Budget Strut/Shock suggestions.

I'm finally warming up to my celica gts and looking to keep her until my lifestyle needs change. I've had this car since 115k (now at 150k miles) on what I suspect are the original shocks.

After combing through old posts form various forums apparently the only aftermarket strut that's worth it is the koni yellows. Unfortunately they don't make the rears for the celica and out of budget.

I plan on re-using the stock springs as long as no one objects and am leaning towards tokico HP blue ($300 for all 4). Thoughts or recommendations? Should I go for a cheapo generic OEM set for 150? Break the piggy bank?

Edit: also found tokico illuminas for $488 but would that even be worth it over the blues for a DD?

Koni Yellows in front and Tokico Blues in back.

In reply to drdisque:

Ive been looking into the koni yellows, but they only make an insert which I have to cut my OEM strut and modify/re use the housing which is steering me away from konis.

Are there any other shocks that would be better for my situation? Kyb vs tokico?

I've been happy with Tokico Blues before (on my Miata with RB springs), but I've also had good luck with KYBs on numerous vehicles. My guess is that either will feel so much better than your clapped-out 150k shocks that it won't matter much :)

What do you use the car for? The answer is different for track/Auto-X use than it is for a weekend or daily driver.

Just a DD - slap a set of KYB Excel-G's (GR-2's) on it.

In reply to BoxheadTim: It's used 98% as a DD but I want to try hpde1/ax when everything is sorted.

NGTD: there's only a 50-60$ difference between the agx and gr2s, both are more expensive than the tokico hps (50 and 100) respectively

I'd go for the HP or Illuminas then - if you end up doing any sort of performance driving, el cheapo OEM equivalents are just a waste of money and you'll end up changing them out again anyway.

I really like gabriel ultras for a cheap handling upgrade. I was quite impressed by what $100 for 4 shocks does for a stock mustang gt

I have been quite happy with Tokico blues on my old Maxima. They felt very good and showed no signs of wear after 3 years of DD/Auto-x/hooning.

Chiodos: where are you getting them for so cheap?

BoxheadTim: the horror stories for the hps, are scary do you know if failure is from a design issue/QC or people running it with lowering springs

Rockauto, they are $20 a pop for dads lincolns too cause its the next to have the ultra treatment. So far we have 3 cars in the family with gabriel ultras and each one rides great (2000 silverado z71, 2003 grand cherokee, and 2000 mustang gt)