GR-2s Installed

[sLADe781]

Yep boys and girls, after a long hard day of working, I finally got my new shocks in. LOL I know this is a simple project for most of you but for me, it was a pretty big deal seeing that I haven't really done anything like it before. So yeah, I'm pretty stinkin' proud!

The thing that took us forever was that we could not figure out how to take the rear shock assembly. I guess we were just being too careful at first because when we got frustrated enough, we just started messing with the control arm and it eventually gave us enough room to take it out easily. Had to call Musashi a couple times for help on that too...thanks bro.

The next problem came when we were trying to loosen the stupid lock nut. The bottom kept spinning and we spent a whole bunch of time on it. At any rate, we ended up taking the assembly to a shop and had them use their air tool to remove it, stayed there and transferred everything over to the new strut, then had them tighten it back up again.

So overall it was a productive day but there are 2 things that bugs me about this new setup:

1-I switched the shocks and put in new strut mounts as well but the rear passenger side still clunks whenever I go over potholes. What gives?

2-The front of my car was raised half an inch!!! I know it doesnt seem to be that big of a deal but it sucks because of the way it looks now. I'm thinking that the new strut mounts caused the raise because I could tell that it was slighty higher than the older one....anyone else noticed this? I know that if it was an aftermarket strut mount than it could make a difference but these were actual OEM ones that I ordered. That sucks....anyone know why? At any rate, I'm planning to put the old strut mounts back in because I'm not happy with the way it looks....do you guys think there will be any bad side effects to using the old strut mounts??

Well, my alignment is kinda jacked now so I'm gonna have to get my alignment done. It's okay though because I'm gonna order my tires anyways so I'll just get the whole thing done at once. But first I have to fix up this strut mount deal...let me know what you guys think...


-Oh yeah, I have some pictures that we took for fun but my sister's camera decided to crap out the last minute so I couldn't get them uploaded from the camera. Maybe later....

[AutostradaVR4]

nice job man. yea, be sure to post those pics for us when you get them.

as for the raising the front o the car...dont know what to tell ya. thats kinda strange.
did u do just front? if so....i cant imagine haveing the front of the car higher than the back is safe...at high speeds anyways...

[alphalanos]

Good job. First time doing shocks is a PITA. I would keep the new mounts because riding on old ones is asking for trouble. My guess is your old shocks were sagging a little so that explains the ride height issue. Time for springs!

[sLADe781]

Thanks guys!

BlinkRA182, I bought OEM strut mounts which is why it's strange that it's lifted a bit. http://www.stealth316.com/2-gc-springs.htm talks about StrutMate strut mounts and how it's about 3/4 inch higher than stock strut mounts but these are OEM...I'm seriously at a lost. LOL Did Mitsubish decide to change the height or were the old ones just super worn???

alphalanos, when you say trouble what do you mean? Oh, and I have Eibach springs already so I'm pretty much set there. The only other thing that I want to do with my suspension is get some cross-drilled rotors, better brakes, paint my calipers, and some rims. Hehe It just sucks to be broke! :P

[AutostradaVR4]

Originally Posted by sLADe781

is get some cross-drilled rotors, better brakes, paint my calipers, It just sucks to be broke! :P

Amen, brother...

hopefully one of the pros will chime in with an answer for you on the ride hight issue.

[Linebckr49]

not sure why you changed the strut mount? when i did my shocks, i just kept the old strut mounts. if you're having ride height issues, just go back to the old strut mounts. i assume there's nothing visibly wrong with the old ones?

as for ride height, give it about a week's worth of driving. then check the ride height. i know its recommended to drive the car for 1 week, after installing springs, before getting it aligned. this is because the springs will compress over time after installed. [ no i don't think they compress forever, but just during the 'break-in period', if you wanna call it that.]

as for the clunk in the rear, you might check to see if you installed it correctly? i know the rubber bump stops atop the springs have a sort of spiral on them. this spiral around the edge of the rubber must be oriented a certain way for the bump stop to sit flush with the mount.

------

as for your installation problems.

to remove the rear strut assembly, remove the lower bolt holding strut, then push down on the control arm and you should be able to maneuver assembly out.

to remove the top nut, you need to somehow hold the threaded bolt (on top end of shock piston) in place while spinning the nut. the top of the threaded bolt is a rectangular design. i simply grabbed this end with some vice grip pliers, held it in place, then i could break the nut free and remove it.

but i'm sure the air tools helped. there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

---> QUESTION. did those spring compressors i told you about do the trick? [i got some for myself off ebay, i'm just waiting for my intrax springs to arrive]

[sLADe781]

Linebckr49, yes, the spring compressors worked. I actually didn't need to use them on the rear with the stock shocks because they were already loose enough. I had to use them on the front though and they worked very well.

As far as the clunk goes, it was there with my old shocks and is still there now. Only on my rear passenger side though...I don't know why.... Stealthee and others made a comment once that the clunking could be due to bad strut mounts which is why I changed them. And of course since I was changing one, I went ahead and changed the other three as well. Not too sure about the bump stops that you were referring to but I did both sides (rear driver and passenger side) exactly the same so maybe it's something else!?!

