KYBs - whats the real story

[derick]

Well i did a bunch of searching all over diffrent BMW threads and it seems to be inconclusive. Some people bought them and say great value for the dollar. Some people seem to hate them but don't ever say anything about using the product (only - THEY SUCK). I wanted to hear from people that have bought them, used them, had friends that use/d them.

perhaps some more objective oppions. Maybe even a better descriptive comparision between the diffrent shock companies, like which company did you compare it too. Or is your car lowered. do you live on a smooth frozen lake or do your roads look like bagdad's.

thanks guys.

[ArtemLepilov]

I bought KYBs for my front, they last pretty well so far (~7k miles) and I dont know what to compare them to, but they are a hell of a lot better than riding without shock on the front... haha

-Artem

[ThoreauHD]

I have KYB's on my front at the moment. On my previous car I had them on all 4 wheels. Well, with KYB's you have to give it about 3 months or so to break in. They are pretty tight at first. They loosen up over time.

The quality in regards to leaking or bleeding is very good. They don't break or fail. Overall it's a pretty decent shock. I know it's better than monroe, but I can't compare it to sachs or bilstein just yet because I've not installed them.

My car is stock, not lowered. I am installing sachs shocks though because it's the most comfortable shock. If I were to go racing or had lots of money/time I'd install bilstein shocks... maybe.

[Bill R.]

1974 and have installed hundreds of pairs if not thousands of pairs of kyb's since then. I have had virtually no complaints regarding them and i can not say the same thing about bilsteins. As far as bang for the buck i feel they are unbeatable. Then only shock that i think is better is Koni and its very hard to justify the price of the koni's in my mind . I also like the Boge/sachs turbo gas shocks about on an equal par with the kyb. They are the single largest supplier of shocks and struts to new car manufacturers of anybody. Period.

Well i did a bunch of searching all over diffrent BMW threads and it seems to be inconclusive. Some people bought them and say great value for the dollar. Some people seem to hate them but don't ever say anything about using the product (only - THEY SUCK). I wanted to hear from people that have bought them, used them, had friends that use/d them.

perhaps some more objective oppions. Maybe even a better descriptive comparision between the diffrent shock companies, like which company did you compare it too. Or is your car lowered. do you live on a smooth frozen lake or do your roads look like bagdad's.

thanks guys.

[jjdickm]

I have kybs on 1990 525 and the feel very nice the are a little sportier than stock but not too sporty. I have also had driven a e34 with konis and those are some great shocks fully adjustable very nice.

[Montreal525]

I've been looking at the KYB application guide and there are none for anything above 9/92. My 525 has a build date of 10/95. Anybody know otherwise?

http://www.kyb.com/catalog/index.php...ID=59&x=40&y=9

Jeff

[Bill R.]

other kayaba sites you'll see them such as the uk site. Here's a pdf catalog that lists them

I've been looking at the KYB application guide and there are none for anything above 9/92. My 525 has a build date of 10/95. Anybody know otherwise?

http://www.kyb.com/catalog/index.php...ID=59&x=40&y=9

Jeff

[derick]

so where is all this negitive feedback about KYBs coming from. It seems that everyone who has replied so far is happy with their shocks. Where are all the people that have such negitive oppions?

You'd be hard pressed to find any good reviews about them on this board.

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

so where is all this negitive feedback about KYBs coming from. It seems that everyone who has replied so far is happy with their shocks. Where are all the people that have such negitive oppions?

You'd be hard pressed to find any good reviews about them on this board.

Had a set on a '76 2002. The fronts were fine, rears rusted out at the bottom (!) where the bulgy part was. Despite the rusted out bulge, they still worked OK. Changed to Bilsteins...

[derick]

Had a set on a '76 2002. The fronts were fine, rears rusted out at the bottom (!) where the bulgy part was. Despite the rusted out bulge, they still worked OK. Changed to Bilsteins...

and how did you find the diffrence between blistens and KYB. KYBs are 400 here and blisteins are 1200. would you say that there was a 800 dollar diffrence in qualitity.