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I’ve got an ex-AZ Highway Patrol Car and it bottoms out over the smallest road I imperfection.
I haven’t dug into the chassis yet as I’m just doing the basic tune-up stuff and fluid changes so far. This is a photo of the rear shock (best I could get at the moment). Rear Shock Photo
I have purchased some new Strano Springs. I’m going to swap all four springs and assess the condition of shocks once I get the car off the ground. There is some clunking sounds when the shocks do bottom and I haven’t checked to see if the stock shock isolator is still installed. If it’s been removed, are stock ones, or replacements available! If not, which heater hose works best as a substitute?
I don’t envision this car ever going over 500HP and would just want to build it as a fast all-around General Do-It-All not dedicated to one narrowly focused car.
Those are the agx shocks. They suck. Get some koni str.t minimum, or koni yellows if you don't mind spending the extra money. Definitely a big upgrade. Also bump stops are probably gone.
Bumpstops are critical. Not any bumpstop, there are some that many sell because people like the price points, that are not right or correct and one of those two types makes things worse. The others don't last a very long. And any non OEM type will not fit correctly, in total. Yeah there are adapter plates to use with some, but that is bad as the total stack heights are way too tall.
AGX's. I carry them, I rarely sell them. No big fan myself. Warranty service sucks and there is a lot of cross talk between compression and rebound in those adjusters, where say a Koni Sport adjusts only rebound. And that matters are the two things do different things and wanting more of one does not mean you want more of the other.
STR.T are a price point shock. Sell lots of them because people like the price. Fronts aren't bad, rears aren't as good as I wish they were. But Sport fronts are the really costly ones, so we'll often do STR.T front and Sport rear is someone is trying to do the best they can for less money without being as cheap as possible. Bilstein rears are at times, and in certain uses, better too.
Overall as sets of 4, Koni Sport on top, Bilstein next, then can be a toss up between STR.T and AGX but only if the customer has AGX and can explain to me what different settings do to help or harm their ride. I can then assess how that compares to the fixed settings of the STR.T. Like most things in like you get what you pay for.
__________________ www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450 Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
Man... DO NOT replace the springs only... they are going to wear those already worn out shocks. At least pick up some Bilstein HD's... I am about to throw this set up on mine.
Bumpstops are critical. Not any bumpstop, there are some that many sell because people like the price points, that are not right or correct and one of those two types makes things worse. The others don't last a very long. And any non OEM type will not fit correctly, in total. Yeah there are adapter plates to use with some, but that is bad as the total stack heights are way too tall.
What’s with the F body needing bump stops? Is it the “weak” spring rates? The Torque arm design? I don’t think I’ve ever had a car that needed them for every day use. I’ve had and have other vehicles that have them but they never come into play unless you were to get air born.
What’s with the F body needing bump stops? Is it the “weak” spring rates? The Torque arm design? I don’t think I’ve ever had a car that needed them for every day use. I’ve had and have other vehicles that have them but they never come into play unless you were to get air born.
Just because you don't realize it, does not mean you don't have vehicles that use them, and often MORE than these do. Have a torsion bar GM truck? They sit on them, all the time. Most cars you can't see them, as they are on the shock hidden away. Koni Sports on a C5 or C6 Corvette, because they are inverted and the stops are now out where you can see them vs. OEM, they are on them all the time too. They are better called bump RUBBERS, but like all big trucks are MACK trucks to some folks, these all get painted as Bump stops.
__________________ www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450 Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
For a daily driver type, Sam's sway bars plus Bilsteins are incredible, that was the combo on my '98. Massive upgrade, no downside. With the springs you have, I would go for Koni Sports or Sam's revalved Bilsteins. Make SURE you are willing to tolerate all the nonsense that comes with lowered, even though you got the best ones around IMO.
Shocks are the biggest of big deals here. If a full set of Sports is out, and stock springs or mild lowering springs are in use, then Bilstein typically over STR.T unless the budget is still a main player at that point. I am not a huge fan of STR.T rears, the fronts aren't bad, so often as a 'tweener option I will do STR.T front and off car adjustable Sport rears.
__________________ www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450 Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
Shocks are the biggest of big deals here. If a full set of Sports is out, and stock springs or mild lowering springs are in use, then Bilstein typically over STR.T unless the budget is still a main player at that point. I am not a huge fan of STR.T rears, the fronts aren't bad, so often as a 'tweener option I will do STR.T front and off car adjustable Sport rears.
thanks, Sam. do you have a suspension package for your springs and Bilsteins? i think i only see packages on your website for KONI sport and STR.T. I would run this set-up with your front and rear swaybars as well.
for some reason, i was under the impression the STR.T were better than Bilsteins but thank you for clarifying.
