That’s the deadest strut I’ve ever seen! And it’s part of my rear suspension woes lately. I “upgraded” my rear suspension with used Chinese coilovers, but they were way too stiff and made the car dangerous. I then went and found used struts from the pick-n-pull. I didn’t realize how bad this rear right one was. That strut literally started leaking oily water when I turned it upside down!
There’s water in that black oily mixture underneath the strut. I failed to find the elusive Koni rear right strut and instead bought two KYB struts. This will be fixed soon. My plans for the rear were: two Koni Str.r struts (orange ones), Whiteline 19mm rear sway bar, new end links, new stainless steel brake lines (yes, they do bolt to the struts and have to be disconnected when replacing rear struts; another brake fluid air bleeding session), and some H&R Springs.
Nothing went right when ordering or sourcing these parts! H&R springs are on back order and I’m still waiting for them to come from the supplier. Rear Right Koni was ordered from Jegs Racing and looking like they will be on backorder forever. The whittling rear sway bar was lost during shipping. At least, I will get some KYB GR2 struts for the rear with OEM springs soon. The ride will be nice and smooth back there, but the sway will be bad until I get the springs and sway bar in!
Parts for the 8th gen corolla are getting hard to get and it looks like KYB GR2 struts are going the be the best option for this platform moving forward as all the other options are being put on clearance on most online vendors and Koni and others are probably not making any parts for these. There’s some glimmer of hope as the Celica reaches a new cult status and Honda Civic prices continue to go up, the old 8th gen Corolla as a platform is getting more popular for it’s lightweightness and similarities to the Civic. Parts are only going to get tougher to get for this car, so take advantage of online clearances deals and stock up on OEM replacement parts and any performance parts. Just don’t buy those Chinese coilovers!!!
Let’s be honest though. The two front struts on my corolla are KYB and I’m not the one who put these on there. Either they came from the factory with these or the last owner put these one. The front struts are still doing great! I’m lowered on Manzo springs in the front. The KYB GR2 struts are soft, but they last a long time on these older corollas. Maybe that’s due to the light weight nature of these cars, but the KYB struts are either made in the US or Japan. They are made with great parts and quality controls is going to be way better than what China can do. This doesn’t mean there’s not good and strut Chinese made parts out there, but the main issue with most Chinese parts is that they are not tested on the actual car they are designed for.
Obvisouly the springs were way to stiff for a light weight corolla in the rear. This is why I had to take them off. The coilovers were not match to the car properly and that one of the things we pay for when buying cheap parts. A lack of QC and very little Research and development. The final result for my 2001 Corolla is H&R springs all way around, 19mm Rear Sway bar, any old bushings replaced, Koni Srt struts in the front, and KYB Gr2 struts in the rear. It’s going to be smooth for daily driving, take bumps (actually absorb the impact), and be stiff enough for occasional spirited driving and maybe auto-x in the future (or auto-cross; I also forget which one is the one with motorcycles).