Tokico Struts

Jul 8th, 2002, 10:12 PM

Ok, I'm new to the forum and barely new to the sentra scene. I've owned a 91 Sentra SE-R for two years and its my first car. It's been good to me despite the fifth gear popout and the endless exhaust leak problem I've been having. Anyway, here's my deal. I'm not very knowledgable about cars but I'm learning, I've done most of the work to it myself minus the transmission and brakes, but I have installed a header, exhaust, and a coilover system from tokico to get some hands on experience. Once I installed the coilovers on my car it has been extremely stiff. My guess would have been when I torqued to retaining nut on the top of the strut that compresses the spring and whatnot I torqued it too much or maybe too little? Is there a specificaion I need to torque that nut too? Like I said I really dont know what I'm doing but doing it anyway so that I can learn from it so please bear with my ignorance. Thanks alot.

se-r-57 · Jul 8th, 2002, 10:19 PM

If you have coilover's on the car what spring rates are you runnin? Oh and by the way Tokico blue's suck

Jul 8th, 2002, 10:25 PM

Yeah I got the blue ones too, but they were cheap, I cant go spending 800 bucks on suspension but I'll probably replace them again. I have no Idea what the spring rates are, like I said I dont know much about it. Would that sort of thing come with the coilovers in the paperwork or soemthing? I didnt notice anything, they (optauto) didnt send me much information with the package, jus some disclaimers and stuff.

se-r-57 · Jul 8th, 2002, 10:30 PM

Look on the springs and see if there is any info printed on them. I don't know what kind of spring's those guy's use. KYB AGX struts work great for the money.

Jul 8th, 2002, 10:41 PM

Yeah I should have gotten the AGX's, funny thing is after I bought the tokico's I kept hearing about how tokicos are crap and AGX's are good. I made a mistake in my first post, its not a coilover its just a spring and strut assymbly.

Skinny G · Jul 9th, 2002, 01:39 AM

If this is the Tokico handling kit (springs and struts), the spring rates are as follows:

156 lbs-in front

152 lbs-in rear

These are stiffer spring rates than Eibach uses.

The ride IS going to be stiff. That is the compromise you made in lowering your car. If you expect a lowered car to ride like stock, you're fooling yourself.

You might find this interesting: http://www.geocities.com/g_wellwood/...andstruts.html

The strut rod has a step machined on the top - you tighten the top nut until the upper strut mount is seated. I assume you took note of how the struts came apart? The nut was pretty tight, eh?

I have about 30,000 km on a set of "blues." I am satisfied with their performance so far, but when the go soft, I'm going AGX.

bahearn · Jul 17th, 2002, 03:52 PM

Sorry, but 156/152 lb/in aren't stiff rates on a Sentra. Stock is 132/109 or there-abouts. I have 300/200 on my SE-R, now that's pretty stiff for a street car. Don't even think of using Tokrapo for those rates, go with the single-adjustable KYB AGX.

Skinny G · Jul 17th, 2002, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bahearn
Sorry, but 156/152 lb/in aren't stiff rates on a Sentra.

Are you saying that 156 is not larger than 132, or are you saying that relatively speaking 156 is not as stiff as one could go?

I merely said that

1). A lowered car will have a stiff ride

2.) Tokico springs (156/152) are stiffer rates than Eibach (148.5/68.5-159.9)

If you believe I am in error, please explain yourself.

bahearn · Jul 18th, 2002, 11:04 AM

Relatively speaking in the SE-R world, the Tokico kit springs are not particularly stiff and won't affect the Sentra's ride much at all. Sure, they are stiffer than stock, but don't expect them to keep you off the bump stops if they are lower than stock. Hitting the bump stops is what really screws up the ride.

Sentras are cursed with short suspension travel, so spring rates must go up to stay off the bump stops. I've never seen this in print, but I would hazard a guess that you would need at least 50% spring rate increase for each 1/2" drop that you want. In addition, Tokico struts are not the hot ticket on Sentras; they blow seals about every year and they're damping rate and curve are not particularly good for "stiff" springs. The KYB AGX are good in this respect, but even the softest rebound setting is too stiff for stock springs. They work pretty good with my 300/200 springs (not quite 1" drop).

Otherwise, what you said is correct, but as bald statements leave much unsaid.

Jul 18th, 2002, 01:32 PM

The kit instructions said something about cutting off half of the bumpstops to modify it for the shortened suspension but I had no Idea what bumpsopts were or what they looked like so I left them alone. Could anybody fill me in on what bumpstops are? Thanks.

bahearn · Jul 18th, 2002, 01:40 PM

The struts have accordion rubber dust covers. The bump stops are three thick rubber "rings" molded integrally at the top. With the struts out of the car and unbolted from the upper mounting plate, slide the dust cover off the shaft and cut the top and middle rings off. Slide the modified dust cover with the untouched bottom ring back onto the shaft, then slide the top ring on. This will give you about 3/4" extra travel before hitting those bump stops but removes some cushioning at full compression and could reduce the life of the strut.

With the Valley Spring springs and AGX struts, I didn't have to modify the bump stops.