KYB Gas-A-Just: The Best Cheapest Damper

Seriously, I just put a set of these on my truck, and after having them on 4 other vehicles for as many as 50k miles on one set (including rallycross), I just wanted to share that these are the best sub-$50, sub-$80, and sub-$100 shock on the market. They usually cost about $30/corner, and are excellent.

I'd pick these over Tokico anything, including the adjustable Illumina, and over KYB's own AGX adjustable. It's basically these, Konis, or some motorsport specific coilover for me at this point.

OK, now I've got that fanboy/borderline canoe urge out of my system- just thought the GRM collective should share the wealth!

I was busy telling the rally-X Volvo guy in his build thread to get a set of these, just a week or so ago.

I agree that the Gas-A-Just is an awesome budget shock; they are the same monotube design as Bilstiens but a quarter of the price. Given, they don't have as many applications and the valving probably isn't set up as intricately, but I thought they were awesome shocks on my Mk2 Supra.

See, and I have hated them in every muscle car application I have driven them in. Never tried anything other than gr2 in a late model, and don't like those. Maybe it's time to revisit them.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

The GR2 is lousy, we can agree on that. What didn't you like about them on muscle cars? They might be a bit overdamped for something that you want the "American Boat" feeling out of.

I like them on the back of k-cars. Never tried them on anything else.

With both of my muscle era FoMoCos the best (cheap) set up seemed to be gas-a-just on the front and gr2 on the rears.

Some day I hope to afford a full set of brand new Bilsteins on something

I put them on my 190 2.6 and it transformed the car. I am a proponent.

I am using GX2s on my Forester and find them to be pretty good. I may have to try these on another car.

What do we think of KYB's Excel-G? 'Cause that's pretty much all I'm finding for my newest car, other than Monroe's.

Excel-g and gr-2 are the same iirc and they are junk. Nothing performance about them. That said I've got gas adjust on my Volvo 244 turbo and it's wonderful upgrade over stock suspension even if it's already in good shape. I find them ever so slightly softer than bilsteins, as such slightly more comfortable but still good control. That said, yeah they don't make them for newer cars which is a shame.

This was timely since I was just looking at the available options for my E-150. I just ordered up a pair for the front and I'm going to try HiJackers for the rear so I can try to level things out when I'm towing. Thanks for the recommendation!

Conformation bias.

Anecdotal story to follow.

I put a set of KYBs on my Roadmaster and couldn't tell that they did any damping. Pretty much worthless, they were the worse than the originals I swapped out. The last time I was shopping for shocks, I didn't even consider them. Hmmm.

the only gas-a-just I've had went on a 2wd ranger.

they felt soft too soft when you'd want them firm, and too stiff when you want things smooth.

In reply to HappyAndy: Depending on your chassis, some vendors can sell Bilsteins for a really good price.

Put them on my RX8 a couple months ago. Yeah, very good budget shock. Seems to drive better than it did when I got the car several years ago. Would definitely go with them again. Not a performance shock but a good street shock.

Last Bilsteins i bought were $57/ea new on Ebay. It really depends on the application.

Just saw this one and im glad I did, the rear struts in my RX7 FC are gone and need to replace them but they are not cheap. Its $80-100 for a "performance" strut but found a set of the kyb gas-a-just for $45 so almost 1/2 off! Can't beat that, a adjustable strut for the price of cheap stock replacement ones. Hope to have them on the car in a few weeks and let you know how they are.

The name is misleading, they're not adjustable. That said, I think they're bettter than several of the adjustables on the market.

belteshazzar wrote: they felt soft too soft when you'd want them firm, and too stiff when you want things smooth.

Ok I was reading this to fast and thought they were either adjusted to soft or to firm. Guess I got ahead of myself.

I'm glad you guys like them.

I had an '89 corvette, it had blue monroe stickered shocks on it when I got it. I put the KYB gas-a-just all around as they were more than half the cost of the performance options, and in my mind, were more performance oriented than the aftermarket family sedan shocks the car came with.

The car was more "floaty" and "loose" on both road and autocross.

It taught me a valuable lesson about budget vs. performance.

I can not recommend these on a c4 corvette.

I have always found them to have almost no compression damping, tons of rebound and enough gas pressure to raise the cars ride height at least an inch.

I'm not particularly a fan.

I have KYB GR2s with 400lbs front 550lbs rear springs on my 2015 challenge FSP tercel, the pro driver(which is currently FSP champ) said the suspension set up was excellent and not to mess with it. So Im happy with them

I threw the Gas-A-Justs on the front of my E-150 and they are great. Granted, I'm comparing it against shocks that were 140k miles and 9 years old, so anything would have been an improvement, but I'm a big fan of how they ride. I buzzed around for a couple days with the new shocks on the front and the original shocks still on the rear and the difference was amazing. Putting the Hijackers on the rear was an improvement, but not as much of an improvement as the KYBs gave me in the front.