shock selection - was: suspension bushings BTDT

[Livolsi, Stephane]

good question.  I deliberated hard and long with myself before deciding.

By all accounts the Boge and Bilstein are very much performance oriented and
comments generally affirmed that the ride is noticeably firmer with either
of them.  That in itself is nice, but my car is a family sedan and daily
driver.  I live in the interior of BC where the only good roads are the
highways, and most of my driving is done on local roads which are mediocre
at best (lots of cracks and potholes), even some driving on dirt roads.
Honestly, the ride is already rough enough without a firmer suspension.
I never take my car to a track and don't expect to in the near future.

After weighing all the pros and cons I decided to go with something close to
OE, and having had bad experience with Monroe, I decided to go with the KYB
which came recommended by a reputable source as a good shock for maintaining
the factory ride characteristics.  Time will tell.

The Boge and Bilstein cost a LOT more than the KYB and I couldn't see paying
that much more for a performance suspension that I would enjoy occasionally
and probably curse  90% of the time for it's harsh ride.

I could be wrong, but, hey, I was actually quite pleased with the Monroe's
when they were brand new.  Ride and handling were probably as good as OE.
Too bad they've leaked all their fluid out in 6 months.  I will be getting
new ones under the lifetime warranty but like I told the FLAPS guy "what
make's you think I want to change my shocks every 6 months?"

On that note, I will likely have a pair of Monroe front shocks for an 86
5ktq for sale very shortly.  Anybody interested, email me.  I am in Canada,
US currency is welcome :)

Stephane

> ----------
> From:
> Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com[SMTP:Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com
> ]
> Sent: 	August 21, 2002 10:51 AM
> To: 	Livolsi, Stephane
> Subject: 	Re: suspension bushing btdts please 86 5ktq
>
> Why are you not using Boge or Bilstein??
>
> Eric
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator
> _________________________________
> Subject: suspension bushing btdts please 86 5ktq
> Author:  "Livolsi; Stephane" <Stephane.Livolsi at investorsgroup.com> at
> INTERNET
> Date:    8/21/2002 12:11 PM
>
>
>  I will be doing some front suspension work this weekend including shock
> replacement (going with KYB GR-2 comments welcome :))
>
>