Good to know about driving the car for a week before getting the alignment done and the whole height deal. This will give me some time to get my tires in too. But umm....I was wondering since my alignment is pretty bad now, wouldn't it super tear into my tires? I don't mind because I'm planning to get them changed anyways but my tires actually blew in the freeway before because the threading was just crappy due to my bad alignment so I don't want to repeat that again. Thing is, these tires are pretty bad already so you know...

Oh, and about the top of the threaded bolt, I actually tried clamping that with vice grips but it just bent the area that I clamped. I tried that with my first assembly and just didn't bother doing that to the other ones. Interesting how you were able to get yours out.....

[hink12341234]

Overall how do you like the new shocks? My Stealth needs now shock's as we speak. Just wondering how satisfied you are with them. Thanks

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by hink12341234

Overall how do you like the new shocks? My Stealth needs now shock's as we speak. Just wondering how satisfied you are with them. Thanks

They feel really good. Maybe it's cause my old shocks were super shot but these feel good...they absorb a lot better. I can't really compare them to the ECS stock OEMs because by the time I got my car, the stock setup was pretty much gone. I went with the GR-2s mainly because of the price--it was half as much as the ECS ones. Not only that but I never used the ECS feature anyways so this was a good change. In the future though I plan on putting the stock ECS shocks back in but for the meantime, these will be good.

By the way, if you're looking at getting GR-2s, I got mine from summitracing.com...Summit Racing was the cheapest that I found them.

[Stealthee]

Originally Posted by sLADe781

They feel really good. Maybe it's cause my old shocks were super shot but these feel good...they absorb a lot better. I can't really compare them to the ECS stock OEMs because by the time I got my car, the stock setup was pretty much gone. I went with the GR-2s mainly because of the price--it was half as much as the ECS ones. Not only that but I never used the ECS feature anyways so this was a good change. In the future though I plan on putting the stock ECS shocks back in but for the meantime, these will be good.

By the way, if you're looking at getting GR-2s, I got mine from summitracing.com...Summit Racing was the cheapest that I found them.

Agreed on Summitt. Thats where I got mine when I replaced my fronts. As for the car sitting higher it is kind of odd but it may just need to settle a little. And I will reitterate what I always say, if you are changing the struts change the strut mounts. You will kick yourself in the ass if you have to tear everything apart again at a later time to replace them. The strut mounts affect ride quality almost as much as teh springs themselves do.

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by Stealthee

Agreed on Summitt. Thats where I got mine when I replaced my fronts. As for the car sitting higher it is kind of odd but it may just need to settle a little. And I will reitterate what I always say, if you are changing the struts change the strut mounts. You will kick yourself in the ass if you have to tear everything apart again at a later time to replace them. The strut mounts affect ride quality almost as much as teh springs themselves do.

Wassup Stealthee! You got lucky yesterday that I couldn't have internet access since my computer was out in the kitchen huh....otherwise you know I'd be IMing you like crazy for help...although judging by your OT posts, you were bored as heck!!! LOL

Here's a question for you though...you say that the strut mounts affect ride quality but the back ones only had the metal area, no rubber stuff underneath it so I had to use the old rubber stuff. So uh...not too sure how the metal area affects the ride but then again, you know a lot more than I do so

Yeah, I'll just let the car sit for awhile and see if the height goes back down. The thing is though is that the new OEM strut mounts look exactly like the StrutMates that Lucius mentioned. So if his never went back down then I don't think these will either but I'll just wait and see.

I'm sore as hell from yesterday... LOL

[AutostradaVR4]

is there such a thing as aftermarket ECS shocks? something with a little lower ride hight?

[Stealthee]

Originally Posted by BlinkRA182

is there such a thing as aftermarket ECS shocks? something with a little lower ride hight?

Nope just stock. And IMO ECS just aint worth it. Just another add on.

[AutostradaVR4]

i can certainly see why alot of people feel that way, especially if you live in an area with nice roads lol. I feel that way about the dual mode exhaust...why not have it sound good all the time????

But, living in an area where roads are crappy, i personally use the ECS almost on a daily basis. I would love to lower my 3k, as i feel it sits way to high for a "sports car", but its definitely not worth losing the dual mode suspension capabilities...IMO. Maybe when i move to texas in a few years i will give it some more thought.

sorry to get off topic, but tx for the info.

[sLADe781]

Originally Posted by BlinkRA182

i can certainly see why alot of people feel that way, especially if you live in an area with nice roads lol. I feel that way about the dual mode exhaust...why not have it sound good all the time????

But, living in an area where roads are crappy, i personally use the ECS almost on a daily basis. I would love to lower my 3k, as i feel it sits way to high for a "sports car", but its definitely not worth losing the dual mode suspension capabilities...IMO. Maybe when i move to texas in a few years i will give it some more thought.

sorry to get off topic, but tx for the info.

I'm certain you could lower your car and still have ECS. That was my setup before my current one. I have pretty crappy roads here as well but when I put the ECS in Sport mode, it's even worse I think. It could have been just because my shocks were shot but seriously, it was hideous. LOL