I have just picked up the H&R sport springs and have been looking into aftermarket shocks to go with the setup. To me it makes sense I have a little over 50k miles on my G and if I am paying for the labor to get the springs installed might as well get some new shocks/struts to go along with it. First, I look into a couple of the big boys.. Koni and Bilstein. Needless to say I ended up with no results for our sedans. I have also sent an email to both companies seeing if they have any plans or if anything would be compatible for us. I am still on the hunt looking but not finding anything for the V36 at all.

My questions are..
Am I just jumping the gun.. should my oem shocks be fine?
Also are we stuck with OEM shocks when it comes to lowering springs?

I know I could always do coilovers but I just can't see myself spending the extra $$ if I plan to do little to no track use.

 

You're stuck with oem shocks, unless you want to spring 2k plus for the jdm bilstein conversions.

 

Tokico is supposed to release theirs by sometime this summer. But who really knows how long it will take em..?

I'm pretty much w/ you in the same boat. Been ridin on my H&R's for about a year now and I feel the OEM shocks are not up to par especially w/ aftermarket springs. I definitely feel that my shocks are under-damped on bad parts of the freeway. Lets just hope Tokico pulls through.

 

our cars seriously get no love....they are beautiful machines and have incredible potential but i guess mayb the cars were released at a bad time...

 

Thats too bad, I was really hoping to upgrade my shocks with my springs. Do you guys think I should just pick up some new OEM shocks while I am installing the H&Rs? This might be a silly question but would I need to purchase/install them from the dealer? There must be some website I could just order them off of right.

 

It's the sad truth. We don't have too many options when it comes to mods, although it's starting to pick up pretty well.
Your stock shocks should be fine with the H&R springs. The factory shocks are pretty durable.
Quite a few members (including myself) are running H&R springs with stock shocks and there haven't been any problems so far.

 

Although i'm still rooting for Tokico to release theirs in a couple of months (they even took my name down for track testing), i'm starting to think a Coilover set-up is a better alternative.

My thoughts were:
- Eibach @ $225
- A/M dampers @ $450 (est)
- Rear camber kit @ $125
About $800

The Tanabe Sustec's are roughly the same price, and since i can keep the drop at a minimal height, i may not even need the camber kit. It's also a linear spring so the overall dynamics of the car will feel similar to the OEM set-up, especially at the limit.

 

If the Tokico work as well as they did on the V35 they will be well worth the money spent.
I hope they come out soon for you guys.

 

I am thinking about holding on a bit for my spring install to wait for the Tokicos now. I mean it doesn't make much sense to me to pretty much pay 2x the labor to do first the springs then in a couple months go for the shocks. I have been thinking about just replacing the OEM setup but would be a little upset if a month later these come out. Hope this doesn't turn into a year later however...

On a side note I chickened out on the H&R springs and picked up the Eibach kit. The roads here in Mass are just terrible and I figure every inch of clearance would do me good.

 

Thought I bring up Tokico's reply for anyone interested. I was told that they will be releasing their setup for the second gen coupe in about a month. The second gen sedan however will be at a later date. They also mentioned that they might be looking for a V35 sedan for testing in the LA area if anyone would like to contact them.

Personally, I think I am just going to install the Eibachs and get the Tokico's installed later on when everything is released.

 

hmmmm
I would have thought that the sedan & coupe would be the same.
They were for the 1st gen.

 

Should be, unless they're valving the coupe version a little stiffer due to the extra weight

 

hmm.. let me send out a reply and see what they tell me. If the coupe setup works fine with our sedans I will be buying them as soon as I can and install them with my springs.

 

Just got a reply from Tokico. They agreed that the V35 setup was the same exact parts for both the sedan and the coupe. However when it comes to the second gens the parts are slightly different. With not much feedback for a release for our sedans it looks like I will be installing my springs in the near future and when it is time for some new struts I will be picking up the Tokicos.

 

I hope you keep this thread updated with Tokico release info. I would be really interested in a set when they come out. Maybe a group buy?