Strut & shock suggestions for lowered 95Z

Getting ready to install my DMS lowering springs, LCA's & adj panhard. While I'm in there I want to replace the factory struts & shocks, as the car is at 110k miles & I'm pretty sure all 4 are pretty tired. I see lots of reccomendations for Bilsteins, KYB adjustables, etc, but my budget is waaay tight.
My question is for a car that is used for aggresive street driving or long distance touring (no auto-X or drag strip use), are Bilsteins or KYB gas adjustables really worth the money? Would a decent set of non adjustable gas shocks be suitable for my uses?
I'd like to hear from anyone who went with less expensive shocks & struts to see if you have any negative experiences. Heard plenty from everyone who loves their expensive shocks or struts, but if anyone has a source for gas adjustables at less than $90 per, I'm all ears......

i used off the shelf bilstien Hds. they were something like $340 for the set from sam. www.stranoparts.com thats less than $90 each. i like them. they arent optimal for my set up which is just a pro kit and sway bar, but they were better than the de carbons that were on there. and i can eventually have them revalved to be better. so its almost and investment for me really. i also do what your doing mainly. i daily drive the car and head to the mountains, but i autox too.

im sure more will reply, but i dont think you would go wrong with bilstien HDs. Trey

I spent the last few days reading the boards looking for what springs and shoch / struts to get and I got the BMR springs and a set of off the shelf Bilstien HDs my self. Belive it or not I got them from Auto Zone for 365.90 including tax. I asked for a discount and the guy that is allways helpfull gave me his employee discount (10%) They had to order them in but got them the next day.

Ian

i also got the same set up as you with the dms stuff and I have bilsteins, I like it. they were about 350 shipped or so? from stranoparts.com

edit: mine is a street car, but I don't daily drive it. maybe 100 miles a month now.

thanks for the replies guys!
After doing a site search I have come to the conclusion shocks & struts are one of the less "scientific" topics to research. There just doesnt seem to be lot of hard data out there, i.e. skid pad testing, autoX time comparisons with different shock/strut combo's or similar.
As a relative newbie to the 4th gen cars, I am so impressed with the handling compared to 1st & 2nd gen cars that modding for improvements seemed like redundancy at first. Of course, the more I learn how to extract the most from the car, the more attractive optimal performance gets......
1 thing that did become obvious though, is that increased sway bar size & stiffness is probably worth doing. The strut tower braces also seem like good return on the money items.
Definitely looking forward to seeing if I can get the car to 1.0G lateral acceleration!

Merry Christmas (or insert holiday of choice) & Happy New Year all!

I have an STB and didn't notice any difference.

If you're looking for 1.0g expect to spend some money, you aren't going to do it on a budget.

And it will be a combination of wheels, tires, and suspension. But without sticky tires (Hoosiers A3S03 or 04's or Kumho 700's or 710's) you'll never make it.

If you want the best advice, call Sam Strano or go to www.stranoparts.com . It'll be the best call you can make for your car.

Well, Steve maybe right, I probably dont have the coin to get to 1.0G, but it'll be interesting to see how close I can get on lo budget!
Thanks for the STB feedback, I think I'll move that down the "list" a bit!
Given the unanimously positive reccomendations for Sam Strano, I am decided that I will check out his stuff.
Thanks Steve!

I believe I'm turning 1g but I also run 17x11 wheels and 315 Hoosiers all the way around not to mention all the suspension pieces required to to that.

how can you turn with 315s in front? :)

but seriously, you will most likely have to replace your front shocks anyway, as that little nut thing at the top will have to be cut off, because it is a pain to remove any other way.

I turn REALLY well with 315's in the front!!!!;)

bah.. i doubt I would want that big for a daily driver, makes the car look really nice though :)

I don't use those for my daily driver (just my race tires) but I'm seriously thinking about it. The problem is that I haven't found any wheels that I like in that size that don't cost and arm and a leg. I did find some cheap Sumitomo HTR Z 315's for $147 from Tire Rack though. Who knows, maybe I'll get another set for ZR-1 wheels and try those tires on them for the street.