no reason for the smart ass remark about being a "dsmtalker" I know that there's ALOT of BS on that site, but theres a good handful of helpful information. It's just like anything else....you have to get threw the bad to find the good.

Triple G when you said fast...I was thinking of the fastest known cars Buschur, shep, kirk brown, plebani, glaser...I didn't think any of them used AGX's..

Anways....I had problems and will not buy them again. AGX's just are not made for lowerd cars. Its only the front ones that are known for the problem.....but I don't want to have two different types of shocks on my car.

 

those guys have full blown race cars, most of which don't have stock suspension(I don't mean simple shocks and springs here) Shepard’s is the closest to a street car, but it is no where near one. Kirk's (Most know him by Curt) is a tin can, he is known for having absolutely nothing he doesn't need to go fast. Glazer’s car is a full blown race car and Buschur’s is a tube chassis.

I would image anyone running better than 13.5s is fast compaired to your car so I find it hard to believe that you know nobody fast with them.

 

I dislike AGX's, they dont last AT ALL with lowering springs, this is a fact. KYB does not let anyone know this. This is my opinion that AGX's SUCK on the front, and I have personal experience.

When fast is said........I think of people like you and faster.....
Hell I ran damn near what you think I consider fast on a stock suspenshion and a very minimial modded car, and lets see, that was over 1.5 years ago.

 

off topic but is Goten Coilovers any good? someone on here selling it for around 100

 

i've never heard of those, they sould like cheapies

 

I ran KYB AGXs with Pro Kits for about 20,000 miles and then switched to Ground controls with AGXsfor about 5000 miles or so. The spring rate on the Ground controls was very high and high spring rates are hard on shocks. I never had a problem with leaking or blowing one out. My Talon was reasonably fast too at 11.20 @ 126. I managed a handful of 1.5 60' times and hundreds of 1.6s. Thats hard on shocks too. KYB AGXs are pretty much the standard for street/drag suspension on DSMs. Most cars you find in the 10,11 and 12 second range run them.

 

KYB AGX's for the front are a shitty choice, no way around it. they are poorly designed from a user stand point.

AGX's are fine for stock springs and stock-ish rates. but when it comes time to use lowering springs w/ higher than stock spring rates... its not very wise. the AGX's like to bottom out easily w/ lowering springs cuz it really does decrease your suspension travel by a noticable amount. Eibachs dont lower your car a significant amout and are progressivly wound meaning they are not rock hard till you really get goin around a corner or hit a pot hole. most of the time you ride around on the soft side of the spring. Using a GC kit also applies here as GC uses Eibach springs also. its real easy to get those to bottom out if you are not planning to be sensible when setting your ride height. i dont recall what the spring rates of the DSS springs so i cant really comment on them. but we have Intrax springs on our car and they lower the car about 1.6" as opposed to the usual 0.75" or 0.80" that i see for Eibachs, IIRC. couple the lowered ride height w/ the linear spring type that is roughly 25% stiffer than stock... that right there will help kill a strut as fast as possible, short of actually drilling a hole in the cartridge. oh, and not having bumpstops installed will kill the strut very quickly too. if the strut comresses all the way, such as hitting a speed bump too fast or expansion joint or road work or whatever... it can either hurt the valve or the seals holding in the nitrogen. the bumpstop is to help slow the speed of compression so its not such a hard jar to the strut itself... and if you dont have the bumpstops in, it will rattle the strut to peices. we had bumpstops in ours... the car wanted to bottom out so much that the bumpstops were oblitterated into little foam pancakes. yea.... AGX's are wonderful

who the fuck uses a plastic adjuster as an interface between a metal screwdriver and a metal adjuster rod w/ a high friction interference fit at the O-rings???

look at the quality pieces like the Koni Yellow cartridges and Tein struts... those guys actually use Metal adjusters w/ knurled surfaces for ease of end-buyer usage w/ positive detents to indicate when you have reached each level of adjustment (Tein's). the Koni Yellows are actually infinitly adjustable w/ 1.5 turns of rotation of the knob... KYB's only have one full rotation w/ 4 hard-to-find detents. My problem is that the adjuster rod is so hard to turn, that the plastic piece either torques and twists on its vertical axis so much, that while the top indicates level "4" stiffness, it could only be halfway between Level "4" and level "3". that is just poor engineering all the way around and i wont hear anyone's excuses as how great they perform. cuz if i cant adjust them, then they are just as worthless as the struts i just took off.

