Michael Ozorowsky
10-27-2002, 02:32 PM
I'm looking for MOSTLY street, second Drag, and finally autoX, current mods in my sig...
SLP Driveshaft Safety loop-Anyone have problems with fitting these on with FLP Long tube headers??
BMR Panhard Bar
Bilstein Shocks
Torque Arm-Make me some suggestions, please.
What do you guys think?? Thanks.
drop top steve
10-30-2002, 10:44 PM
Check the Spohn Torque arms, you can get them with the ds loop on them. You can get the 1le da koni's from gmpartsdirect for 600, much better shock than the bilstiens and not that much more money.
Sam Strano
10-31-2002, 12:14 AM
Originally posted by drop top steve
Check the Spohn Torque arms, you can get them with the ds loop on them. You can get the 1le da koni's from gmpartsdirect for 600, much better shock than the bilstiens and not that much more money.
As someone who sells lots of Koni's and Bilstein's (and therefore has no axe to grind against either), I have to disagree with your feeling the Koni is a much better shock. It's different, yes, but that doens't make it better per se. Actually Bilstein's have much better longevity (and don't make the annoying but harmless quiet thunking Koni's are prone to).
If you are running heavier than stock springs, they I agree Koni's are better adept at damping them than are Bilstein HD's. Which is one big reason I do so much revalving of the HD's to suit diffferent uses beyone stock springs. Bilstein's have advantages over Koni's in ways.... Being a Mono-tube they ride better, they run cooler, and are less harsh over bumps. They can also be valved to work with with springs from wild to mild. Honestly, if ther was an adjustable Bilstein for our cars, they'd have no disadvantages to a Koni. However, that's the one difference besides the softer valving. You can't tweak it. For most people that's 100% not a problem as they don't know what to do and how shock valving works anyway.... I have a lot of very satisfied customers who have taken Koni's off in favor of Bilstein's and not been sorry. Of course, sometimes the opposite is true as well. It's a matter of prioritizing the needs of the customer.
The other thing I'd disagree on is that DA's are the best Koni's..... There is nothing wrong with them, but again it's a matter of what's required vs. what's cool.... The DA's are and were meant for road racing. As such their bump adjustment is geared toward higher piston speeds (that's not car speed btw, it means things like bumps and dips). In other words turning the bump up doesn't slow down the roll rate of the car. It's there to help facilitate the running of a softer spring when you might have one or two dips in the road that would otherwise require a heavier spring, basically...... The base bump setting of a DA is the same as the bump setting on a SA Koni. Also the range of rebound adjustment is indentical between the two shocks.
What it comes down to is this: For almost 2 times the money you get a very similar shock to a Single Adjust Koni, but get a bump adjuster that is useless to most people's (not all, most) situations, but has no warranty (race part).