Help On Shocks

[dj-jon-boi]

my car has been lowered, by 60mm i think, but the guy i bought the car off had no idea wot the car has on it. its currently got tokioo shocks on it (never heard of this make lol) one of them has gone so need to change them, i have about hundered quid 2 spend. so cananyone help me out on where to get them?

[Jozinobi]

Hi mate

It sounds like you have Tokico shocks which not many people have on their starlets in the UK.

Are they like this? Tokico Front Shocks

As far as I know they are not available in the UK (not a UK make) and seem to be import only (Japan and USA)

Your best bet if you want to replace it is to find a dealer who sells these (doubtful in the UK)

There are only a handful of alternative shocks you can get (bar coilovers and standard shocks)

I know you have a small budget but here is where you can get some decent replacements in the UK (so you can see what is available) at the best prices.

Click me> Camskill

On that website the Konis are one of the best sports shock for the road but are expensive and amount to almost the same as entry level coilovers.

Also on that website the KYB Excel G's are a direct gas filled replacement in your price range (non sports & similar to oem and not ideal with lowering springs)

Here are some more examples of suspension including coilovers (bit pricier, no offense to TT)

Click me> Toy Tuning Chassis

With the starlet being an import, a lot of the best tailored sports shocks and coilovers are available from Japan (great with matched lowering springs. There are others but most are discontinued and can only be found second hand from Japan. The majority are very expensive, the most popular and available sports shocks are KYB SR Specials. They can only be imported from Japan or on the Yahoo Japan auctions which can be pricey even for second hand units.

Click me> KYB SR Specials

So as you can see, replacing or changing to complete sports suspension is not a cheap thing to do.

Now lets get back to your problem which is the one busted shock.

In all honesty, if you cant find a Tokico dealer or somewhere that does them, I'd go with original replacements from Toyota or the KYB Excel G's as they are the cheapest alternative (Toyota ones are KYB also). Running lowering springs with -40mm or more with standard or standard equivalent shocks is not ideal as they are not ideally matched to each other, this means there is a chance they can burst at anytime especially on -60mm! So if you must run the car lowered on standard shocks its at your own risk, it would be better to go for sports shocks in the long run. I hope you can see where Im coming from but am aware you are after a cheap solution.

I'd replace both fronts or both rears (depending on which one has gone) so that they are both the same. If you cannot afford it now, wait until you can. It wont be overly expensive. It is all a bit of a headache but welcome to the world of modding. Anything else on your mind, we are all here to help.

Hope this helps and gets you up to scratch.

Regards

Joz

[dj-jon-boi]

cheers mate, well its the rear one, i bought sum kyb shocks, but as they were standard height the spring was loose inside the coil! and dont rely wanna risk it, ill look at the options u have given me, thanks again mate

jon

[Jozinobi]

No worries Jon.

Be sure to let us know how you get on.

Joz

[dj-jon-boi]

will do my man