scubastevedds

Hey guys, I'm swapping out my stock shocks for some DRM Bilsteins this week and I wanted to confirm if it is necessary to have the car realigned if the upper control arms are unbolted to make the swap easier? I've read that alignment is controlled by the lower control arms on our cars, but not sure if this is true or not. The car shoots pretty straight right now, so I don't want to pay for an alignment if this isn't true for our cars. I did a search but didn't get any good results from it.

timd38

I would drive it and forget about it.

BlindSpot

I would drive/forget it too. If the new shocks create a different ride height, someone will argue there could be a minuscule change in camber which could change toe....but.... EDIT: I was wrong here. Pictured coilovers in my mind, even though I knew better.

vigman

How long has it been since it was last aligned ? If under 10K i would drive it, if over I would check it, not so muchf or the shock swap but for suspension wear & tear...

Steve Haefner

+1 for teh forget about it!

timd38

Just curious, I thought the springs carried the load and the shocks controlled the movement. How do the shock change ride height?

I have coilovers, so the obviously do, but just trying to understand how regular shocks change ride height.

Thanks!

BlindSpot

DUH!!...You're RIGHT on a Corvette. Dumb me. Been working on Euro coilovers too long. I need another cup of coffee...Thanks.

Steve Haefner

Reagular meaning not air, or aor bag assist, etc. The only thing would be perch height that I can think of, otherwise nothing.

JimmyS5600

After I installed DRM's I did not go the alingment route. You will like your DRM's.

torquetube

Gas charge. Gas-charged shocks aren't ideal dampers like they describe in books. They have a spring rate, albeit a small one.

el es tu

alignment is controlled or adjusted by the upper and lower arms as well as the front and rear toe rods/links

no you dont have to get an alignment done as soon as you swap shocks, however if your car was aligned last time with really worn out shocks the ride height difference would affect your alignment.

Drive the car a bit then check out the ride height. If it looks the same then youre really not going to need to worry about checking the alignment unless you drive it hard.

Gearhead Jim

When we replaced the factory Z51 shocks in our 2009 with base model shocks, the car lowered about 1/4" front and rear due to no/less gas charge in the base shocks.

When we installed Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks (not Sports, which are too stiff for me), the front didn't change but the rear got 1/8" higher.

Drive for a couple of hundred miles after the work, to be sure everything has settled to its final height.

cclive

With that mileage, you should carefully look at the tires and make sure that they are wearing correctly, especially the inside edge of the passenger front. If all is well, then put the shocks on and leave it alone and enjoy the massive improvement.

HOXXOH

This discussion makes me wonder if the reason I've never had, nor needed, an alignment, is due to having mag ride shocks. The only thing to wear out is the shaft seal, so it supposedly functions as good until the seal leaks as it did on day one. The rear cradle has been out 4 times, but tire wear has always been even.

To the OP. I'm in agreement with the majority, to just drive it and keep an eye on tire wear.

AORoads

less gas in them literally. Koni FSDs are known to drop ride height by 1/2" to 1 full inch.

Not So Fast

Well get me some of those Bill
If in doubt just get it checked to be sure, only takes a couple of minutes with these new fandangled money making machines they have.
NSF

timd38

I put several sets of shocks on my car before I got coilovers. They included Z06, Bilstein and Koni, and once I drove the car a mile or so,they settled at the same ride height as the stock shocks. That is why I was asking how shocks could change the ride height.

timd38

How? The spring holds the car up, not the shock. I get that gas shocks will change the height before you drive the car, but only coilovers can effect ride height because you have removed the springs.

Gearhead Jim

No, the gas precharge will slightly support the car.
The spring(s) do most of the work, but if the shocks have a gas precharge then they will supply some support.

I did multiple careful measurements over a week before changing my shocks, then repeated them after getting a few hundred miles on the new shocks. There was definitely a difference. Most people who do the measurements carefully, report the same.

timd38

Your saying that the shocks have enough charge to raise the car, that then means that the shock is carrying the load of the vehicle, because it raised the ride height. If that is in fact true, you don't need the springs because the shock have a higher spring rate than the springs. Impossible with standard gas shocks. If you disagree with me, how do explain the increase in ride height by only changing shocks?

It has been over 25 years since I was in that business, but things have not changed that much.