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KYB Excel-G vs GR-2 - interesting discussion with KYB tech.

i did vogtlands with black fronts and silver rears (im a lil late to save myself) and i love the way it drives.... its stiff enough. you can feel most bumps but not feel like you are floating. And i got about 1.6 inches of drop out the 03 gp springs on my 04
 


Installed the full set of black excel g's on my brothers 03 with stock springs. Also used the bump stops from KYB SB127 and SB128. So far they ride is very good. I will post after he drives a few hudred miles. It's hard to say how well these would fair with lowering springs. I have not ridden in a car with GR2's in a long time so I can't compare the excel g's to the gr2's. But they ride well with stock springs.
 
Finished my install this weekend, and had the car aligned yesterday..

The Car: 2000 GTP Sedan

245/45/18 GoodYear Eagle F1
5x115 18x8 Elbrus wheels +42mm offset

Previous setup:

Stock springs
Newish Monroe Sensa-Track struts
Full GMPP handling kit.

Ride = MUSH, total $hit..

New Setup:

Vogtland Springs
KYB Excel-G struts specific for Impala/Monte Carlo w/special handling package
Anti-Pogo washers
New Monroe strut mount kits
New spring isolators (I omitted the top front isolator, mainly because i forgot to order it, and maybe it will be worth a smidge less ride height to keep the car level or raked with my stereo.)
SB127 and SB128 bump stops/strut boots.
GMPP rear sway bar
Dorman solid front sway bar w/moog TPR frame and endlink bushings
ZZP trailing arms
ZZP front and rear STB
New LCA's (all new bushings/ball joints), new inner and outer tie-rod ends, new Timkin wheel bearings, and NEW halfshafts.

Ride = Taut but not excessivly firm. The car handles very well. IMO, the GTP should have come off the showroom floor handling like this. It won't impress anyone used to corvette's, or porche's, but for a Grand Prix, it handles excellent. Still very comfortable, no pogo at all. A superb compromise and its exactly what i'm looking for.

Body roll is acceptable, it still understeers but you can push it a lot harder before the front loses grip. I think I need a bigger rear bar to help offset the dorman solid front bar. That thing is stiff!

Ride height is perfect. The rear raised up about 1/8" from my really saggy stock springs, and the front dropped about 1", for a very slight rake. I like it. No acceleration vibration, but I did replace both halfshafts with NEW Napa MAXdrive units to avoid this.

Pics to come after I give her a bath.

Jeramie

*Edit* I did not cut any of the bumpstops. Went over a few really good dips in the road and it does not hit the bumpstops at all. Will see if that changes with 4 people in the car.. So far so good.
 
great thread, i have to change out struts real soon, i learned a bit from all this but still have a bunch of questions, good job fellas
 
Wanted to give a longer term update on my vogtland Excel G combo.. I ended up pulling the front apart again and removing the upper and lower isolators to drop it a little more. Bad idea.. The upper isolator is important to keep the load distributed across the bearing. Without it, it deforms the bearing and allows dirt and water to get in. Had squeaky gritty feeling bearing plates after just a couple months. So i took it back apart and re-installed just the upper rubber isolator. Ride stance is perfect, very slight rake. Good thing the Monroe plates from advance auto have a lifetime warranty. Also ended up trimming the front bump stops.

Now onto the Impala/Monte Carlo w/special handling package specific rear struts. They kick ass.. The back of the car has excellent dampening and rebound control. Very good with an empty or loaded down car. The front Exel G struts, not so much.. They are too weak for the setup and are pretty bouncy now. They were ok at first, but seemed to wear out quick..

I'm thinking of leaving the rear struts in place, because i am so happy with them, and replacing the fronts with the KYB AGX adjustables. A local guy with vogtlands and AGX's said the back of the car feels as stiff as his AGX on about the 3 or 4 setting (1 being soft 5 being firm).. But that the front is way soft, even softer than his front AGX on 1 (softest)

Here is a pic of the car, as she sits with just the lower isolators removed from the front struts. stance is perfect, IMO.
 

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i can agree with you about the struts being underdamped and getting worn quickly. that is what happens with stock (and stock replacement) struts with any lowering springs.

good review. :)
 
Thanks for the update. My brother has the same set up as well. We will update this thread again down the road.
 
After reading this... I'll have to read it again. Going for 4 struts and mounts and going to lower it on zzp or ssc springs. Why would I need new bump stops? advantage to the ones everyone is talking about?


Sent using my Galaxy SIII on Tapatalk 2
 


Gotcha I'm putting everything together now. I assume I'll need bellows.

Sent using my Galaxy SIII on Tapatalk 2
 
Bringing this thread back for a quick update. My brother has had this set up for about a year and half. He actually made it to roughly 40K miles on these kyb's with vogtlands and probably another 5-10K miles before they are replaced. His drive is mostly highway. The rears are fine and still ride good. The fronts have been showing signs of wear and they have started to become bouncy. They still have some life in them but not too much. The only thing that has gone bad in the rear is the passenger side mount going bad. He will be going AGX's all around shortly as well as new mounts.

In the end these kyb's paired with vogtlands offered a pretty good ride but are still suited for a stock set up.
 
Same conclusion I came to. I ran agx up front with the impala ss rears for a while and it was a good combo with the front agx on 1 or 2.. Now on agx all around.
 
Interesting info. I went with this same combo and am sitting at 60k on them with no bounce, no issues, loving life and meanwhile locals with AGX's have replaced them in less mileage or switched over to the GR2's.

Maybe it's where we are driving etc... I'm happy though.
 
I have heard the same thing about AGX's. Although these excel G/GR2's are decent. I will say this, that these excel g/GR2's lasted longer than the standard GR2's that I had used many years ago with B&G springs.
 


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