Me and a buddy swapped out my Bilstein sport shocks for a set of c6 z06 shocks last night on my 03 Z06. I made the change mainly because I felt like the Bilsteins were a little stiff for what I needed. The rears went on just fine, no modifications needed and I did not have to reuse the old bushings. I wanted to share this in case anyone puts these on and runs into the same problem I did with the fronts. We took a break and tried to find some info online about how to do the fronts because they were different but really couldn't find much, surprisingly. The rubber bushing on the fronts of the C6 shocks are a different style/shape. Basically the bushings comes up through the mounting hole on top of the shock mount and there is no way to reuse the stock donut shaped bushing and I did not want to just put the factory washer and nut back on because it seemed like it would not seat good with the much smaller c6 bushing. Maybe that is okay to do but I didnt feel like that was the best method. What I ended up doing is trimming about half an inch off the top of the c6 bushing to where is almost sits flush with the mounting bracket, that way I could reuse the stock bushing on top. I appologize for not providing pics but I didnt take any. Anyway I drove about 50 miles home and they did great, no noises and I am happy with the way they feel. It is definately a softer smoother ride than the Bilsteins. I haven't got a chance yet to really test cornering. Anyway just wanted to share in case someone was considering doing this.

 

Would you sell me your Bilsteins?

 

 

 

Thanks for that info, as I will be buying these soon. So........how do you like the shocks??

 

 

I would go for the DRM valved bilstein shocks, Randy finally got some back in stock after monthss, I picked some up haven't installed them yet. But the C6 z06 guys rave about them over the stock c6z shocks the rear end is more planted over bumps, and they supposedly ride better then the regular B8 sport bilstein shocks.

 

I have ridden on the track with them installed and I didn't like the fact that they were not stiff enough on the compression (probably what makes them ride better)

 

Rebound has a bigger effect on ride quality and motion control that compression believe it or not.

 

Think what you'd like, but when you're bottoming out on a 1.3 G turn you need more compression stiffness.

 

Yeah, to go with the stiffer spring you also need.

 

I had a similar experience - but discovered that the upper insulator is sold separately from the front shock assembly. When you order these shocks, you also want to order 2 new upper insulators - GM part #10157967. My local dealer wanted $23 (EACH!) for these simple molded rubber pieces. But since I wanted to see them before ordering, I decided to pay it. After I got home, I discovered that Forum Vendor Cultrag lists these for $15.21 each.

Here are a series of pics showing the stock front upper insulator setup on a C5 (from my old Bilsteins), how the C6 Z06 front shocks come (lower insulator only), and the new upper insulator:
Stock C5 front upper shock insulators (Bilstein shown)

C6 Z06 front shock as shipped - lower insulator only included

Genuine GM C6 front shock upper insulator