Thread: B14- RoadMagnets on Stock Struts

Well I have a question. Will I run into any problems if I run Road Magnets
with my stock struts on my 98' SE-R? I'm planning to get AGX when I have
enough money, but I was wondering if I would run into any problems if I
use Road Magnets with my stock struts until I get my AGX's?

You might bottom out a few times but nothing to badly. But the AGX are a very nice upgrade. Make sure to upgrade your bump stops also. Its highly recommended.

So if I run Stock Struts, Road Magnets, and upgraded bump stops would I be damaging my
struts in anyway? The car is going to be a DD so there won't be any racing of any kind.

Not necessarily damaging but it wouldn't be a nice ride. The issue you are running into is that your OEM struts are made for your OEM spring rates. So you want to match up your newer springs with better damping strut.

As for the bump stops, you can use those and shorten them a little. That will help with your bottoming out. I would recommend the KONI bump stops. Here is a list of what you might want to look into. I'm pretty sure you can get them from Serban from here on the forums in the Vendor section @ gofastdepot.com. He should be able to lead you into the right direction. Keep in ming depending on which ones you are looking for, anything over 40MM. You want to trim about 1/2 off the bottom to give you some more room in the future and bore out the inner diameter for smoother flow over the strut piston. Here is a list along with some pics of what I did. Hope this helps.

I'll leave the bump stop discussion for another day.
The springs are over twice the stock spring rate. The damper's job is to absorb the energy of the compressed spring. You'll have less than half the damping you should have. Basically you're going to bounce down the road until you get the AGXs or something else. You will be ruining the stock dampers pretty quickly as well.

in other words, blown shocks.

That is an affirmative.

And how quickly this will happen is based on your road surfaces, driving style, and luck. However, it will happen.

Serban has seen folks on the apparently glass-smooth roads of Florida run around on Hyperco's (very similar springs) for several months if not years with stock struts.

Other reputable folks have seen the stock struts blow within just a few short months.

You will need to upgrade, and soon. Your two (2) appropriate choices are the AGX's, on the cheap but a very acceptable performance suspension. With AGX's you will have a loss of OEM travel of one (1) inch. Your other choice is CSK's, a reportedly smoother ride, re-buildable, more expensive and no loss of OEM travel (you will still have 3" of travel). How much more expensive depends on whether you build them yourself or have them built for you.

Best of luck.

You could get away with it in San Diego. Really nice roads down there right? Just don't try to do go over anything rough. One good bump will blow the shock/strut.

I would not do it because the car will handle worse and it could even be dangerous. Also why do the work twice? I hate doing suspension work.

You'll just be doing twice the work. Just wait it out till u get the AGXs/CSK