Raevik

I come with hat in hand; my ignorance on my sleeve.

Context:

My 04 is "clunking" when I hit small to medium bumps and it's far worse with a passenger. The dealer noticed about 4 months ago a leak in my right-rear strut (highly suggestive as to the cause).

In searching for aftermarket parts, I've found references to shocks, struts, spring kits, and coilovers. I've also seen guides that state newer cars have struts and that a car won't have both struts and shocks. Other sites sell products marked as struts and right next to it for the RX8 "shock kits". From the pictures, the parts look similar to identical.

Question(s):

I give. Are these terms synonymous? If I need to replace my rear struts, is there a basic "upgraded" solution that many forumers use? I've seen people mention Tokico D-spec. How are these an upgrade? Impact on ride/performance?


Bottom line

The easiest thing to do is hit a dealer and fork over a wad of cash for them to replace my rear struts (about $900). If instead of paying $212 per stock strut I can get a nice upgrade, that's what I'd like to know. Have you guys used dealers to install your aftermarket parts before? Any issues?

ooobigfire

iTrader: (2)

Swapping out the struts isn't really all that hard. There is a good DIY somewhere on here I used. I have my stocks with only 32,000 miles on them I could sell you if you decide you don't want to upgrade.

ooobigfire

iTrader: (2)

Found the DIYs I used:
Rear> https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-rear-shock-coilover-install-113620/
Front> https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-front-shock-coilover-install-113619/

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

"Shocks" and "Struts" are somewhat synonomous, in that they are both dampers (i.e. they keep the car from bouncing down the road), but any given car will use either shocks or struts. It's got nothing to do with when the car was made - it is dependent on the design of the suspension. The RX-8 uses "shocks" while a Subaru, for example, uses "Struts." In the end it's really just semantics. But on this board people will talk about shocks, not struts.

Springs are different. They work in conjunction with shocks. They hold the car up and resist roll & dive.

Shocks wear out and need to be replaced periodocally because they have seals and oil. Springs, for the most part, do not wear out. They are just pieces of steel that flex.

"Coilovers" generally refers to a kit or package that includes special shocks and springs that are designed together. Usually they are height adjustable. This is a bit confusing because you can also by regular shocks and aftermarket springs that are designed to work together.

So, assuming your shocks need to be replaced (a real possibility), you should do some digging around here. There are better options out there (Tokico for example) as compared to the OEM shocks. And you can probabably get them installed for less than at the dealer. Also, I'd reccomend getting all four shocks replaced at once, even if only the rears are leaking. Particularly true if you go aftermarket.

You can do it yourself, but it's not a simple job, especially if you don't have the desire to learn how to work on your car and buy tools. But if you like that idea, you'll get lots of info on this board and it certainly is acheivable. It just depends on what you want to do and learn.