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I think it's shock time: Re-fresh Bilstein Sports, '04 Z06 Sachs, or go coil-over?
Go w/ the Bilsteins again? Go w/ the GM developed '04 Sachs that helped the '04 Z so much. Or.... pony up the dough for coil-overs and do it once and be done w/ it.
What wold you do? Obviously coil-overs are $1800-$2000 vs. the $400 for new shocks.
However I could dial in the ride-height and it'd clean up the cars suspension by getting rid of the leafs... might make the car easier to work on in cases.
EDIT: I replaced my stock '01Z shocks w/ the Bilstein sports at 40k in February '05, the car now has just under 80k on it now.
I was in the same boat a year ago and roadrace 8+ times/yr....I decided to go with the PFADT coilovers.....it was the best decision I've made on the car! They work great on the track...no more nose diving under heavy braking or squating on acceleration....much less body roll in the turns...they really make the car easier to drive on track while preserving the daily driveability of the car with easy adjustability. I dial 'em up for the track and soften em all the way up for the road. I was able to cornerbalance the car which made a HUGE improvement itself. The only choice in my opinion.
We could do a non-adjustable Penske 7500 shock with our dual rate Hyperco coilovers. It wont be as cheap as a Bilstien setup, but not that bad, and it will be infinitely rebuildable have very good resale value (probably cost less when you consider the resale value).
We can do the Penske 7500 with the dual rate coilovers for $600 a corner complete, from now to Thankgiving. That is $2400 (plus shipping) for the car complete with dyno charts for each shock, and we can do this for C4, C5, and C6.
BTW
The coilovers are real good deal, especially if your looking to change your spring rates.
A set of new transverse leafs is at least $1500
BTW2
Penske are the only shock I've seen for Corvettes that put the end with the most mass at the SPRUNG end, the correct end?
Everyone else is putting it at the bottom, the UNSPRUNG end!
Clearence is the main reason for this. Springs hitting major parts on the suspension is not a good plan either. It cost more money to make it "right" and when we did our package that came into play. We have to look at longivity, price, weight and of course performance. Looking at our target market, most can't swing the 7000-10000 to make it "perfect" in every way. How heavy is the average HDPE, club racer's wheel and tire comb??? Why not spend 2000-5000 a wheel on something super light?
Randy
PS Penske makes a good shock, there is no debating that.
Personally, if you have the $$$ I think coilovers are the way to go. I bought the Pfadts and will be installing them this winter along with other mods.
My brother has them on his car and they are a definite improvement over stock.
To me the main benefit of the coilovers is adjustability and I don't just mean compression and rebound rates. You can also raise or lower the car. Also, as Randy mentioned no longer have to worry about rubbing the springs. There is a little weight savings as well.