Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

...Street shock for the $$$ with 98/2 street/strip in mind.

Out1aw

iTrader: (1)

Monroe Sensa-Trac for the budget concious... but honestly the Bilstein HD shocks are the best bang-for-the-buck shock out there at ~$349 a set.

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

What about Koni? Are they worth a flip?

00FRC

iTrader: (1)

bilstein ???!

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

koni's sa will be the best hands down if money is not an issue. i have koni's and they are incredible to say the least. i think sam strano bilstein hd's will be a distant second, but would save you a few bucks.

ba78ta

iTrader: (3)

shoot a pm to sam strano! he will help ya out

ramsoccer11

iTrader: (5)

...if he ever gets any in stock(bilsteins that is)

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

Just curious, why do you have to buy them from Strano?

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

i guess you don't, not sure where else to get them from, but i think he will set them up for you to your driving habits i believe and again i'm guessing, but i think hd's are not adjustable and the koni's are adjustable. maybe someone with bilsteins will chime in.

i bought my koni's from him because they were at a fair price, he gave me good customer service over the phone with all my questions, and most everyone recommended him in the brake/suspension section.

Out1aw

iTrader: (1)

Konis are awesome, but with a stock spring, there really isn't a need for that kind of dampener. Call up Sam Strano and get his advice on the situation, or post this over in the suspension forum.

Damian

iTrader: (89)

Revalved HD Bilsteins dude. They're like 90 bucks per shock on tirerack.com and work excellent. I put a full set of those on my silver SS and it made a HUGE difference in handling over stock, and still allowed the rear to squat a little for hard launching.

Best of both worlds if you want some more handling but don't wanna spend a fortune. If that doesn't tickle your pickle then just got with some stock replacement KYB's. KYB makes the best stock replacement shock on the market and is usually an improvement over OEM equipment even when new.

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

Hi Jimmy,
My personal experience as well as a couple of friends of mine have been either Bilstein HD's or Strano revalved Bisteins as far as bang for the buck!! Ebay has standard Bilstein HD's for $338.00 shipped a set for all 4 front and rear. I have standard HD's in my car with BMR springs and it does great.
Strano's are a step up from the standard HD's and are matched to your spring ratings. He can explain it better but they are worth it from what i've been told and felt in my friends car. Huge improvement over stock.
Koni's are great shocks and do wonders for handling but others would have to chime in as far as cost vs. performance as they are not cheap. I do not have any personal experience with them only what I've heard. All I've heard was good though!!

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

It seems the Bilstein HD shocks have been on b/o for 3 months. Strano suggests:

"...HD's are ok, nothing more. I recommend them for drivers, mostly for V-6's. The more the weight of the car increases, when springs are used, or we want better control. What's worse is Bilstein's are are backorder, and the normal HD rear they now show is messed up (too much compression not enough rebound). We still use a older HD rear valving with the new front. They are ok, down from not bad.

Honestly given the backorder status and the playing around with the damping of the Bilstein's, I'd consider Tokico's about as good ($330 a set). But not nearly on same level of Koni's, and you can't tweak them to suit. KYB AGX's are cheap and adjustable, but they are cheaply adjustable. Not very good adjustments and I've seen two sets just snap the lower shock eye right off the damper."

Not sure what the flock to do now....

slt200mph

iTrader: (42)

I tried the sensa-trac shocks in the front and the KYB shocks in the back to see how they would work...using old school method of soft up front for a little lift and weight transfer under excelleration and the KYBs in the back to plant the rear tires well. Yeah I know it is old school but I be old school..to make a long story short it works like I thought it would..but I do not care for the sensa-trac shocks up front for driving other than drag racing..I will be taking off the sensa-trac fronts soon as I can get off my lazy *** and swap them out .. they are too soft and not really well suited for a sport type car like a F body where you can corner agressivly. The Bilsteens and Konis are a very good application for F body cars. If you go the coil over route you can adjust the ride height of the car and that is a big plus. You've got deep pockets Jimmy go for the good stuff.. meaning the Konis they are the class of the field..

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

I hear ya Steve but $848 vs. $350 is quite a jump. They better reach out and work my unit for that kinda JACK!!

slt200mph

iTrader: (42)

The best always cost a little more..but ya get what ya pay for..you have not spent any money on the ol ride in a while...you need to spend a little on the car so it can feel the love bro..

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

Good point!! Is Strano Performance the only lace to buy them?

Out1aw

iTrader: (1)

I agree with you, which is why I also suggested the Bilsteins. The only reason I put the Monroe's on the car was they were cheap as hell, the Bilsteins were on back order, and I wasn't really concerned with cornering ability at the time. Plus I had to do SOMETHING with 150k miles on the stock DeCarbons... But if I had to do it all over again I'd get the HD's (considering I was staying with stock springs). But no worries on all that with the Slowbalt.

wvaboy

iTrader: (3)

actually, that's a great point. i went with dms springs with my koni's.
if you're going to stay stock spring, you may want to go with bilsteins. the koni's are fantastic though.

Jimmyz

iTrader: (3)

Sprung for the Koni's today. Thanks for everyone's opinions.