I am a weekend driver of a '95 base with the original shocks - 60K miles.
Just bought new wheels/tires (Nitto 555 G2) and need to go to the next step and replace the shocks.
No auto-cross in my future, but love to boogie on the country roads.
Will the Bilstein's B6 give me a happy medium with a hooked up feeling but without feeling every crack or pebble in the road?

Open to suggestions........thanks

 

I chose them for myself and have had them on all my C4's. I recommend them to anyone.

 

You can never go wrong with Bilsteins but WAY over the top for a weekend driver or cruiser.
I put KYB's on this spring for about a 1/3 of the price and the ride is great. I'm coming up on 10k since i put them on and doing just fine.
IF I was autocrossing or racing the car I'd go Bilsteins but overkill for a weekend street/highway car.

 

My favorite is Bilstein. I have had them on several cars and they work well and last a long time.

The B6 will work fine. I chose the B8 for my '94 base suspension and again for my '95 base suspension. I like a little firmer ride. Even the B8's do not make it harsh to where it jars you on every crack. To me the B8 is perfect.

I also have the KYB shocks on my '96 base suspension. They work ok. They are softer than either the B6 or B8. For the cost they are not a bad choice either, but I wouldn't expect them to last as long as the Bilstein (which have a lifetime warranty).

 

If you like those windy roads, check out the Banski suspension upgrade. I did a tire and rim upgrade along with replacing my KYB shocks with new ones and it drove well but I upgraded the suspension parts too and made the biggest difference in handling on those curvy back country roads.

 

keith...I would have to agree with QCvette on the KYB's. I just replaced my "88 Anniv. model original Bilsteins with some Rockauto KYB's that were on sale for under $120 for all 4. No comparison in actual construction of the shock body, both the barrels and the mounting brackets on the Bilsteins are much beefier. I am however very similar to yourself in driving habits with probably not more than 5k miles per year. the KYB's are a softer ride and at this point more managegeble than the original Bilsteins. You may think about getting your Bilstein's rebuilt, I thought about it but the shipping costs was pretty steep from Ohio so I'm happy with the KYB's so far. Let's wait and see in 5 years. Good luck.

 

Right at 300 bux is not a lot of money considering what the shock actually does for the ride of the car. It keeps the tire pushed down to the road surface. How many miles you drive is irrelevant. Whats relevant is the better Bilstein dampens the shock of the crappy roads most of us have much better than a smaller less quality shock. In addition, the suspension is spared the hard jarring jolts which is also a plus. You're paying for the dampening technology as well as better construction and a life time warranty. Like many things you buy that might appear very close on the outside, are actually completely different on the inside....like optisparks for an example...or women for that matter..

 

I have a 1995 base coupe (weekend toy like yours) and I just replaced my shocks 3 months ago with the Bilstein B6 shocks. They give a good comfortable ride, and the car has always driven and handled great. But it's a little too compliant for my taste -- I wish I had gone for the B8 shocks. The springs in the late models are so soft!

I messaged a few other members about their experience with the two Bilstein shocks available for our base cars, and the general consensus was: either one would be good in my car and the way I use it.

So I suggest the B8, especially since your car is used for "weekend sport drives" and you're not driving it every day. With our soft springs, your ride would be jarred only by truly harsh impacts. But for anyone using their C4 as a DD, I would suggest the B6 as it would simply be more liveable every single day.

But of course, Bilsteins are great shocks and you can't go wrong with either one. Hope this information helps your decision.

 

I used the B8's on my "94 base suspension car for a daily driver with a 100 mile per day commute. I put about 45k miles on in just over 2 years.

I still prefer the B8's.

It just depends on what you want your car to do.

Good luck with your choice.

 

Great input from everyone, the forum guys are the best.
I will let you know how this works out.
Thanks

 

I'm a little late to the debate, but add another vote for the Bilsteins. They are well made, they have an excellent warranty, and in my opinion, if they ride too harsh for you - then trade in your Vette for a nice softly sprung mid 80's Caddy, and start looking at retirement homes.

Part of the reason people buy Vettes is because they handle !!! The C4 chassis is still considered darn good, and as other posters have said - the shock absorber is one of the more critical parts of the suspension. Look at a cutaway shock absorber, and see what's inside. There are a lot of parts with very tight tolerances in there, and making a good shock isn't cheap (full on racing shocks can run several thousand dollars each).

The suspension's job is to keep the tires in contact with the pavement - as speeds go up - the amount of energy put into the system every time the cars wheels move goes up (the physics say it's equal to Velocity squared - so hitting a pavement rise at 60 puts 4 times the amount of energy into the system as hitting the same bump at 30) - that's why spring rates go up on HP cars. The shock valving is designed to control that wheel movement.

Bottom line - I'm running Bilstein B6's on daily drivers, and do not think that they are in any way too harsh. If you do a search on the Forums - there are a lot of posts about shocks - and you just won't find people who chose the Bilsteins that are unhappy with their choice...

 

Thanks Purple '92. This just reinforced my decision. Ordered the B6's last night. Should have them installed next week, and I am looking forward to the upgrade!

 

You will see a very noticeable improvement... Guarantee it.

 

Well I guess I might as well jump in. I have a 1995 base coupe with auto trans. The previous owner changed the original factory front and rear springs out and put in a complete Vette Brakes suspension package in which also included stiffer front and rear sway bars and tubular A arms. He also installed QA1 single adjustable front and rear shocks. The car handles like it’s on rails. But unfortunately the ride is extremely hard. The car is not daily driven. It is more of a weekend cruiser. Which shocks would you recommend? Thanks.

 

Update: I ended up putting on the Bilstein B6's. Those combined with my new Nitto's and my handling is super.
Living the dream......