jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

I know a lot of people talk trash about the
DeCarbons that come with the car, and that
Bilstiens with hand-whittled valves seem to
be the fave. As someone who's spent most of
their driving life behind the tiller of big
Amurrican land barge beaters, the stock shocks
on my SS feel right sporty to me...

... but with lowering springs somewhere in
the mail, and the buzz being to take that
opportunity to replace the shocks with your
choice of upgrade, I figure I'd ask some
questions & solicit opinions.

- When you switched from stock to {Brand A,B,C...}
what sorts of things impressed you, what did
you see improve, what do you feel you gave up?

- Would you stick with the same brand again, or
try another? If you've tried many, feel free
to compare for the benefit of the thin-of-
wallet and/or -clue (Yo!)

- If you tried adjustables, did you end up at
a ride dial-in that, in the end, was pretty
much like you would've gotten off-the-rack?

I guess in the end I'd like some kind of sanity
check about whether the average Joe Leadfoot
really finds that the stock DeCarbons are -that-
bad, or other shocks -that- good, that it's
worth dumping four that are only 5000 miles
old, and throwing several hundred bucks (or ?)
down for replacements.

Ackattack

I think it really depends on what you plan to do with the car (autocross, drag race, comute back and forth to work, or carve the back canyon roads) I talked to a guy that has koni single adjustables on his car for autocross and said that they were pretty good and that the double adjustables were harder to get dialed in. On the other side of things, the hals (aka QA1) are supposed to be pretty good for drag racing, and I read one of their ads and said they could be used for autocross too. I think when the time and money comes to replace mine, I'll probably go with the hals, as i use my car for both autocross and drag racing.

Hope that helps a little.

Killer '01 SS

iTrader: (2)

The problem with the stock shocks is that their rebound damping--the function of the shock that "dampens" the energy released when a compressed spring expands AFTER a bump--is terrible. You can best observe this when you go over a big dip in the road, which compresses the springs. When the springs expand ("rebound"), the nose of the car will rise rapidly, and may even "bounce" up and down a little. The springs need more "damping" of the rebound force than the stock DeCarbons provide.

Couple that with stiffer springs, which will release even MORE energy when they expand after being compressed, and the stock shocks just don't cut it. Find a shock with better rebound damping (or adjustable rebound damping, like my Koni SA's) and you'll be a LOT happier with your lowering springs, if a little lighter in the wallet.

Just my $.02.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

My experience, after playing with several F-bodys (mine and others) and working as a crew chief for a NASA American Iron car are:

While changing the springs, I'd replace the shocks with any "performance" shock....anything at all....before I'd put the stock shocks back on.

If you don't know if you need Koni Double adjustables (or any extremely adjustable shocks), then you probably don't. This is not a bad thing, but improperly adjusted shocks are nearly as bad (or even much worse) than off the shelf performance shocks (bilstein, KYB, Tociko, etc) and a whole lot cheaper. (shocks are not impossible to set up...but they can be tricky at times).

While I don't recommend them for racing, you can't beat a KYB "Gas-a-just" shocks as a bang for the buck upgrade over your stock shocks (for a lowered street car). I ran them for years on my 89 Formula with an eibach pro kit and we ran them for a long time on a road race Mustang (it was a friends car....stop with the hate mail already....) and they worked as well as the driver did at that time (the driver is "fixed" now).

There are several others that will do a fine job (bilstiens, slp bilstiens...the slp shocks are a little "softer" valved, I prefer the standard bilstiens myself, tokico illumina...which are somewhat adjustable and reasonably priced).

Go to www.ground-control.com and read the F-body catalog and the shock listings (and Jay Morris and the guys out there are great do deal with if you have questions) or call Sam Strano (www.stranoparts.com I think).

Hope this helps....good luck.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

I've looked around a little, and have found
Bilsteins ar about $85 a corner, and the
Gas-A-Just at the same sort of prices. If
the Gas-A-Just are a bang-for-buck shock,
have I just not found the best place to buy,
or did I stubmble onto an unusually good
Bilstein price?