I have a "96 LT4. I want to upgrade the shocks. Right now the car is kinda floaty, like I'm driving a cadillac. Here's how/where I drive the car, maybe you guys can give me an idea of which shocks would be best for me--I, unfortunately, only drive the car weekends. When I get out for a drive I pretty much always try to drive mountain roads. Hwy 9, near San Jose is the road I hit most often. Really twisty and fun. I don't plan on doing any autocrossing. Just agressive driving on mountain roads. Any ideas on what shocks would work best for me?

 

Youll get a million responses and opinions based on preference. You can always send your Bilsteins to get revalved. THey are in San Diego.

 

I tried 4 different shocks on my C4 so I'll give you my opinion. By the way this was on a '94 coupe with the standard FE3 suspension.

1 - Stock Bilstein shocks. As you can tell junk. My car always felt the same as your with that "floaty" feeling. By the way these were low mileage (22k) shocks in good working condition.

2 - QA1 12 way adjustable shocks. These were an improvement over the factory Bilsteins, but then again just about anything would have been. The adjustability was very easy to do on these. These were not gas-charged shocks and I didn't care for the ride. Small bumps in particular were not well handled no matter how I adjusted the shocks. These were bought new and were in perfec working condition.

3 - Koni Yellow Sport shocks. These were a great improvent over the other two. The adjustability of the rear shocks was not easy as you had to remove the shock to adjust it. However, this wasn't such a big deal as the back I basically set to a 1/4 turn from full soft and left it there. These shocks were great except that they were a little to harsh on anything less than perfect roads and here in the NE our roads suck. These were also bought new and were in perfec working condition.

4 - Bilstein HD (Z51) shocks. These were the last set of shocks that I tried on my car before selling it. They were the ideal compromise for me between ride and handling. Not quite as harsh as the Koni's , but still handled great.

Hope this helps as I wish I had just bought the Bilstein HD's from the beginning.

 

Are you saying the Bilsteins have too soft of a ride when working "properly"? The ones on my 90 FX3 feel floaty (sure they need to be rebuilt). Hopefully they firm up, feels like crap. Tempted to throw some KYBs on, but want to keep the FX3 functional.

 

Try Edelbrok for performance. Go with KYB for ride & price.

 

At least the ones that they installed in the later C4's with the FE3 (base) suspension were too soft. I've heard plenty of people complain of how "floaty" their stock Bilsteins were and I have experienced it first hand.

 

For your type of driving this is most likely your best option.

 

I will be looking at getting my Bilstein fx3 adjustable shocks rebuilt by Bilstein here in Australia.

For prices and info of rebuild/revalve in the USA check out this link:
http://www.bilstein.com/services.php...9b7b60afae3387

 

having just posted, because mine are fx3 it works out a little cheaper for a rebuild (I think!), however, if non fx3 why not get a brand new set? $299 for a set of 4 z51 sport bilstein shocks shipped (check out eshocks.com or shox.com)

thats nearly cheaper than rebuild/revalve.