[Supras] Strut time!

[Christian, Skip]

Jeff,

	You're 100% correct.  By "failure", I meant when the shock
damping degrades to the point where the car begins to bob.  Limit
handling will be effected sooner.  OEM TEMS shocks were about done
around 20K miles (if I remember correctly).
	Have not done only front shocks on a Supra so I defer to you.
On other cars (Alfas), I have not experienced a severe increase in
oversteer (but they were not prone to oversteer or "tank slapping").
	Just trying to tell him that if he picks the correct, more
expensive, shock, he might end up with a shock that lasts 2 to 3 times
longer.  Should have asked how he plans to use/drive the car.......
	Appreciate the correction.

Thanks, Skip	

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Mohler [mailto:speedtoys.racing at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:51
To: Christian, Skip
Cc: supras at supras.com
Subject: Re: [Supras] Strut time!

Skip:

By 'how long do they last' you seem to mean until they totally fail.

Struts..all of them, lose damping from mile #1, and few work 1/2 as good
at mile 30,000 in the normal retail market.

Thats what separates good from normal..and why good costs 2-3x as much. 

And nonono..dont leave crap struts in the rear with good up front.."less
rear bar" isnt the outcome, the outcome is a severe lack of damping on
rebound, and a huge tendency to oversteer from the instability.  Not to
say that rears should be stiff..that can lead to oversteer as well, but
that rebound damping is critical.  Less rear bar is allowing the car to
settle more weight in the back end in a turn..instead of adding more
overall spring rate and now allowing the rear to lean as much. 

A lack of proper damping is a tank slapper waiting to happen on a stiff
front end.




On 3/16/07, Christian, Skip < wellner.christian at navy.mil
<mailto:wellner.christian at navy.mil> > wrote:

	Supraman,
	        Does your car have TEMS ?  OEM TEMS shocks are KYBs and
they are 
	horrible.  Very linear and not enough, IMHO, damping.  Don't
know about
	non-OEM KYBs for Supras, but I've found aftermarket KYBs (gas
only) to
	be acceptable (you get what you pay for) in the other cars I've 
	installed them in.
	        I installed Tokico TEMS shocks with H&R (?) (sorry its
been a
	while) lowering springs (with an extra half coil cut off the
rears to
	level the car) and found them to be great for street use.  Also,
they've 
	lasted about twice as long as the OEM shocks.
	        Something to consider, if you plan to keep the car & put
on lots
	of mileage, ask how long specific shocks last.  The TEMS Tokicos
appear
	like they will make 100K miles easily (now watch one of them
blow the 
	next time I drive the car :-).  If you pay $100.00 per shock and
they
	last 100K miles, that's way better than paying $50.00 for shocks
that
	last 50K miles.  Of course, that is unless you thing is changing
	struts.........  Not my thing (not counting BHGs, struts are my
most
	hated job after exhausts).
	        Make a list of what the car needs and come up with a
budget.
	Maybe changing out only the fronts now and doing the rears in
six 
	months.  This will make the car drive a little like it has less
rear
	bar.
	
	Enjoy, Skip
	'86 MA70 Dead
	'88 MA70 Real Dead
	(shocks are good :-)
	
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