replacement front shocks

[Mr_Spanners]

Don't forget that your lowered springs will have changed your suspension settings (mainly more negative camber) so you should have these checked/reset.
Regarding you last point,and this is only a guess so I'll no doubt be corrected.....most shocks have little 'bump' resistance but exert most of their effect on 'rebound' and after a spring has been compressed they then have to control the force of expansion (rebound),which is a stronger force with a short,stiff spring than the force of the standard spring.
...probably nonsense,any experts out there?

I've had a full geometry check and realignment after fitting the shocks and springs!

Your explanation of what the shock does makes sense - I guess the rebound control is particularly an issue if the car 'bottoms out' and the spring momentarily becomes fully compressed - the shock then needs to control all that energy!

[jb007]

a slight detour but still shock related, im going to add some avo sports springs, mainly for the lower ride height. Am i right in thinking i should replace all four shocks at the same time as i think will need doing sooner or later so may as well do it at same time, save my mechanic another job. as the car is 30k odd miles i think these shocks are the original.

sorry to slightly hijack a thread

j

[Mr_Spanners]

a slight detour but still shock related, im going to add some avo sports springs, mainly for the lower ride height. Am i right in thinking i should replace all four shocks at the same time as i think will need doing sooner or later so may as well do it at same time, save my mechanic another job. as the car is 30k odd miles i think these shocks are the original.

sorry to slightly hijack a thread

j

My car has just done 50k miles (which ain't much!) and two of the four original shocks were completely shot (see pic on page1). The remaining two shocks were well past their best as they struggled to extend when pushed down by hand!

So, if you shocks are over 15 years old it's 99% certain that the valves inside will have perished and the shocks will be ready for replacing! You might as well do the shocks and springs at the same time... especially if you're paying for someone to do it for you!

HTH

[jb007]

spanners, spot on, exactly... i know my shocks wont take the extra pressure of lowered springs, ill settle for 50 quid a corner kyb's, dont need adjustable as no track use ever.

so its a 300 quid job, will have to wait this one i think!

thanks for the advice.

[jb007]

hth, the two shocks that have gone where they front or rear ones? how did it feel to drive it with them on? cant wait to see how mine are now, feel good but not great so ive got a bit of time.

[monkeymax]

hth,...

In Mr Spanners post, HTH wasn't his initials - it means "Hope That Helps".
At least, it normally does...!

On my car, both my driver side (If I remember correctly) shocks were gone, the passenger side were probably not too far off. For me the car just didn't feel confident taking right turns but really it felt... ummm... loose I guess, whenever I was pushing it. I didn't really notice it at first, until I got to know the car better, but still saw others pulling away from me on the runs... Then I thought there was possibly a problem. Then I drove another Mk1 and that one just had suspension that felt more... confident... like it could take more... Then I knew for sure mine was shot...

HTH...

[Mr_Spanners]

Ditto - both my nearside shocks were shot! The car was OK to drive at lower speeds but above 50mph the car felt very vague\loose to steer and it also drifted around on uneven surfaces (which was v.scary!!!)

If you want to replace your shocks with non-adjustables and dont want the hassle of stripping down the existing struts\casings then £270 will buy you 4 new Toyota shocks (from TCB parts) and that includes delivery. It's more expensive than inserts but if your existing shock casings are very rusty then this might be a better option???

~Phil.

[Kooga]

Mine feels rubbish, like a boat going round corners, wheel wobble and heavy steering. It still goes round corners and stuff, but it bounces and sways - its not positive and direct like it was for the first couple of years I had it. When you brake, it dives on one side first (passenger side) Its got 65k on the clock and most history to prove..in most cases its not mileage that knocks them out but age... I'm getting all the bits together to replace everything, then it might be ok!!

[monkeymax]

Yup, boat like or wallowy were the words I was trying to remember to describe mine before I took it off the road. I've no idea whether it'd be the bushes, shocks or springs that'd cure that though as I'm changing the whole lot...

[Nogg]

I gather then that US spec shocks are the same as UK ones then ?

I spotted some on Ebay from there, huge savings over UK prices even with duty.