I was just on LS1.com and they have a running thread rating the best brake pads and I was wondering about shocks as I am sure most of us could do with new ones if we have not already swapped them. I have the factory Bilsteins on the rear which were great but are done now and Monroe sensi-tracs up front but I have never been happy with them... too soft for performance driving albeit comforterable though. I know that Koni's are great but $$$$ Anyone have suggestions or other options? I would love to hear about quality and price and where the best deals can be had. Compare them and lets see what we find.

I would say that the fastory Bilsteins are good... not great as they are a little sluggish causing some rear end skip effect when cornering on any roads that are not fresh smooth but they do control body heave very well and I would certainly put them on again. The sensi tracs are just too softly valved for any real performance driving.

1987 Iroc, 350SP crate, Shorty headers, Flowmaster 3" mandrel bent front to back, T56, 9 bolt 3.27, Full Energy polyurethane bushings, Box welded control arms and panhard bar, Borbet 17" 245/45/17 and 285/40/17, Southside Frame connectors, 85 TA Recarro interior,

 

I have Tokiko shocks and they are lifetime shocks. They seemed to work well. The logo looks like a gloved hand giving a handjob to someone.

 

Nice logo, but would that be a female hand.

 

Not sure. It is a gauntlet so if you like a rough touch.....

 

i have Koni yellows on all 4 corners and am very happy with them. as far as an adjustable high quality shock go, the only thing that comes close are the HAL/QA1's, IMO.

 

i say it depends on your springs...you need to match them properly. i had koni yellows and they were alright but i could never find a setting that was as good as my bilsteins. bilstein hd's and the eibach pro-kit is an unbelievable setup on our cars. the sports and the eibach sportkit goes well too!

i will be running the hal 12 pt. billet struts up front very soon so i'll post on them but if i could i'd keep my bilstein hd's. i have had them all from gabriel, monroe, kyb, etc. and you definately get what you pay for. i'm suprised the most by kyb, especially in their struts as for myself they aren't worth a damn. i'll be replacing them with konis on the other car real soon since they don't offer bilsteins for the model.

either way the real point is you have to match them with the spring.

 

Thats great info there! Thanks. I too have a love of Bilsteins quality. In my experience they last the longest and perform the most consistent of any shocks I have used in the past. I did try KYB Gas adjusts on a t-type Regal that I had ten years back or so and found them to be no better than the original non gas charged units. The struts on my Iroc drive were done when I bought it six years ago. I spent two years bilding it and was planning on Koni's but left the shocks until the end and had run out of cash. Surprisingly the Bilstein rears worked great until last summer when all of a sudden they died.

AS far as spring matching goes I have the original springs still in my car. I want to lower it but I find even now there are plenty of speed "humps" around here that I scrape when driving over them and this has prevented me from doing so. I drive the car almost everyday in the summer so that limits me here. I was thinking though that the sag in these springs would likely match the height of the pro kit. I need something to get me going for now and was thinking about the Monroe heavy duty gas for the rear. Would this be your choice of the low cost variety? I look forward to hearing about those billet struts too. I think I will start searching for a Pro Kit and Bilstein HD's in the meantime though. I have a brand new never mounted set of Bilstein Z71 shocks that I should post for trade. Thanks for the info. Later.

 

Still using the original Bilstien shocks & struts and they are as solid as the day they left the factory. ORIGINAL OWNER of 1987 IROC-Z28.

 

BTW kandied91z thats a sweet ride you have there.

 

think i need new shocks went over a bump and coulda swore i heard my body slam into my frame rail in the rear passanger corner, who knows

 

Same here. My car feels as solid and safe at the limit or in a slalom that it ever has. I'm thinking about getting a cheap set of Lakewood drag shocks for the rear when I go drag racing. These yellows DO NOT squat.

 

Not to get too off topic but Denny nice ride also! I almost bought those same wheels and I would have except some Mustang dork who lives down my street bought them first. I had a real challenge finding "affordable" wheels that looked cool as the -11 off set is not all that common these days. I ended up with Borbet type t's which are very similar to those. I had to buy BMW bolt pattern and drill them out but it worked slick. 17x8 and 17x9 245 and 285 Yok A520's They are pretty much done so I ma gonna try the GSD3's

Glad to hear about those Koni's though Lets hope we get some more reviews. So far Koni and Bilstein are taking command.

 

even the middle of the run $20 a piece shocks were better than the original ones that were in there, raised my back end by about 2 inches. i'm thinking the same will happen in the front as i scrape against even the little bumbs but struts are a little more than shocks...

 

struts are indeed expensive...

 

I am thinking the pro kit/bilstein combination is the route I will go. Have to wait until mid summer but leaves me time to shop. That is unless someone else convinces me otherwise...