I did read thru old threads, as I am considering new SRT.T shocks and keeping the stock springs...V6 car with 110K miles. (I was told the V6 cars got the V8 shocks and springs). I do not want the front any lower, I have a MAGG splitter on it and I already have to be careful of parking curbs. I also have WS6 spec front and rear sway bars and trans am wheels and tires 245 50 16.

Am I ok to just do shocks?

 

I see no reason why not. People change just the shocks on vehicles all the time.

Most here want a lower ride height, hence the spring change in many cases.

 

Of course you can.. if the springs are shot then there are options to leave them at stock height. I believe Moog is one.

 

Absolutely you can, I did same thing in my formula. But will admit I should have replaced the springs any way, the rears were shot from launching it hard with a stall converter and big cam. After some strano springs it was so much better. If I had to do it over again I would have saved my self the time and did the springs with the shocks in the first place. There really not that bad to buy in the first place.

 

There is no reason you cannot use stock springs on STR.T or any other shock that accepts a stock type spring. Lowering springs require more damping, not less. Stock springs make things easier on shocks in terms of critical damping. Performance minded folk tend to like more damping than critical, which is why I still, personally, tend to go with more shock control even on cars with stock springs. Camaro other otherwise. Also why you see so many cars now with mangetic ride control, because they can add damping when wanted or required, but the springs never change.

If your stock springs are not all slammed out and sagging, they are fine. And GM springs are pretty damned durable. Aftermarket "OEM" springs tend to not be what folks like much. They are generally pretty tall, most often modeled after the tallest and stiffest of the OEM spring range which could well raise your car up.

 

I'm glad you like the springs! Kind of makes my day to read that.

 

We have 2 spring shops in Portland,, either one can take the old springs and test them to see if they have lost "stiffness" or length.
Some/Good alignment shops can measure them as well. Then you have data to give Strano or whomever your purchasing from.

Cars that have passed through many hands... trust but verify

 

By the time someone went through that effort the costs and time involved, in my opinion, wouldn't be worth it.

If the springs have yielded, the car would be sitting lower.

These cars had a number of OEM springs on them, at least 6 front and 6 rears not counting things like 1LE/SS/WS6 equipment. Without knowing which spring you are starting with how do you know what it's lost? Most of the OEM labels are long gone now, and the shop would have to have a database of the OEM spring codes to know what the original rate/freel length was to compare.

 

Here’s a database of sorts. It might get them in the ballpark. https://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/suspension.html

 

Ballpark, maybe. But not hit it. My former car, the one I ordered new in 2000 and a 2001 model vs. another I helped a friend order which was IDENTICAL but for color: Had the same front, but different rear springs from each other from the factory. They sat at slightly different heights in the back, had different numbers of coils, the free length was different, and when I rated the springs, they were about 10% different from each other too.