Monroes will be fine.....for a while.

 

JB - I probably sound like a salesman for Bilstein, but I'm not. I've had the 'Steins on 2 previous vehicles, a Ford Explorer (yup, a TRUCK!) and a SAAB 900 that came standard with them. I put well over 100,000 miles on both sets with NO sign of wearing out or leaking. And I beat the hell out of the ones on the Explorer. When I bought my Pace, I was quite pleased to see that they were also mounted on all 4 corners. Nice to know that I can do the rear composite conversion w/o having to do shocks as well. Definite for the Bilsteins.

 

Exactly the point. Bargain shocks aren't a real bargain when you have to replace 'em every year. Go Bilstein and you'll never regret it.

 

Delco they were inexpensive and ride great.

 

Had KYB's on my 66' and loved them....
The 69' has Bilsteins on it and I can see why they are the money that they are.....

Jebby

 

I have Monroe (sensetracs I believe) great for cruising, I've had them on for 18,000 miles and still take the bounce out. I've recently started to consider a shock that was adjustable for dialing in the whole combination. If you just cruise and corner carve ( to some extent ) then the Monroe's would work fine. If you auto cross, drag race or road race then going to a better shock would be in order. I too only am able to drive my vette 3,000 miles on a good summer and the roads are sh1+ here in Alaska year round. Good luck on your project. Blue

To those who use different shocks front and back, for US inexperienced guys can you provide some insite as to why? If a firmer shock in front and a softer shock in back or vice versa provides the best all around ride and performance then maybe the op would want to research lesser expensive shocks to try to simulate the cause for some of the same benefits.

 

The same shock will act differently depending on the type of spring (rear steel or Composite) and the spring rate. i would assume that a shock manufacturer builds their shocks to work based on some broad parameters of the stock spring rates and spring type. The stock gymkhana spring rates in 1978 were about 292 LBS rear steel spring and I believe (too lazy to look it up) 300lbs front. When I put my VBP composite spring on the car in 1986, I was using KYB's Gas A Just shock with the steel spring and used it on the composite one as well, where it was not suited to the composite's rebound characteristic nor the elevated spring rate. Fast forward to 10+ years ago when I decided to go with Bilstein HD's all around with the 360 Composite rear spring and now 550 front coils, 1 inch shorter than stock. Since I had 550 springs in the front which are plenty stiff on their own, the Bilstein HD's were a great match. Great ride, steering response, handling. In the rear, with 360 composite which alone improves the ride dramatically, The Bilstein HD's made a big difference in rebound control BUT I was still not completely satisfied with the spring oscillations cruising down a smooth highway. Since the Bilstein Sports are 30% stiffer than the HD's, I decided to combine the front HD's with the rear Sports. Bingo! Perfect combination. Sold my Rear Bilstein HD's with like 2,000 miles on them to forum member for dirt-$40 each! In racing, shock fine tuning front to rear and even at each individual wheel is common.

 

Thanks.