What is the arrangement of shocks and struts on my 1988 Camaro with the 305 TBI. I want to get some new ones but I am not sure what I need.

 

the front is 2 struts and the back is 2 shocks. the struts are like 90$ each outa summit for drag struts and the rear is like 50$ i think

 

I don't want drag shocks or struts. I just want something that handles well on the street. An upgrade from stock. Not looking for the best most expensive. Just an upgrade.

 

KYB GR-2 front Struts and KYB Gas-A-Just rear shocks.
$175 at Advance Auto parts for all 4.

 

I think I can get those on shox.com as well. Thanx a lot Zepher.

 

No problem. You should be pretty happy with those. My friend has them on his car and they are pretty damn good for the money.

 

pay 100-150 now for a cheaper "decent" setup or pay 300-350 and have something that will last you for quite a while and ride really nice.

if your really on a budget gabriels will be a good temporary fix and ride quite nice for the first 5,000 miles...kyb you can expect about twice that and the nicer setups roughly 20-30,000 depending on how you drive. struts and shocks are one of the most important upgrades to the "feel" of your car. choose wisely as you get what you pay for.

 

Either Bilstien or Tokiko. I have Tokikos in my bird and Bilstiens in my truck and Benz

 

Yeah, but man those babies cost serious coin! Like 3 or 4 times what the KYBs cost

 

but boy are the bilsteins worth every penny.....i absolutely loved my eibach pro-kit and bilstein hd's however it wasn't low enough so now i pay. one of if not the best money i've spent in actual performance and overall enjoyment with my car. i put kyb's on my gtp to save money over the 900 koni kit and while i saved almost 600 the car rides terrible and i know i will have to either spend another 220 on new kybs next year or break down and spend what i should have.

 

True but I haven't had to replace them yet. Struts especially are expensive to replace because we can't do it in the garage easily and an alignment is also involved.

 

I put shocks and struts ona friends car a few weeks ago in my driveway. Isn't hard really. Rear took about 20 minutes, fronts took maybe an hour-hour and half.

 

Graet recomendation--I'll second that. Bought the same thing myself.

 

How did you do that? Rears I can do all day long but fronts are struts and you need a spring compressor. After that, you would have to do an alignment, right? I know you can rent a manual spring compressor instead of the air driven ones but what about the alignment?

 

Spring doesn't have to come out in the front to do the struts.
Just jack up the front and put it on jack stands, put a floor jack under the a-arm to support it, unbolt the strut from the spindle and unbolt the strut from the strut tower and pull it off.
Easy job if the bolts on the spindle aren't frozen.