bluecmaro96

i thought the ws6 came with bilsteins from the factory? mine are the orange crappy decarbon shocks, what are all the differences from regular trans am and the ws6, thanks

teke184

as with most things, different cars came with different options. the upgraded suspension was an option i think

codyss

A) DeCarbon shocks are not crap, Bilstein and Koni are the only better ones I can think of. Would you prefere a generically valved Delco?

B) The only Firebird that ever could have had better than DeCarbon's is the Firehawk. Or a earlier year 1LE which would've had Koni.

As the 98-02 WS6 got older it got less in the suspension department. Typically a WS6 came with better spring rates w/shocks & stuts valved accordingly and a slightly larger sway bars. Some have said the later ones only got the springs or the sway bars I haven't peeked under my friends 02.

Greed4Speed

Almost anything is better than the DeCarbons. Even KYB and Tokico are a step up.

chuck

'96-'99 WS6 had 1LE springs, LCA's, PHB, 32mm front sway bar, and custom valved DeCarbon shocks.

Very ealry 2000 (built 11/99 and before) were like the '96-'99.

'00-'02 WS6 only suspension upgrade was the 32mm front sway bar.

codyss

The KYB and Tokico vs DeCarbon is BS.

Does anyone even know what makes a shock better? My 1994 Trans Am had 84,000 miles on the stock DeCarbon shocks. I bought some KYB Gas Adjust's for it. Later that night I was re-installing the stock shocks.

The stock Decarbons were still sealed and had harder compression and faster rebound. A performance shock should compress slow and be very firm, it should also rebound quickly.

Greed4Speed

Then why is it that the SLP Bilstein revalves compress easier (softer bump) than Bilstein HD (130 SLP vs 159 HD)?
Where they are stiffer is in rebound (397 SLP vs 297 HD).
The SLPs are valved for higher rate springs also.
If your theory was true, air shocks would be a great set up, and they are if you like wheel hop.

Just because a strut is stiffer does NOT make it better. Too stiff of a shock can cause loss traction over road imperfections. Talk to Sam Strano and he'll even tell you that the Decarbons are marginal for even the stock spring rates.

My Decarbons were letting my car bounce pretty good by 48k miles. They weren't leaking, but the springs were having their way with them. Traction and handling with Tokicos are much better than the Decarbons were before they were worn out.

Ask in the suspension section of any 4th gen f-body forums what your first suspension mod should be and I bet you'll be told to get rid of the Decarbons.

codyss

Well I guess I just don't know anything I have only had 4 cars with DeCarbons on them now.

Pull a Bilstein off of a SLP SS package, also a DeCarbon off of a SS and a DeCarbon off of a Z28/Trans Am/Formula.

The ones off of the SS's are valved/feel very alike the ones from the last group of cars feel way different. You talk like DeCarbons are piles of **** and they aren't. Then again I don'y beat the hell out of my cars on a daily basis so maybe mine last longer.