You can simply put bilsteins in a cart along with the springs. But I do not assemble those. All the pieces required are not available aftermarket. Most of them are but stock dust boots and bump stops are required to do it correctly and I don't have access to those. Aftermarket versions that people think are close enough, or not, not to work correctly.
the str.t has a bit more rebound, unfortunately the rear shock tends to lack proper compression damping in some cases where more unsprung weight has been added. That's bigger wheels, bigger tires, a bigger axle. To some degree all shocks designed for this car can have a little bit of it, but generally monotube shocks like the Bilstein or the Sports in the off car adjustable version are better the higher and higher the unsprung weight amounts become. The on car adjustable Sports do fine with minimal to moderate increases in unsprung weight, but the bigger piston monotube design does better as that weight increases further and further.
__________________ www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450 Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
thanks, Sam. do you have a suspension package for your springs and Bilsteins? i think i only see packages on your website for KONI sport and STR.T. I would run this set-up with your front and rear swaybars as well.
for some reason, i was under the impression the STR.T were better than Bilsteins but thank you for clarifying.
Obviously, your'e not looking close enough.. He offers a Bilstien/Strano combo.. He even assembles the front struts to his springs 9 for an additional cost) its worth it...
I have Bilstein and I have the springs. I can give you most of the parts to assemble them. But I cannot assemble them because the proper Dust Boot and bump stop setup isn't available aftermarket and it is only on the GM original shocks. Which I don't have sitting around my shop. And have not been made for quite a while by GM so I can't find them anywhere except for being used. The bump stop we could actually work around but it's the way the dust boot uses a big metal piece at the top to act as a support for the bump stop. Aftermarket stuff generally doesn't have that which means nothing is correct if you just slam some random Boot and Bump Stop on there without proper upper support. Of course, people do that. In fact I see people assemble shocks all the time that don't have any dust boot or Bump Stop.
the thing about str.ts is it's a price point kind of deal. The front actually I have zero problem with, not a big fan of the rears more and more we actually do combinations of str.t front with sport Rears. It's more cost-effective than people think and it gets you a much better rear shock then the str.t. bilsteins are excellent quality but the valving on the rebound side is a little softer. And that's kind of the trade-off you end up making between a Bilstein and an strictly at the back. The Bilstein is better suited for big wheels and tires or heavy rear axle cars because it has more effective compression damping which deals with unspring weight. But generally has a little less rebound damping. So to some extent it has a lot to do with the roads as well as other pieces on the car. It's, complex.
__________________ www.stranoparts.com --814-849-3450 Results matter. Talk is cheap. We are miles beyond the success anyone else has had with the 4th gens, and C5, C6, C7 Corvettes,
10 SCCA Solo National Championships, 2008 Driver of they Year, 2012 Driver of Eminence
13 SCCA Pro Solo Nationals Championships
2023 UMI King of the Mountain Champion
Obviously, your'e not looking close enough.. He offers a Bilstien/Strano combo.. He even assembles the front struts to his springs 9 for an additional cost) its worth it...
Obviously, you didn't look at anything... at Sam's post before yours or his website.
Originally Posted by Sam Strano
I have Bilstein and I have the springs. I can give you most of the parts to assemble them. But I cannot assemble them because the proper Dust Boot and bump stop setup isn't available aftermarket and it is only on the GM original shocks. Which I don't have sitting around my shop. And have not been made for quite a while by GM so I can't find them anywhere except for being used. The bump stop we could actually work around but it's the way the dust boot uses a big metal piece at the top to act as a support for the bump stop. Aftermarket stuff generally doesn't have that which means nothing is correct if you just slam some random Boot and Bump Stop on there without proper upper support. Of course, people do that. In fact I see people assemble shocks all the time that don't have any dust boot or Bump Stop.
the thing about str.ts is it's a price point kind of deal. The front actually I have zero problem with, not a big fan of the rears more and more we actually do combinations of str.t front with sport Rears. It's more cost-effective than people think and it gets you a much better rear shock then the str.t. bilsteins are excellent quality but the valving on the rebound side is a little softer. And that's kind of the trade-off you end up making between a Bilstein and an strictly at the back. The Bilstein is better suited for big wheels and tires or heavy rear axle cars because it has more effective compression damping which deals with unspring weight. But generally has a little less rebound damping. So to some extent it has a lot to do with the roads as well as other pieces on the car. It's, complex.
Thanks, Sam. I see you're currently running a sale - we'll be in contact soon!
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but thank you for clarifying.