Demon Of Dreams

iTrader: (3)

I'm having a hell of a time making a final decision on this... my stock shocks are shot, the bushings are dry rotted and they're continually getting worse... sway bar bushings are the same and honestly it just gives me an excuse to upgrade something I've been meaning to since I bought the car... in both cases...

now, while I was planning on a tune at MTI in mid-june... I really only have LT's, ported TB and the regular bolt ons that go with such things... so a tune can wait if need be...

the shocks, while not going with Koni's due to cost at the moment, I'll probably be going with strano's revalved bilsteins, I don't think I'll need more and honestly I believe it should be enough to last me awhile at least.

what would you do?

also considering swapping out my poly/rod lca's/phr for rod/rod so this may play a part in my decision as well.

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

I'd do the Shocks and Sways, no question.
Like you said your car isn't too radical, so a tune isn't needed.
Plus the shocks and sways will make driving much more pleasurable.
You will feel a diff w the shocks/sways...I'm guessing not so much w the tune now.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

+1

that tune is not really gonna be worth it if the suspension can't do the job it was designed to do, due to being worn out. fix the stuff that's really "wrong" with it first, then go get your tune

i haven't done any power mods (with the exception of a lid/filter) to my car yet, i'm getting the suspension all built up first....it makes the car so much nicer to drive in the times between mods, too

i'd personally rather have an "underpowered" car (well, underpowered when compared to a lot of cars on this site) that rides well, than a beast of a car that rides like ****....but that's just my opinion

Demon Of Dreams

iTrader: (3)

now i'm wondering if I should just go HD's and do Koni's later, or get the revalves and possibly not get the Koni's later.

if I get the HD's... I'm likely going to redo my single adjustable LCA's/PHR and go double adjustable when I do the sways and shocks... getting tired of the noises from them overall.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

If you plan on lowering the car at all in the future or may want to upgrade it again later, do it right the first time. It makes zero sense to buy the HD's now to plan on buying the Konis later. If you can't afford the Konis now and you can't wait to save up the extra couple hundred bucks, then at least buy the revalves.

Cheaper in the end to buy either $550 or $800 shocks up front than it is to buy $400 shocks and then go and buy $800 shocks later.

Now if you're not going to lower the car ever, feel free to buy the regular HD's, but if there's any itch for lowering the car at all, refer to previous statement.

Also, if you're going to be getting rid of your poly/rod UMI LCAs...I know someone who might be interested in them (ME!)

Demon Of Dreams

iTrader: (3)

I can always resell the shocks... but fact of the matter is... lowering isn't in my future... I've got 9 months to a year left in texas, if not more... so the regular bilstein's will likely suit me just fine until I want to go the full route with my suspension... and its a far superior option to say... getting shocks that are much cheaper and not much better than the stock ones... by saving $500 on the shocks now, I can also get the sway bars... which have bushings that look just like my stock shock bushings... dry rotted and ineffective overall ... they do nothing good for me.

I'm considering either doing both the LCA's and the PHR or possibly just the LCA's... but I'll keep you up to date on that if you're interested... depends on if I feel like spending $400 bucks on lca's/phr or just go with the lca's themselves

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

Understandable, but you'll still lose money on the HD's, and then its more work for another shock swap down the road.

As for the LCAs, I'd be interested in those if I don't buy some before you sell them Already have a UMI poly/rod PHB.

Ace$nyper

iTrader: (8)

I didn't even need to read past stock shocks = shot.

Honestly, fix + upgrade > toys.

Even if it's a speaker, wheel tire anything. Do what you need when you can make it better as you fix. When everything is ok then play.

You don't NEED a tune.

If you have a broken part, you need to fix it.

Demon Of Dreams

iTrader: (3)

yeah but at this point it just comes down to what I can spend...

the bilstein HD's are out of stock till July for the fronts... so I need to go another route soon

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

Yes, most definitely on the right track. If you're really hard pressed financially, definitely make a good set of shocks a high priority.

Not to parrot anything, but "what I would do" in your situation is concentrate on selecting what shocks you can "live" with first. After that, a good sway bar set (tried many non-adjustible replacements and so far my best times are with the Strano sway bars).

AFA replacing your Poly/rod LCA/PHB? Unless a really great deal comes along, make that a last priority. Even though dual rod-end is superior when it comes to elmination of most of the bind and deflection, it's not really that critical at the moment, plus you might encounter a siginificant noise increase if you shall opt for dual rod end. Also since you mention that finances are a current concern, having twice the amount of rod ends adds up (even though the one's that UMI includes could last a long time, it's still money spent that you may/may not want to spend).

EDIT: Oh, then there is also an option of front pair first, then rear, or vice versa.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

man, if you're going to have to wait until July anyway, just save up and get the Koni's....that way you should never have to worry about another set of shocks again, and you can lower the car slighty (about 1/2" - 3/4") on a whim (lower front perch/rear hose mod)...and you'll have arguably the best shocks for the car (without going up into the 1000's of $$$ range, anyway).

and with the Koni's, you can adjust the stiffness/softness of the shocks exactly to your liking at any time.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

^^^ Exactly my reasoning.