Norm Peterson

Depending on how worn the OE rear shocks are (and how stiff the new struts are/are set to), you could end up with a ride that is smooth enough up front but bouncy in the rear. A "pitchy" ride gets old, and most people don"t particularly like it.

Your handling will change (probably more understeer)

Never mind that to get the rear springs swapped you have to disconnect one end of each rear shock. Might as well finish the job. You are planning to replace all four springs at the same time, aren"t you?


Norm

5SPD07GT

and whats wrong with that?

They are tokico HP struts and yes they are from a local guy and he only has the fronts and they are brand new. Right now i have roush rear springs but i'm changing to steeda ultralites all the way around. I'd buy all 4 but first off he only has the front and second I dont have the money to buy all 4 new from a vendor. Its either going to be steeda ultralites with stock shocks or just front aftermarket struts for awhile.

Norm Peterson

What do you need or want to do here? Is there already a ride quality problem that you"d like to make go away? Are you trying to eventually get a lowering job done piecemeal? Is it lowering or ride quality that"s more important?

I"m asking those questions because right now I don"t know what"s in there or what really is going on. I see at least three different springs mentioned, not counting the OE"s that may or may not be up front. I see ride quality mentioned, as well as lowering (which normally involves stiffer than OE springs). No idea what the condition of what I can only assume to be OE struts/shocks might be.

Taken all together,it sounds like a case of a little mod $ is burning a hole in somebody"s pocket but there"s not enough of it to do the job up right all in one shot.

FWIW, Tokico "blues" are generally considered to be about the same as Illuminas on setting "3". I don"t think that"s enough for springs that are more than about 10% stiffer than OE. If you really want [stiffer] lowering springs and the ability to suit your own ride quality preferences, you need to be thinking in terms of adjustables (D-specs or Konis). Not HP"s.


Norm

5SPD07GT

I wish i had mod money burning a hole in my pocket but its more the case of having the oppertunity to get the springs and shocks at very very good price from a local guy. I really dont want adjustable shocks because i have no idea how to tune them to a good setup. My main concern is not losing ride quality yet achieving the visual satisfaction of a lowered car. My current setup is stock everything up front, stock shocks in the rear with Roush springs. The car has 15,000 miles on it and to my knowledge the stock partsare in great condition. I am getting the steeda ultralites for sure so i was trying to address the ride quality by picking up the HP struts which happen to be for the front only. If its not a good idea to do only the fronts then i will wont do any aftermarket struts/shocksfor now. The steeda springs are only suppose to be 1in drop

Vapour Trails

Buy the springs, wait till you have the money to get tokico d-specs, install everything at the same time. Adjusting the d-specs isn't rocket science. In the end if ride quality is a big issue for you, you'll be very happy with the d-specs when they about 5-6 turns from hard. You can have your visually appealing drop, less roll and comfy riding.

SlideWRX

I bought my Koni's as a set, but put in the fronts before winter and the rears after. Since they were adjustable, I had the fronts at full soft most of the time, although I turned them up occasionally for fun roads. no issues. OEM springs all around, before & after. The ride might get a bit bouncy with stiff on one end and soft on the other. If you go stiffer on the front, it will tend to understeer at the limit, which isn't a bad thing, especially for a rwd daily driver. It just won't handle to it's potential.