Daily driver: Coilovers or D-Spec & all bushing polyurethane
 

I have 05' 70k miles.
Rear shocks are leaking so have to reaplace shocks anyway.
I dont want to spend more than $1800 total. I can do most work myself but do not have a press.
I have no other suspension mods yet.

I have been considereding getting either
1. A good set of coilovers.
2. Tokico D-Spec set and replacing all the bushing with polyurethane.

What do you guys think?
Also curious what I should expect to pay labor wise to have the bushings replaced? I figured without a press i might as well have shop do that if i go that route.

This is my daily driver. I will also be driving it up to vancouver for extended trip. Will be there in winter. I already got a set of Continental extreme conatct DWS. So i am set for tires.

Coilovers. On the labor question...it really depends on what shops you go too. Some will charge you more, and some will charge you less. Search around to find good deals, good luck.

Thank you for posting a topic on this. I actually wanted to know which one works for my 04 RX8, lol. Like you, I have a leaky shock. My question though is more fundamental: Does a "coilover" replace a "shock"? There's a lot of terminology in the suspension world, and I'm not really sure what a coilover does as compared to a shock. Oh and I'm not certain if this changes anything or not, but my RX8 is a base model.

Thanks in advance, and my apologies to the OP for the hijacking of his thread.

Since it's your dd and your going on an extended trip, the height adjustablity on coilovers will be very beneficial to you

Oh and angel here ya go
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-55/shocks-coilovers-general-suspenion-knowledge-links-207346/ anything and everything there is to need to know of what's what and what does what suspension wise, this thread was Christmas for me lol

1. Are you going to be tracking the car?
2. How much if you are?
3. What do you want out of coilovers?
4. What do you consider "good" coilovers?
5. How rough of a ride are you willing to live with?

All of these things should be considered before you get started. $1800 will get into Bilstein PSS9's, JIC FLT-TAR or maybe KW v3's if you get a good price on new ones. You can pick them up for cheaper used, but there aren't many for sale often. There are a few others around that price range that would be considered good. By good here, i mean performance and daily drivablitly. Truly "good" performance coilovers are going to cost you more.

If all you really want is adjustable ride hight, you can go with something cheaper, but you get what you pay for. A set of koni yellows and springs will outperform pretty much any coilover under $1500 or more) at an autocross or track.

Unless your bushings are bad, i'd stay away from poly bushings unless you're ready for a significantly rougher ride. They'll aid performance, but you'll feel everything on the road. It will be even worse if you get cheaper coilovers.

This is all just my 2 cents. Koni yellows or Tokico D-specs and springs are a better buy unless you're turning your car into a weekend warrior/track toy or you are planning on slamming it. Opinions vary on this subject, so be prepared for different reactions.



Angel: Coilovers replace your stock struts. The way the term is used here is referring to adjustable ride hight (and other adjustments depending on design) strut and spring combos. Really a coilover is any strut/shock with the spring around it as one unit. Our stock struts and springs are technically coilovers.