wolfeman10 wrote:So dose anybody know if the oem strut and shocks for the 2011 sport sls is a stiffer strut & shock than the aftermarket kyb
No one seems to know. However, the Suzuki part numbers are different for the Sport vs. non-Sport models so some theorize the shocks may internally be different despite being identical on the exterior. Shock valving and other damping characteristics may be different to better accommodate the Sport's 10mm lower suspension. The frustrating thing is that KYB is the Suzuki OE shock manufacturer but only sells one kind of shock for all Kizashis. This is the shock you apparently have, but it's rather disconcerting to learn that these KYB aftermarkets considerably change the suspension characteristics of the car. It seems like one either has to give up the Sport's agile handling or pay 3x the price for the Suzuki OE shocks.
I'm hoping more people who have replaced their OE shocks with the KYB aftermarket ones can chime in so we all know what to expect.
I have been driving for 3 weeks with the new kyb shocks and I'm very happy with the car handling. I see and notice no difference between the factory shocks or the aftermarket kyb. When I had the shocks side by side, they both looked and felt identical. The passenger side was blown out but the driver side was still ok so I was able to compress both shocks just to see how they felt. Both, factory and aftermarket took the same amount of force to compress and retracted at the same time. Now I'm no expert, I'm just doing a visual, quick comparison in my garage and to my knowledge they appear the same. If there is a difference in my opinion is so small and miniscule that is not worth spending 3x for factory source parts. For what I use the car for, these replacements shocks are fine and they serve the purpose, at least for me.
Juan wrote:I have been driving for 3 weeks with the new kyb shocks and I'm very happy with the car handling. I see and notice no difference between the factory shocks or the aftermarket kyb. When I had the shocks side by side, they both looked and felt identical. The passenger side was blown out but the driver side was still ok so I was able to compress both shocks just to see how they felt. Both, factory and aftermarket took the same amount of force to compress and retracted at the same time. Now I'm no expert, I'm just doing a visual, quick comparison in my garage and to my knowledge they appear the same. If there is a difference in my opinion is so small and miniscule that is not worth spending 3x for factory source parts. For what I use the car for, these replacements shocks are fine and they serve the purpose, at least for me.
Thanks for your input.
I'm personally relieved my shocks went out very early (around 26,000 miles) so Suzuki replaced them under warranty with the OE Sport shocks and installed the revised bump stoppers.
My shocks started leaking about 45 miles and the rear passenger began to clunk about 50k miles, last November I decided I had enough so I bought The parts an finally installed them last month.... the car has 52k miles now. I did not bother with a dealer claim as the car is pass the 36k mile warrantee.