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  • 2 months later...

Did you buy your shocks yet ?

Any chance that your mate at Repco offer a discount to somebody else ? Haha !

 

I'm thinking about changing my shocks soon. I would love to get bilsteins but I think that I will go for KYBs for the higher ground clearance (for gravel roads) and lower price.

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I don't think that KYB made the springs for the legacy anyway.

About mixing the KYB-designed springs with bilsteins, my point is not that it can't be done, just that I'm not sure that it is a good idea... just like lowering springs ...

Btw, I bet you can also use outback springs with the bilsteins :ph34r:

 

And before someone else says I'm crazy, here is what I think of lowering springs : (skip to 2m14s)

 

Of course some might disagree but I'll rather buy adjusties than mixing springs and shocks that are not designed to work together. That being said, I'm curious by nature and if someone on the forum did mix the KYB-designed springs with Bilsteins, I'm interested in his feedback ; that's why I was asking about mixing the 2. I think that exchanging point of views and learning new stuff is what makes forums interesting.

 

Funny how people never understand what I mean on this forum. Must be cos' of my bad English xD

Edited by delta
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Its good that you bring your thoughts to the forum..:D

We all learn more when things are discussed in the open..

 

I think that its ok to try different springs on different struts..

As long as you put the same springs on the same axles and don't mix extreme types of springs on the car..

There wouldn't be any after market springs available if it was dodgy..

 

 

 

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19 minutes ago, delta said:

I don't think that KYB made the springs for the legacy anyway.

About mixing the KYB-designed springs with bilsteins, my point is not that it can't be done, just that I'm not sure that it is a good idea... just like lowering springs ...

Btw, I bet you can also use outback springs with the bilsteins :ph34r:

 

And before someone else says I'm crazy, here is what I think of lowering springs : (skip to 2m14s)

 

Of course some might disagree but I'll rather buy adjusties than mixing springs and shocks that are not designed to work together. That being said, I'm curious by nature and if someone on the forum did mix the KYB-designed springs with Bilsteins, I'm interested in his feedback ; that's why I was asking about mixing the 2. I think that exchanging point of views and learning new stuff is what makes forums interesting.

 

Funny how people never understand what I mean on this forum. Must be cos' of my bad English xD

 

Good video, i definately learnd :B ^_ ^

 

I've always used dobi sport springs when lowering my cars - i find dobi springs are nice and firm, but your right, they wont match the factory shocks when it comes to dampening, but over all they have always been ok imo.

I'm looking at getting bilstein shocks for my RS but having trouble finding a set - if I do manage to find them ill definately be putting the dobi sport springs in there :P

I wouldnt be surprised if the my Hard dobi springs matched the hard bilstein shocks quite well

If i dont find bilsteins ill probably go with the common BC adjustable range, however I see this as more of a pain to do with having to go get them set up and get a cert etc, but I realised the results will be good and ill have to get a cert one day anyway lol

Edited by THUNDA
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15 hours ago, THUNDA said:

I wouldnt be surprised if the my Hard dobi springs matched the hard bilstein shocks quite well

 

Would probably work fine, AFAIK the bilsteins are expecting hard springs like the STI pinks, the hard dobi are probaby close. If you want to "check", you can always look up the spring rates for both those springs and compare them.

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