EVO Swift Spring with KYB GR-2

[GEDengineering]

Looking for a little advise from anyone that has been down this road before. I don't want to by a set of used kyb's from an EVO and you cant by front kyb's for an EVO anymore. I have been thinking about buying a set of kyb's for a the galant and pairing them with swift springs from an EVO. Has anyone on the boards done this? If so how do you like the result. I would like to stay away from coilover because of the cost and the maintenance, plus you lose some of the ride quality. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[prove_it]

You'll have horrible ride with GVR4 valved struts with EVO rated springs. Your better off just buying GVR4 lowering springs.

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

You will kill the Galant/DSM KYB's with the Swifts. They can barely handle the stock springs. I had AGX's and they could not handle the H&R springs properly. I have a set of OEM Evo 9 KYB's from my Evo if you are interested $200 but shipping may be expensive.

 

[GEDengineering]

My initial thought was because of the similar, weights between the two cars and the sprung to un-sprung weight similar the spring rates would be about equal. That would lead me to believe that the compression/rebound rates would be similar also. How long did you have the gr-2 before failure?

 

[prove_it]

Your thinking is right, but remember the EVO is a performance car built in modern times, where as the GVR4 was built a long time ago with a far less performance based suspension.

EVO springs are much stiffer, lowering springs even stiffer, the EVO struts are valved much stiffer to handle the springs.

Don't mix and match springs and struts.

 

[91GVR4BG]

I have the evo swifts on evo8 struts and hats. Couldn't be happier and car feels amazing compared to before with stock setup /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

The AGX's were not blown, they just could not properly handle the H&R's. They spring was too much for them and you could tell when going over a bump or a bad road. I swapped them out at that time for some Koni's and it was night and day. The Evo Swift springs are of even higher spring rates than the H&R springs. It will not ride well.

Your best bet is to get some Evo KYB or Bilsteins with the Swift springs unless you get lucky and source out some 1g Koni rears and get the 1g Koni front inserts. The fronts are available but the rears have been discontinued for years. I sold my set last year.
The 2g rears will work perfectly if you are using coilovers but not sure if the spring seat is in the same location as the 1g's if you are using regular springs.

 

[GEDengineering]

I had looked into the koni "cut a strut" as a replacement option, they are made for several popular platform, and then run the EVO springs but without a lot of option for the rear I left that. I was think of using a set of blistein out the shelf motor sports shock, make the required upper and lower mount with swift coilover springs. That way I would be able to lower the vehicle my shorting the strut body length but not the stroke.

Anyone played with that idea?

Blistein click

 

[tektic]

There's a guy who posts her and did a write up on tooners about it. His name alludes me at the moment.

By the Time your done buying everything and building up everything your over the cost of a coilover setup.

I went so far as to buy the front bilstein struts but when my gc spring purches didn't fit I returned them.

 

[GEDengineering]

Thank you for the advise I think I may end up just going coilovers because the cost of new evo suspension and springs would put me in the realm of good coilovers.

 

[cheekychimp]

I'd have a look for that write up on tooners before you offload all that cash. The consensus from what I remember was that Bilstein struts from the MR with Robispec springs actually handled better than low to medium end coilover setups and the ride quality was significantly better. For a road and track day car it was considered to be about the best you could get for the money. If you are building a track only car and want infinite adjustability for the absolute fastest lap times you might want to invest in top of the line coilovers but for 90% of the drivers here I think the Bilstein/Swift or Bilstein/Robispec is the way to go. From what I understand however the MR struts are way above the KYBs. I have Bilsteins on my GTi in the UK and they are too heavily sprung in my opinion (lighter car). I have a set of Ohlins waiting to go on that car. I have all the parts for the Bilstein/Robispec combo for the car in Hong Kong, just waiting on shipping it over with a ton of other stuff.

 

[GEDengineering]

The price of the bilsteins new for the fronts is 295.50 each and 143.50 for each rear that comes out to 878.00. You then add the cost of the swift springs which is 300 and new top hats for the galant getting a grand to 1178.00. I can purchase BC coilovers for that price range. I could the used route and then get the bilsteins rebuilt which would save me some money, but not much.

The pros of the bilsteins is the ride and quality the cons are that they have to be modified to work, which adds the overall cost.

The pros of coilovers are the infinite adjustability the cons are the maintance and ride quality.

I plan to rebuild my galant and use it everyday so I was looking for a high quality struts spring option which would be affordable, but I may just save up and get good coiolvers
.

 

[prove_it]

That's new pricing. You can buy them used for cheaper.

No one realizes that the Bilsteins can be sent in for rebuild for 75 a piece. Buy a set of blown fronts for 150 shipped, rebuild for another 150, 300 in fronts, the rears don't really ever blow out and can be had for 200 a pair used, or cheaper.

If you buy it all new, then your dumb or rich.

 

[KiNgMaRtY]

New is new... The valving of the new HD bilsteins and the MR Bilsteins are different. The MR Bilsteins do ride a bit softer than the HD's.
Personally, I was lucky to find a 30K MR Bilstein setup for about $350.
Also, if you get the MR Bilsteins, you have to get MR specific Swift springs as the perches are in a slightly different location therefore the springs are a slightly different in length.

If you decide to go with coils and you don't want to spend much more, consider the Feals over the BC's.

 

[GEDengineering]

Thank you King.. I am going to look for some more deals before I pull the trigger on the coilovers