One word...... WOW
Woke up this morning and took the car down to my tech to have the D Specs installed, Hawk Brake Pads installed & have the oil change over to Royal Purple...
Anyways, I have rated the D Specs on a 1 (bad) to 5 (Outstanding) scale.
Design= 5
Ease Of Install=5
Ease Of Adjustment= 4 1/2
Performance= 5
I give the design a 5, because they look just like stock shocks (minus the Gunmetal paint and D Spec decals) but have very advanced internals. There is nothing confusing about the shocks.. It is a what you see is what you get ordeal, unlike the intimidation of looking at the Konis and wondering how in the h3ll are these gonna work.
The install was as easy as pull and replace... Nothing to it... Took my tech 30 minutes to install...
The D spec have a hollow inner shaft which has a small allen head located in it. You make the adjustments to the struts by using the (1) supplied knob with the allen head on it and turn clockwise w/ the tool to stiffen the strut and counter clockwise to soften. You are also supplied caps to put over the adjustment shaft to keep dust out of them. The reason I rated the adjustment a 4 is because I feel that each strut should have a knob built on to it and it should click or something to give some feedback on were you are at as far as the level of adjustment. The way you measure adjustment right know is too turn the knob all the way to the firm setting then back it off up to seven complete rotations (softest setting) till you find a happy medium. Tokico suggest that you back it five rotations from firm for street use, so I set them at 4 to achieve a stiffer ride, lol...
PERFORMANCE
I had the struts set a lil stiffer than the street setting and let me tell you... these things are unreal. Body roll was minimized, traction was increased and the car GLIDED through turns with lil effort and maximum feed back. These thing would give a school bus enough confidence to take a s curve at high speeds.. The D Spec remind me of making comp/rebound adjustments on Gran Turismo... It is that easy to do and effect the car more than you could ever imagine. Too stiff and bump steer is a B, too soft and you can forget about that record setting auto x time trial. Very wide range of adjustment... Best shocks I have ever come across and the closest you could come to perfection for the J body.
I bought the shocks for drag racing, but it has sure made the drive to the girl friends house alot more fun... When you hit a bump the shock rebounds so fast that it seems like a fraction of a millisecond... UNREAL!!!! I can't wait to set these babies to full firm at the strip and see how well it affects my traction issue... I will follow up this review as soon as I do...
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Great review, im lookin into buyin these myself. Whered you get your.? And what springs are you using?
Have you personally tried the konis with the same springs? If so, feel free to give a comparison...
Thanks man, you've just about finalized my decision on these.
nice, they sound high quality. but btw, the reason the knobs aren't built in is because you wouldn't be able to put it through the strut mount
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
I would also like to know what springs you are using? and,. what setup did you have on the car before these? Also can anybody give a head to head camparison on these versus the AGX struts, i was pretty much dead set on the KYB AGX but since i started reading up on these im thinking they may be a better setp with ALOT more adjustability.
Also how far can you lower with these and not void the warranty. I know KYB is only 1.5 and anything after that will void it out.
Mike
1992 GMC Sonoma GT #492. Oh, Its just a stock V6!
1999 Cavalier Coupe, daily driver, 2200/M5. Mods and pics are in my registry.
Fully built turbo 2200 in progress, should be installed very soon. Will post details as they happen.
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great, bought them friday, loving to see when they come in.
hmm maybe ill have to switch to these since IM absolulety hating my rk pro streets
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
hating the prosteets? why?
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
How much did they set you back?
And was it just struts? What kind of coilovers/springs do you have?
jay it looks like he has eibach sportlines.
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My springs are the Eibach Sportlines... Tokico is working with Vogtland springs to develop a matching spring for the D Spec shocks.. when I find out more I will post about it.
Wish they would sponser me so I can get a set when they come out...
<img src="http://d144620.u21.adminurl.com/images/hybridlogo.jpg">
Any word if the current vogtland 1.7 drop spring will work good with the d-specs????
Mike
1992 GMC Sonoma GT #492. Oh, Its just a stock V6!
1999 Cavalier Coupe, daily driver, 2200/M5. Mods and pics are in my registry.
Fully built turbo 2200 in progress, should be installed very soon. Will post details as they happen.
Support the site that supports your habit, Go Premium.
As I said i just bought these. i bought them with springs that were packaged together. Got them all from Gravana tuning. I got:
Tokico D-Spec
Tein Race S.Tech - Drop is 1.7" Front & 1.5" Rear
for $675.00
Link to Page
Yeah, thats what i plan on buying with my return. Post a review when you get them. Id like to know how the teins play out.
you got these for 500 on ebay right?
Visit
High Rev Motorsports for all your High Performance needs.
Visit
RSM Racing for j-body superchargers, throttle bodies, and much more.
Visit
Cobalt SS.Net and sign up to get the latest info on the cobalt and all other delta platform cars
got them through one of my distributers for a lil less....
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you would hook your self up. lol, sweet man, any problems so far? or all's good?
Visit
High Rev Motorsports for all your High Performance needs.
Visit
RSM Racing for j-body superchargers, throttle bodies, and much more.
Visit
Cobalt SS.Net and sign up to get the latest info on the cobalt and all other delta platform cars
Went out for a long drive for the h3ll of it Monday.... shocks did real well on the interstate.. feels like a turocharger for my suspension.... can't wait to crank em up and go to the track.....
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sweet. do you know what warranty comes with em?
Visit
High Rev Motorsports for all your High Performance needs.
Visit
RSM Racing for j-body superchargers, throttle bodies, and much more.
Visit
Cobalt SS.Net and sign up to get the latest info on the cobalt and all other delta platform cars
Excelent review friend.......
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thanks alot for this great review man. ive been trying to decide on struts since your first post bout these, and you just made up my mind. great review
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AWESOME! Thank you , glad these got a positive review, the fact that they are a direct replacement is very attractive, now i know what ill be redoing my suspension with.
Thanks Again!
Travis
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The Car is For Sale: Info? Travis@TunerRevolution.com
