KYB ultra front shock absorbers - cant find them

Hi gents,

Bought KYB Ultra SR's for the rear of my 20VT. They are not listing the front dampers for some reason?

Are these available? I wanted the full set!

Reza

i think alternative autos list them try there website mate

Nah they don't man! All he does is the Monroe/Bilstein stuff.

Can anyone confirm that its a Tipo 2.0 16V strut that you use? Have checked with KYB and the only Ultra SR uprated damper to fit a Fiat application is part number 324806, superceeded to 324848.

Please help guys,want to order the fronts before they close at 5pm today!

KYB never actually produced one for the Coupe. Some folk fitted some others to the front of the Coupe from a 'mystery' car in the Fiat / Lancia / Alfa family range.

However, these are shorter than Coupe items, so if you combine them with lowering springs your Coupe will be a lowrider.

What is the mystery car???>

I don't know !

God this is frustrating! Searching the forum shows people running KYB dampers all round but nobody has said where they get them from!!!!!

Come on guys, KYB dont list them for the front of a Coupe so what are the ones you are running????

I got some for sale, front and rears.

What are the front ones listed for?

Give me a price on fronts only, condition and cost. If they are mint and relatively new I will take them.

Do they fit straight on?

Try sending an email to Barbz, he was the man that came up with the conversion.

Personally, without knowing what car they came from and what the spring rate and weight of that car was then I'd be reluctant to fit them to the coupe, especially when there are so many good kits (designed for the coupe) out there for the same money.

Here's a close up of the fronts, thought kyb didn't do them for coops?

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff360/johna0076/99183b86.jpg

and of the set

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff360/johna0076/922bf2eb.jpg

I don't really want to talk about for sale things in the wrong section, look for stuff maybe for sale.

A quick search of the part number shows they are from an Alfa Romeo 155.

Madness!!! Now they are from a 155!!! Arrrgghhhh.

I thought Barbz quit and went to Dubai or something? One of my nephews still knows his brother Sheikh. Maybe I'll find out from there.

How can I contact him on this forum? Will he spill the beans now he is retired?!

Right they are Excel G's for a 155 Q4 turbo, and not the Ultra SR which I have bought for the rear.

The only Ultra SR I can find are for a Tipo 2.0 16V

I've had the Barbz set on my coupe for a year or so and wasn't really impressed! The fronts are very soft and the rears rock hard. It's easy to see why Barbz chose this setup, it will improve turn-in and reduce understear. But it felt very harsh and a bit wallowy on the front. Also as said before the springs sit lower on the front dampers, causing it to be lowered for another 15mm or so. So you can't really use them together with eibach springs (you'll bottem out all the time!).

I've replaced mine with the classic Bilstein/Eibach setup and i'm much happier with this.

Got to be better than standard.. Are mine not ultras?

There is a lot to be said for a fresh standard set up. Just fitted new starndard shocks and springs all round with all new mounting bits (wishbones etc) and wow. After 120k miles not suprising the shocks were a little tired

Like I said earlier, this isn't a coupe setup and will be a compromise, buy an off the shelf kit that is known to work and you can't go wrong.
Standard dampers and Eibach springs will be much better than the KYB bodge.

I hunted around for Ultra SR fronts a while back and rung KYB, only to be told they only list the rears. The reason they stock them for the rear of a Coupe is because that part is shared with other cars in the Fiat / Alfa etc range. So where KYB produced a full set up for those cars, only the rear dampers will fit the Coupe. It's frustrating as the rears are quite cheap!

As a compromise maybe fit some new OE spec fronts to go with the ultra SR rears? Or failing that as Jimbo has pointed out if Johna's shocks are for a 155 then maybe buy new Ultra SR's for that car, or another which shares that Excel G set up. Just heed the advice of others about the springs sitting lower.

Just a point for Johna, from memory he got them from another forum member and has not fitted them. So has gone on what he has been told they are

Just checked and they don't list Ultra SR's for the 155 Q4

Great £200 for nowt

Cheers guys,

Right, the Ultra SR rears turned up and look great in all of their gold armoury. Just the fronts now...

With the advice above I had decided not to get a bodged Ultra SR for the front, but the thought is still there! Even if it drops the car another 15mm (which would cause a problem since the H&R's I bought are 40mm or so).

Options;

1 - Buy the Fiat Tipo 2.0 16V (great car BTW, can't even find one on ebay!) Ultra SR front dampers which are 15mm lower or;

2 - Buy Boge OE front dampers (where can I get these from? AA were saying they don't get them anymore)

3 - Buy Monroe dampers from AA

4 - Stick with my original front dampers which are only 52K old and don't show any issues.

Cheers

They wont fit, due to the hub strut width. Tipo is 25mm wide, the 16vt/20vt are 35mm wide.

Exactly the same with mine, did exactly the same thing, MUCH happier

I was so happy with the standard shocks on new wishbones and PI lowering springs that I never bothered getting Bilsteins. A bit on the firm side on bad surfaces but the damping and rebound was perfect, it just stuck with the road.