Bump stops were shot!

[Jeff Williams]

I put the Tokiko Blue's on, Saturday.

The old dust boots/bump stops were totally shot! The dust boots fell apart, as I touched them, and the bump stops were crushed to about 1/2 their size.

I guess 185,000 miles is a little too much for the original struts!

I also put on new upper links and tension rods. I believe these to be the originals, as well.

WOW! The car drives awesome! I never knew what a tight Q drove like. I know the Front strut tower brace helped a lot, and the 17" wheels/255-45-17 tires helped a lot, as well, but now the car responds amazingly.

I almost put on the braided stainless steel brake lines, but it was late, and I want to do some more cleaning, first. Those pesky power steering lines!:mad:

I just had to brag about my car';s handling, for a second.

The guy that hepled me, has a completely adjustable KYB set-up on his 300ZX TT, and gave me grief about not getting new springs, but I don't really want to lower the car with Eibachs.

[elwesso]

I was about to cry when I did all my suspension stuff... It was so beautiful....

Now I need to get that FSTB.... Summer project.

[VimyJ]

Never driven a Q but I was amazed at the beauty of the ride from my J once I had all that stuff replaced at 125K. 185K?????? No wonder you're moved to tears.

[maxnix]

I put the Tokiko Blue's on, Saturday.

The old dust boots/bump stops were totally shot! The dust boots fell apart, as I touched them, and the bump stops were crushed to about 1/2 their size.

I guess 185,000 miles is a little too much for the original struts!

I also put on new upper links and tension rods. I believe these to be the originals, as well.

WOW! The car drives awesome! I never knew what a tight Q drove like.

Just had this done to my Seattle Q45 with 50K miles. Also installed 3rd set of upperlinks and new bushings for front bar. New rubber throughout on the shocks mountings.

Experimenting with Nismo bushing for the tension rods and have noticed no readily discernible difference, although I would think they would be a little less forgiving and a little more inclined to intial impact loading harshness. Looking for rear a bar. Previous tension rod bushings and shocks were leaking.

Q45tech is correct in that jounce dampening is improved, but rebound control is where the blues shine. I agree with DiamondJ that a good Koni or Bilstein application would be most welcome.

I have read of others saying the initial quality of the blues was too harsh, but I have to disagree. I wish they were even more firm as I know they are degrading from now on.

[HeavyDuty]

Q45tech is correct in that jounce dampening is improved, but rebound control is where the blues shine. I agree with DiamondJ that a good Koni or Bilstein application would be most welcome.

I have read of others saying the initial quality of the blues was too harsh, but I have to disagree. I wish they were even more firm as I know they are degrading from now on. mad:

If you think they're underdampened with stock springs, try them with a set of Pro-Kits.

So I've been told, you determine the height & ride quality with the springs, then must select the appropriate damper to dampen the oscillations of those springs. The Pro-Kit is a slightly higher spring rate, but the Tokico is valved for stock springs (per my butt-strut dyno) and incapable of doing much more. This is what has led me to considering stock springs up front with the Tokico's.

Yes, they start a downward spiral quickly, more so with higher rate springs.

Would anyone here be interested in a custom set of KONI reds or even Yellows for these cars? They'd be expensive, but over the long haul, less cost than several sets of Tokicos over the ownership period. The problem we'll run into on a Sport Yellow strut is the diameter of the piston is really too smal to incorporate the external adjustment rod. It's do-able, but would be kinda weak. We might wind up with externally adjustable Red, as in take-it-off-the-car to adjust it.

Just try to get a set of Tokico's warranted. :rolleyes

[maxnix]

Oh, you mean the orangish ones you have to unhook and twist to adjust? Well, better than replacing, I suppose. Has to be a better choice. Haven't investigated the JIC offerings.__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

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