Tein Ss Vs Kyb Excel G

[hardsteppa]

Hey gangstas

Looking to replace the shocks in my s2 R33 gtst, tossing up between Tein super streets and KYB Excel-G struts. Have super streets in my ST185 GT4 and found them an awesome unit for the price. Can get a set from perfectrun.com for $1700-ish delivered - the best price I have found for a set of the KYB's is around $1000, plus the cost of new bump stops, boots, set of spring compressors, so prob about $1100 all up. Not looking to do anything amazing with the car, just a nice streetable ride, so I'm thinking I would just be paying more for the Teins to get the adjustability of the height/damper settings, which I don't really need. The car is stock so far apart from 17x8 drifteks, front strut brace and factory rear strut brace, 20mm whiteline fixed swaybar on the rear, and 24mm whiteline adjustable swaybar on the front.

So my questions

- is around $1000 for a set of the KYB's a fair price, or can they be found cheaper? (have got similar prices from 2 places so far) and if so, who to call?

- is the quality of the shocks comparable between the KYB's and the Tein super streets?

- is it worthwhile fitting a subframe lock kit (pineapples), and castor rod bushes? Worthwhile meaning, is it something you would fit and go, goddamn, glad I spent the money and did that, or more like, hmmmmm, little bit better but not heaps. The superpro subframe kit looks to be much better value with 8 bushes for $80-ish as opposed to 6 in the whiteline kit for $100-plus, any real other difference between the 2 in terms of quality and performance?

Any thoughts and opinions on the above would be appreciated

[hardsteppa]

ok well I'll answer my own questions lol

- best price I found for a set of the KYB's was $800, from GSA Wholesale in Brissy. Would mean paying the freight cost thought, but would still be about $100 cheaper. Guy there was very helpful too

- the quality between the 2 is comparable, with KYB probably being higher/longer lasting ( this from talking to bloke at suspension place)

- no idea as yet. Opinions on the board here seem to range from awesome to not a great deal of difference noted. Since it would be around the 200 mark to buy both kits, I might leave it and put the funds into the struts at this stage..

[ARTZ]

bullshit KYBs are equivalent, tein SS get a great rap on every forum read, KYB are standard issue on alot of new cars..So they are not really any better than standard shocks...In fact they are just standard shocks

Teins all the way mate if you can afford it..or if you dont need adjustment just get some koni or bilsteins shocks which will handle better then the teins anyway

[turboedsloth]

^ what he said. KYB don't come close to Teins in my opinion

[hardsteppa]

bullshit KYBs are equivalent, tein SS get a great rap on every forum read, KYB are standard issue on alot of new cars..So they are not really any better than standard shocks...In fact they are just standard shocks

Teins all the way mate if you can afford it..or if you dont need adjustment just get some koni or bilsteins shocks which will handle better then the teins anyway

koni's are shit, yellows at least, that I have tried. I don't rate them at all. Bilsteins I have read are the bizz, but if I'm going to spend any more I would just get a set of Tein coilovers.

Tein ss get a great rap for the performance edge...which i feel they deserve. However, my original post refers to the *quality* of the shocks, not the performance. I'm not confused about which one will give me better performance, for I know it be true that Teins will have the sportier edge. My r33 still has the original shocks after 103,000k's, no leaks, no knocks, which I am pretty sure are KYB's. That says a pretty solid build quality to me. As much as I like Teins, I have my doubts they will last that long..

[PaulosECR33]

do you want tein adjustables cos you think you will change the height frequently or because you want to use the different adjustments for performance gains for use on the track?

bilsteins and springs and swaybars will be sick for street..

[hardsteppa]

actually, not really fussed about height adjustment, so i'm not shopping for springs. It's just that i have super streets in my other car, and like them, so would consider them for this car...wouldn't really be adjusting them at all after the initial fitting. Was trying to find a lower cost option though, like the kyb's. If i pay for bilsteins and springs, i might as well just buy a set of teins.