Here you can see the adjuster at the top of the strut, its kind of fuzzy but you can tell it is actually METAL and has a different finish than the rest of the strut rod. Thats the Knurling im talkin about. in case you dont know, knurling is the cross-hatch pattern that produces a raised surface for better grip.
My advice; avoid the potential problems w/ adjustment, longevity and quality and go w/ some BETTER shocks... like Koni Yellows. I havent heard any complaints YET about the quality or the lifespan or even the adjustability of the Koni Cartridges... They may not be for the Novice Mechanics or you sissies that pay another person to do your work as they are cartridges and take a little more skill and labor to install them.

Heres the Koni Yellows. see how much nicer it would be to adjust these than the freakin AGX's???

for more info:

www.tein.com
http://www.koni.com/_cars/_sport/info.html

 

I dont think anyone will dispute TEIN makes a very good suspention. But look at how much it cost and i bet it doesnt get a better 60ft time then the AGX`s. But what do i know i have only done what most here hope to do. When you guys pull 1.5 60fts on regular street tires and real close to full weight then come talk to me about what works and what doesnt. AGX`s might not be the best and highest doller shock on the planet but they are hard to beat for the money if going fast is your goal.

 

I dont recall anyone saying that the AGXs are the best shocks out there bar none. They are just not classified as shitty by any means. I paid $289.00 for ALL 4 of my AGXs from JC Whitney when they had a big sale on them years ago. How the fuck do you beat that? No one can tell me that wasn't a worth while investment. That suspension carried my car to pretty good ETs for a long time.

BTW, I never had an issue with bottoming out. If you lower your car more than necassary, you probably will have a problem. No one needs to lower their car more than an inch. The suspension geometry is so far out at that hight and it gets worse faster from there.

It's too bad some people had problems with them but it's the same with anything. You'll find a few people who didn't like their expirience with a product, but that doesnt mean it sucks. I've heard plenty of people claim that their EVO is kind of shitty and cheap. Noisy and slow. Bad clutches, shitty trannys. Does that mean it's shitty?

 

but its still not worth the price if i have to take them off and replace them already. ive changed my struts more than my oil lately.

let me make a few things clear for you people:

People are recommending AGX's as if they are the best bang for the buck.

i never accused anyone of presenting the AGX's as the best struts out there.

My beef is w/ the AGX struts for the Front not the rears.

More people than just myself have had bad luck w/ AGX's

There are alternatives to AGX's such as Tokico and Koni

I have heard the fewest complaints about Koni strut cartridges which far outshine AGX.

If you are looking for struts in the $300-$400 range, Koni Yellows are the way to go. I havent heard of anyone having bad luck w/ them. KYB's on the other hand, it seems like i hear just as many sob stories as success stories.

They may have worked great for you or your friend or your baby's momma's cousin but that doesnt mean that they will work for everyone. If you know a certain brand of product has a history of failure, would you still take the chance knowing that you could have the same bad luck? Logic dictates that one would choose a product that is known to be more reliable.

I tried to save a buck by getting AGX's. I heard the success stories that people like Joe and Eric are talkin about and ignored the sob stories that people like me have talked about and bought a set of AGX's. Now im kickin myself in the ass for not getting Koni's and now i have to eat the cost of a front set of AGX's.

Moral of the story: Dont try to save a buck by taking a short cut cuz youll pay extra in the end.

btw, the talon came w/ these intrax springs. i bought a set of stock springs to put back on there. Ill probalby try my luck w/ the AGX's in the rear since they are just sitting around... and cuz the stock struts i bought were for a FWD so the rears are useless to me anyways.

HTH