Decided to look into changing shocks due to getting a lot of banging or a "bottom out" sound even over small bumps sometimes. My old setup:

Bilstein revalves
Hotchkis springs
Strano sways
Adj phb
Adj LCAs
9" w/ long TA

Only thing I changed was swapping to koni yellows. I found a great deal on Amazon which turned out to be a mistake on the sellers part esentially giving me 1 front shock for free or I probably would not have spent the money.

After finishing today its a pretty substantial difference from the Bilsteins, i was surprised as i was not expecting much. I set the rears to full soft and backed off 1/16" per koni recommindation to avoid binding. Fronts are 3 swipes from full soft. They are a better, less harsh ride than the bilsteins, car feels like its messaging the road more, definately a more connected feeling. I still get some banging from the rear over certain bumps but it is much less than before. Not sure if a firmer adjustment in the rear would completely solve this or not but im going to play with the settings and see. Fronts seem pretty good so far but need more seat time to see

 

Good deal. The Koni yellows are basically twice the price though correct?

 

I believe thats correct, its a pretty big jump. I did spend quite a bit more doing it twice which is frustrating and why i was aprehensive to buy them. But i dont track the car at all, its just a pure street car driven on nice days, which is why i got the bilsteins years ago.

 

I did the same 10 years ago. Now, 2 other TransAms later, I only will buy Koni Yellow, they really are that much better, even if you don't track it. Granted, not cheap, but worth every penny. All my opinion of course.

 

Konis do better with more spring as well. If you're bottoming out in the rear, might be time to swap to Stranos or BMRs.

 

Dont think its the springs since it does it over small bumps at times. Starting to think my kooks tds need some adjusting. Noticed my rear exhaust hangers are rotting a bit when i was replacing the rears, may be causing some sag.

 

Did you grab the Speed Eng mid hangar? It bolts to the bottom of the rear seats and offers a connection point right before the axle (which is the lowest point). Could help too.

 

No, never heard of it but looks like it would help after looking at it. Thanks!

 

I have to say, I was truly amazed at how good the Koni yellows are. After lurking around here and reading so many good things on them I bit the money bullet when BMR had them 25% off with free springs. Couldn't pass it up. I did not expect anything like what the results were. I just didn't think that a shock could make that much of a difference. Now I know!

 

agreed...i am running mine with stock springs yet it was still a significant difference when i put them on. Honestly the koni's may be the best mod I've done so far

 

I was getting a banging pooping noise as well. Turned out to be my BMR Adj TRQ Arm was rubbing/hitting on my drive line tunnel. (Moser 12bolt rear) A little triming, fresh powder coat and the banging is gone.

 

The corners of various Torque Arms do like to hit the underside of the body. Another reason you want bumpstops, to minimize that.

 

I installed the speed eng rear exhaust hanger for TDs. I have not driven it yet but positioned correctly it looks to have pulled up the exhaust about 1/4". I would say this is a good idea for anyone running TD's all the way out the back.

 

Just a follow up...drove the car today with the new hanger and it worked very well. I did not hear one "bottom out" thump coming from the rear. Also, both of my rubber muffler hangers (hard to find right size btw) were rotten so I'm sure everything helped.

 

Good to hear. So the SE hanger helped out?

 

That is excellent news and for years have been telling folks that if they grab the right side tip (when cold) and shake it hard they will often hear that noise from where the over axle pipe contacts the panhard bar brace or watts link frame. This happens more with lowered cars as the wheel rates go up, and travel goes down which will, at times cause the exhaust to shake more than on a softer, taller car.

 

Excellent!

 

Could probably get more out of it if I angled it down with a pair of Chanel locks, but just by hand it raised it 1/4".

BTW if anyone is looking for the rear muffler hangers the ones I found are made by exhaust mate...part # 35119. Don't order through Amazon, they supplement it with a different part for some reason and it won't fit. I got these at Autozone.