I bought my car about a month ago and it has the original struts and shocks with H&R springs.. so lets just say it rides like i'm doing 60mph in a shopping cart..

Anyways i'm going to do a suspension refresh with some Eibach Sportlines to raise it up a bit from the H&R's and am going to put a fresh set of struts and shocks and i found a kit of KYB Excel-G shocks and struts for $240.

Anybody have anything to say about these struts? and will they be alright with the sport lines. Do they ride okay? Any input on these will help. I can spend a little more if i have to if these are s*** so let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

Anything sport or aftermarket lowering springs on oem replacement struts/shocks will go in a matter of time.

Personally I think the kyb's excel g2 are well beefed up from the factory and will not blow out with sport spring as soon.

To eliminate the guesswork and possibility of blowing out. Put some money into adjustable coilovers.

Btw, what are you going to do about hardware? How does your mount look?belows ? I'm guessing you have a cobalt... Have to make sure your mount components are not to worn.

 

The mounts are all fine and nothing is rusty, the car has always been garage kept. And adjustable coil overs ride too stiff for my liking and are way to expensive. Not looking to spend over $1000 on coil overs when i bought the car for $4000 lol. I understand performance springs will shorten the life of the struts overall but i'm pretty much between the excel-g's or the Cobalt SS/TC FE5-s factory replacements.

 

Speaking of KYB - check out ZZP's website for cheaper ones. These are the ones that I'm going with soon - 75k maintenance.

KYB - KYB Excel-G Struts #

 

Yeah I saw that Yesterday! I'm guessing if ZZP sells them that they can't be that bad. With lowering springs all struts will not last as long so i'm okay with changing them every 60-80,000 miles, but i'd rather get best bang for the buck and i'm still between these KYB's or the stock SS/TC FE5-S set sold on Crate engine depot for $311. I'll probably go with the KYB's tho for $224 you can't beat it.

 

Rockauto has the rear shocks for like 30 a piece. And the fronta for under 100 I think

 

I would think the stock SSTC beats the kyb hands down.

 

Do you think they're worth the extra $100 if i'm running them with lowering springs. Currently H&R's but maybe sport lines.

 

Oh sorry I don't know if they'll last on lowered springs.

 

stock fe5 struts and Powell's YYZ springs, done.

 

Hows the ride with that setup? Currently riding all springs as my struts are gone..

 

I'm on koni yellows and yyz now and it's great on street and track. When on fe5/yyz, the struts needed a bit more rebound on track, but very good on street. All the other lowering springs I've run, or research as too soft and there isn't a good strut to match them to as nothing has been engineered to work together. Powell did a great job getting the springs done up right.
Afterthought, I live in the Chicago area, so when I say it's good on the street...I really mean it is good on a glorified cow path.

 

I've been reading countless forums on whether springs wear out over time. Do you guys think i should replace my H&R's? They're about 5 years old but aren't all rusty and they aren't broken. I'm short on money so if i don't have to replace them i won't and then i'll just go with the FE5's and put my H&R's on them.

 

Do you have your springs laying out?
If so take a picture... Any warping should be replaced on new struts/shocks.

What is the stock ride height on a Balt? And what are specs on your H&R

 

I don't because the car is my DD. and I have no clue i bought the car with them on. I know it drops it pretty good in the front maybe 2 inches and maybe 1.5 in the rear as it has a decent rake to it.

All i know is that right now they are binding over bumps but I believe thats because my struts are doing next to nothing. And I live in ohio so the roads here aren't very pretty lol..