6G Celicas Forums

So my front passenger strut is blown from hitting a pothole a while ago, and I want some opinions on what to do. I want to lower it a little so these are my options:

Replace the struts for now with Koni's or KYB's then save up a bit for lowering springs or

Ride on the blown strut for now and save up for coilovers

I've narrowed it down to those two options and can't decide on which way to go. Keep in mind that I do winter drive this car and it will see some rough winters so I'm looking for the best option with that in mind. I do like the height adjustment with the coilovers so I can raise it for the winter, however I can't afford them at the moment after replacing my clutch and don't know how long I could ride on the one blown strut without damaging anything.

Any thoughts?

I vote coils, you have mentioned one of the reason, higth adjustment, high in winter, low in the summer. Not to mention you can play with the softness.
Could you find a used strut in a junkyard?

That's what I was leaning towards also, but I doubt I could find a used one in a junkyard here. I phoned pretty much every single junkyard in the city not too long ago and only one has a 6gc in it...so if I do go that route I'm not too sure what to do about the blown strut in the mean time

I would be hesitant to put any of the affordable coilovers through one of our winters.
Josh (Black sti, LOL LOL plate) had BC's for one winter and they were completely seized after one winter, and had no adjustability afterwards.

BC's are supposed to be affordable? Lol

I take it you haven't had a chance to test your Teins in the winter?

The Megan EZ Street series is the cheapest at $700 or less depending on the seller. What I would do if driving through the winter is slather the adjustment sleeve and collar with some grease after setting the height and come summer time remove it to reset it.

that's pretty much what i did. rode on my blown struts for a few years. slowly saved up for Megan EZ series. won't be driving it in winter anymore so I won't know how they will hold up in winter.

I've been reading up on it and by the sounds of it, coilovers aren't the best option for rough winters so I'm leaning towards springs/struts now...

I could get the coils and swap them out for the winter but then I don't see the point of them, might as well just go with springs. I also want something that will be a little bit more comfortable for daily driving, which I've been told would be springs. The only problem with the springs is I'm not sure how the car will handle being low in the winter. I'm going to have to put some thought into this

Save the factory springs and put them on for winter. Problem solved

That's what I'm thinking, get new struts for the winter then after the winter buy springs and just keep the stock ones for the winter. Doesn't make sense for me to get coilovers that I'm only going to get to use for 5 months out of the year.

I should have stated affordable/entry level. Usually anything around 1500 or less are considered entry level, and probably won't hold up well in winter conditions, especially ours. Nope have drove the car in winter lowered so I wouldn't know, although I don't htik it would be too bad.



This is going to be quite a bitch, IMO and far too much work than I'd want to do.
Think about it, you'll have to take off the the strut assembly, and take apart the entire thing just to get the new lowering/stock springs swapped, and then install it all again, and then you'll need to have the car realigned every spring and fall.
That'll get fairly pricey, and is a lot of work too.

You'd probably be better off doing a GR2 with a Tien or something else with a mild drop, that will get rid of your wheel gap in summer, but will still be manageable in winter, if you're set on driving it for winter.

That's just my opinion.

Aren't GR2's OEM replacements now? Can they handle lowering? And how much of a drop do the Tens give you?

KYB's were up to an 1.5" drop, I remember the last time I looked I couldn't find it stated. Though I imagine if anywhere says it'd be warranty information. Tein springs were 1.5" in the front and .9" in the rear or so, I remember the gap from the fender to the tire was equal front to back though. I think there's still a picture or two under my profile.

That's right, but can be lowered up to 1.5" on gr2's so s-techs are okay. I'm sure others with a drop close to the tien height would be alright as well.
You could go with koni's although Im not sure if they're available for this application, or the price.

I'll probably just go with the KYBs then, where did you order yours from?

eBay IIRC.
Rock Auto might have it too. If this is the first time replacing the struts, I'd recommend doing the top mounts too.
Mine clunked with blown struts, put new ones in and it still clunked. Clunking went away when I changed the top mounts, so essentially did the strut job twice.

Need an update on this!

My front right suspension is bunk and my tire is bottoming out and getting damaged.

Funny because I am in the exact same position as you after getting my clutch replaced last month, and am trying to figure out whether I get new springs, springs/strut, or affordable coil overs.

I first have to exactly find out what's wrong with my front right suspension though. I'm not too familiar with how struts work, whether I can rebuild them, if I can/should replace one spring (which I've found an online seller for single TRD front springs @ $65), etc...

5 months later and I still haven't decided I'm thinking of buying a winter beater for next year so now I'm not sure what to go with again. I've heard springs give a better ride for daily driving, and I'd like a comfortable ride. I don't want to feel every bump in the road so that's why I was leaning towards springs. Although for you I guess your options are a little more limited considering you have an ST205.

I was always under the impression that you had a GT-Four, just like me. I've been bamboozled.

Don't know what your budget is, but I've started searching around. Box says $700 for Megans (haven't looked into it),

BC's I've found for $1k all over the place, personally found this site for ST202 Super Struts:
http://www.importimageracing.com/suspensio...ota/celica.html

Found this from an older thread for TRD lowering springs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271652105083
The only thing about these springs (if they end up being the only part I need to replace, I'll do all 4), is that the part # on the ebay picture springs themselves say 48231-ST100, which I've looked up and found that it was made for Coronas and Carinas (ST19#, ST21#, AT19#, AT21# (2WD model exclusive)) according to this page, so I'm not sure whether they'll "work" on my car"
http://www.trdparts.jp/english/parts_spring.html

Toyodiy.com says my car uses 48131-2T110, which Amayama says I can buy for $52 each.

I'm all at a compatibility issue conundrum here!

Apologies for the thread jack, I'll post my own findings for my ST205 once I get the ball running on my search/repairs.

You're still driving on the blown struts? found out my rear struts are pretty bad. How dangerous is it (anyone know?)? Im not sure lol I'm hoping it can wait till my next paycheck which is Friday and then a week after that to get the struts in the mail Sadly ordering struts is a HUGE pain in the butt. Because I'm in Hawaii, i have to either get it shipped to a family member on the continent and then to me to avoid the restrictions that most major online stores are restricted to with shipping.