Best shocks for a street car.

B

boosted3

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
I have a ttype with skinnys and drag radials. It has a TA49 with 50#s and a front mount. 212/212 cam, and I am about to add alky, a 3" single shot exhaust, and air bags so i figured i should put new shocks on it while im upgrading. What would the best shocks be for my application? Its strictly a street driver with the possibility of going to the track for a couple passes just to see what it will run. I have seen Bilsteins seem to be the popular upgrade and am wondering if thats the best shock for my application. I have about $300 to spend on shocks. Part numbers would be helpful so I can shop around for the best price...I am on a pretty tight budget! :biggrin: Thanks for your help!
Brian
 
Bilstiens. They may be over $300. I cant remember. They made a big difference on the street and the track!
 
FRONTS:
KYB #KG4513
Bilsteins # F4B360949H0

REARS:
KYB #KG5548
Bilsteins # F4B460929H0


Bilsteins are 61.95 each from summit with a 12 handling fee.
 
I've had the stockers, air shocks and QA1's and if something is better than QA1's for street/strip I'd be surprised, and if it was it's not by much. Summit had them on sale when I got mine and the total was well under $300 for them, they rock.
 
Picked up my Bilstiens at Autozone for $199.00 for 4. Not in stock but came in next morn.
 
I just bought a set of Bilsteins for the front,from Summit. Today was their first test ride. Even tho they were tougher than the usual shock to compress by hand,they seem to absorb sharp bumps well.

Two of my other GM cars have KYB's all around. One for 10yrs and 60,000mi over harsh Upstate NY roads.

The two brands seem the same to me.

I've had failures and/or leakage with Gabriels and Monroe Sensa-tracs. Never again with those.


Steve from Upstate NY. '87 GN t-tops,mostly stock.
 
i like the bilsteins in my car now but theyre not for everyone. they are tight and will help in locating any rattles your car may have. but, the high speed stability is dead on.
 
I have the cheapest yellow Monroe shocks known to man. Works great for me as far as I can tell. What differences are you guys seeing with better shocks. I have been running the same shocks since 97, maybe it is time for a change?
 
berserker6 said:
i like the bilsteins in my car now but theyre not for everyone. they are tight and will help in locating any rattles your car may have. but, the high speed stability is dead on.
Click to expand...
They will help locate rattles. Thats pretty funny but ironically true.:biggrin:
 
I couldn't live with the KYB's on the street. Went back to the Monroe's. Cheap, but comfortable.
 
Since you have Drag Radials with skinnies on front I take it handling was not the major goal. Do you want it to leave hard on the street? If thats the case, how does the Blisteens compare to the Koni drag shocks? or just the cheap Monroes?
 
i got a set of billstiens for $232.00 shipped from Eshocks.com it was free shipping too01
 
I currently have Delco Premiums on my car but I recently changed to Firestone Indy 500 tires so the ride is alot better. The Delco's are OK but they do not provide a very tight feel as far as hard corners go. I plan on changing to Edelbrocks or QA1.
 
Forcefed, the QA1's are 12 way adjustable, so at the track you go around 0-4 and the street you can move up for better cornering etc. IMO you get the best of both which is why I think it's hard to be them for the $$.
 
FLGN said:
Since you have Drag Radials with skinnies on front I take it handling was not the major goal. Do you want it to leave hard on the street? If thats the case, how does the Blisteens compare to the Koni drag shocks? or just the cheap Monroes?
Click to expand...

Handling is definitely not my major goal...im just looking for a decent street suspension that will hook up well. I am running 275/60/15 drag radials on the back and on a real hard launch or high speed bump they rub a bit but its because i have a very soft shock on it right now...they compress very easily just pushing down on the rear bumper. I bought airbags to hopefully take some of that away but i figured while i was under there i would replace the shocks as well. i think im gonna start with the KYB shocks on the back because it sounds like the Bilsteins are going to give me a rougher ride and thats not what im looking for. i would like to be able to bolt some highway tires on it and drive it to vegas if the mood strikes me right so i want something that will ride decent on the highway.
Thanks for all the responses!
 
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