Chewch87

I've had my 87 Coupe 15 yrs now. About 10 yrs ago going thru original owners maintenance receipts I noticed he replaced the Rear shocks with Delco Reactek shocks in 1994...but left the Bilsteins on the front. I replaced the front shocks with matching Delco Reactek as I was replacing badly Worn bushings....That's 10 years ago....Now the Monoleaf is worn to the point that the front tires rub Under on occasion.
. So it's the Z52 option which is less beefy & stiff than Z51..... So I have the new Monoleaf on order and now I'm trying to decide on Which Shocks to replace. I'm going to do all Four...No sense in doing 1/2 ....Rear Monoleaf is fine btw no need to replace it.
Now cost really isn't a concern here....I'm already spending $600 on the Spring.....But Are BILSTEINS justifiable with their asking price of nearly $400???? Are they that much better???!!! Compared to KYB Gas Adjust or AC Delco Reactek for $140 set.....???
ALSO... if I return Her to OEM with the Bilsteins.....Along with the new Spring and the Bilsteins....Am I going to be pleasantly surprised & in awe with a far greater handling Vette OR am I going to be disappointed with a much harder ride because of the Reactec shocks Ive been used to. AND I'm concerned with ride height.....Between the new Monoleaf spring and Bilsteins (which are said to raise height 1/2") am I in overkill??? Am I going to have a Vette that looks engineless and lose the downward slope altogether?? Part of me wants to bring her back to OEM with the Bilsteins...... But I'm thinking about going Reactek all around for a softer ride.
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blackozvet

$400 for a set of shocks is nothing, quality of shockers makes a bigger difference to the ride of c4's than spring rates.

c4cruiser

The springs for the Z52 suspension are the same as the base FE1 suspension. The big difference between the FE1 and Z52 was Bilstein shocks and a rear 30mm solid sway bar. The base FE1 shocks were a Delco-branded shock.

The new front spring should stop the tires rubbing and will also raise the front end a bit. I would suggest getting the Bilstein "Sport" shocks that are available from VetteBrakes. I wold also recommend replacing the rear spring at some point,

You didn't mention how many miles are on the car, but adding a new rear spring with the rest will make a huge difference in ride and handling. Fortunately, the rear spring is much easier to swap out compared to the front spring. Don't forget to replace the spring bushings! Chances are that they are cracked and dried out.

Chewch87

AWESOME REPLIES & INFO!!! THANKS!! My Vette has 90k miles. As for the rear spring it looks to be in great shape....afterall theres like Little or no weight demand on it....no signs of cracking or sagging. Tire height on both sides are equal so im just going with matching ALL shocks.
. I already replaced the Bushings 8 years ago with Polys' so Im set. Even though my Vette has the FE1 Z52 suspension it came with Bilsteins as OEM but AGAIN....cost is not the issue.... its how hard will the ride be compared to what I was accustomed to with the ACDelco Reacteks PARTICULARLY seeing Im changing put a badly worn front monoleaf. So it comes down to this....HOW STIFF WILL THE OVERALL RIDE BE CHANGING BOTH THE SPRING AND GOING BACK TO BILSTEINS ?

MatthewMiller

It's hard to know how much the new spring will change ride stiffness. Did the old one sag because it lost spring rate (stiffness), or because it eventually just took a "set" with less curve but retained its spring rate? Who knows? I wouldn't worry about it too much, because IME the stiffness of the front suspension barely affects the occupants' perception of ride quality because we sit almost directly over the rear suspension.

As for dampers, again unless has directly compared Bilsteins with the Reacteks in a C4, it's going to be hard to accurately guess. IMO Bilsteins generally are a bit stiffer than most street-oriented dampers. If ride comfort/quality is a higher priority for you than autocross or track times, there might be other good options out there. For example, Koni Sports (yellow) ride quite well in the lower range of their rebound adjustment. There is a guy selling a nearly brand new set in the C4 Classifieds right now for $300. Another option might be the Ridetech RQ dampers, but they also have adjustable HQ dampers that use Fox internals and can probably ride very nicely in the lower end of their adjustment range.