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<MISC> Shock / Strut Experiences

Friends,

I'd also like to pass along a few comments about my experiences with shocks / 
struts.  Hopefully this will provide food for thought to those considering buying 
some.

I had a '69 2002, bought new, that I put standard Koni's on, stock springs were 
cut about 1/2 turn to lower the CG and get a little higher spring rate.  Having 
the capability to adjust the rebound damping rate was enjoyable, and worked well. 
Not fun to have to drop the struts down to adjust them, but the shocks were 
fairly easy -- just unbolt from the lower mount, expand to take the internal bump 
stop out, compress up to the top and engage, adjust by turning  These didn't seem 
to be "performance" shocks/struts, but they worked well enough with the springs 
and for spirited driving in the hills around San Luis Obispo, California.  Over 
about 5 years no problems with leakage, etc.  But this was a long time ago (in a 
far away land...) and I think the adjusting mechanism may be easier to use in 
their current products.  Adequate performance, good reliability, just nothing to 
get excited about.

BTW, installed a '73 2002tii engine in the above '02.  Nice modification, 
gorgeous engine to look at with the custom aluminum air filter / mount to the 
plenum.  Sold this pristine car to a young lady whose boyfriend promptly crashed 
it.  Never, never should have sold it, BIG mistake.  I then bought a Buick, then 
a Firebird, then another Firebird, these were the dark years...

Had Bilsteins (factory) on an '87 Corvette.  Seemed to be valved to GM specs for 
comfort / performance balance.  Adequate for about 2 - 3 years, one shock had 
very minor leakage, in general the shocks seemed to lose their damping rates 
somewhat inconsistently.  That is, some shocks seemed to lose more of their 
damping rate than the others.  Put standard Monroe shocks on, a comfort shock, 
but they were very satisfactory for general driving and thankfully restored the 
sense of balance resulting from consistent damping rates.

Put Monroe Formula GPs on an '87 Pontiac Formula, otherwise stock "sport" / WS6 
suspension, not exactly state-of-the-art engineering, but fun.  In a word, WOW!  
The puppies were ultimately intolerable for me in a daily driver situation, but 
get out in medium to high speed canyon sweepers and they shine!.  Transformed the 
car into a glassy smooth handler, eliminated most of the flaky handling that 
previously required me to think and respond to, no surprises or scares.  Really a 
pleasure, as long as you were not doing the casual around town thing.  I believe 
Dick Guldstrand, a Corvette / Camaro / Firebird kind of tuner in Southern 
California worked wiith Monroe on designing / valving these shocks.  Even if they 
were available, I doubt I'd put them on my E36 M3.  I want something overall 
easier to live with.  

So now I'm waiting for the Bilstein sports -- claimed to be available by the end 
of this year -- to go with my H&Rs.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are 
not TOO stiff, will complement the H&R spring rates, and put a smile on my face.

HTH, YMMV, the usual disclaimers...

Michael Wylie
Novato, California
(Home of the Novato City Council, the best city council money can buy)
1995 ///M3