I also went with Koni STRs on H and R springs with powerflex 10mm lowering strut bushing and its a dream to drive. It takes these northeastern new york country roads in strides. Its never bottomed out. And the quality of the suspension just makes it a dream to drive. I drive it hard and it takes it.
The thing I found out a while ago was that Mazda back in the day used KYB built struts for the 626. OEM is guaranteed to be restore ride quality for sure. KYB struts usually are always top notch and sometimes better than OEM (but definitely keep the coil springs).
2nd best mod was replacing control arms (oem), bushings (oem), springs (H&R sport), struts (adjustable Koni), and strut towers (aftermarket billets). Sport seats was also a great change to the car.
I ended up going with stock kyb gr2 struts and swift lowering springs. It rides very smooth and looks good.
koni struts
Had KYB-GR-2 struts paired with Vogtland springs some 10 years ago on my Camry. Rode nicely and smoothly, very OEM like.
I personally, like ONLY the sport mode of DCC, so if I can find good NON DCC struts/shocks for the R that are really worth buying, and that can handle my springs, I would be on it.
Got the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX rear struts in last night. All I've got to say is wow. Talk about an amazing ride. The KYB AGX dampening adjustable struts are an incredible strut for the money. I played around with the dampening adjustment during my drive and you can completely change the feel in the rear of the car with just a few clicks of the adjustment knob.
I've put about 150 miles on the new set up. The ride is great, very comfortable, not too bouncy, not too stiff. However I'm getting a high pitched squeak from the front drivers side strut assembly.
I would use only KYB, Gabriel, and Sachs struts. I've tried the cheap no name Chinese ones and all you'll get are alignment issues and worn out parts in a year or less.
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