Deep Blue

Sam need your expert advice here though anyone else with experience is welcomed to chime in.

I have a 1998 Trans Am (purchased December 1997) mostly weekend driver with 28,000 miles. Last August, I swapped out the stock 16s for some OEM C6 Corvette rims 18X8.5 front and 19X10 rear. Tires are 245/40-18 up front and 295/35-19 in the rear. In the rear I run a 1.25 inch wheel adapter to adjust for the +79 mm offset.

Even with only 25,000 miles I'm thinking it's time to replace the original Decarbons due to age. About a year and a half ago I bought 4 replacement Decarbon takeoffs from SLP from their Firehawk Program-supposedly they took them off with about 5 to 10 miles on them. I just never got around to putting them on my TA.

Since my plans for the vehicle are only street driving at this point, do you think the DeDarbons I purchased from SLP would still be in good shape? In general, how much are shocks affected by age? I'd move up to Konis or Bilsteins but they don't fit into the budget for the summer driving season.

Thanks,

Deep Blue

chupr0kabra

iTrader: (10)

I doubt he'll answer that specific a question here. You're better off calling him.


-Mike

Deep Blue

Cool I''l try that. One gets so used to the internet you forget about the phone.

J. Brown

I can tell you he is going to tell you decarbons suck large...............if you care about your car buy Koni's.

GXP Lover

Boy, I was going to leave this one alone but you either had the original DeCarbons or you could upgrade to Bilsteins/springs when you bought a Firehawk. So I would say, although they came off a Firehawk, you got yourself some stock shocks.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Decarbons are terrible when new. New ones vs. 28,000 mile ones are going to be similar. I'd not bother to change them and just sell the "take off's" to someone or on ebay and save your money for some better shocks. It's not worth the time/trouble/effort to change them for new ones.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Firehawk and WS6 deCarbon's are very much the same.... Changing the shocks to another set of deCarbon's is a waste of your time and money. Frankly 28k miles isn't enough for them to be shot, they simply suck from the start. Basically the issues aren't from wear, they are from not being so good.

If you want to spend the time and money to put them on, essentially replacing just what you have with the same thing, that's your call. I'd rather install something that is worth a damn for the long run. Either put something better on, or do nothing. When you get 50-60k miles the OE shocks will be weak enough to see bigger differences with the "replacements", then it makes slightly more sense, but still not near as much as just doing it once with an appropriately chosen, quality damper.

Deep Blue

Thanks Sam and everyone; that's what I wanted-good honest advice. I'll just save up for some Konis and write this off to experience.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

sure thing.....