[rickschabener]

Hi Everyone,

It's been years since I've been on here. I haven't done anything to my car since my last post, other than simply enjoy it.

I have a 1968 Firebird convertible: Black on black on black. I've had the car for 37 years.

It's time for 4 shocks. In the past, I haven't looked for anything fancy. In fact, I believe I have AC Delco shocks on the car now.

This is a steet car, 450hp - and I do use the power. It's not a road course car.

Is there anything new in shocks that I should be aware of? Or, just go with another set of AC Delco's?

[rexs73gto]

QA1's

[1969GTO]

KYB for me

[pontibeast]

When it was time to upgrade mine I was recommended the KYB and have loved them ever since. Great handling and it doesn't beat me up.

[Classic442]

Bilstein, Koni, QA1, Varishock...

What springs do you currently have? What's the goal?

For advice on everything thing suspension related call

http://scandc.com/new/

[Nicks67GTO]

Ridetech RQ or HQ could be a good option. I've ran monroe, bilstien and Ridetech on my 67 GTO. Monroe was worthless garbage. Bilstien were a huge improvement and Ridetech HQ'S have been the best.

[PDC]

On my Green car, I've got the re-labeled Fox brand with the Hotchkis logos on them that came with the suspension kit. On my Red car, I have Edelbrock shocks. I am pleased with both.

[Chris65LeMans]

I have Bilsteins, and have been very happy with them.

I have always "upgraded" shocks when it was time to replace. The only exception was my spare car - a Toyota Camry- recently. That was a mistake - it still rides like crap.

[rickschabener]

Thanks everyone for all your input. I want to update this in case anyone looks at it in the future.

I went with the KYB Excel-G's.
Front p/n: 343127
Rear p/n: 343135
$84 total, and I caught KYB's repeating $40 rebate, so, $44 for all 4.
I ordered them from shockwarehouse.com. They ended up not being in stock, and I had them 10 days later.

The reason I replaced them was: The car developed a bounce when going over things like recessed manhole covers or multiple bumps in the road. The tires just didn't settle down like I thought they should.

I had basic gas charged shocks on the car and they all still had the gas charge, as well as a lot of resistance when I pushed or pulled on each of them. As I took them off, I was thinking I had wasted my money cause they were all still good. But after driving the car for six days now, all of that bounce is gone and the tires recover nicely after hitting some bumps. It feels much better.

I chose the Excel-G's because the next "step up" would definitely give a stiffer ride, and I didn't want that. I am very happy with the shocks I chose.

The rear shocks came with a new bottom stud assembly also.

A note on the installation: I removed the rear shocks by removing the top shock mount. It's 2 simple bolts that mount it to the car. I installed the top shock mount on the new shock and went to put it on the car. The top washer that came with the new shocks would not fit through the hole in the body that goes into the trunk. It was too wide. I filed it down quite a bit and it still didn't fit. I finally decided to replace the new top washer with the old one that was on the car. Naturally, that fit fine. This happened on both sides, and my body is all original metal. So, just a note for anyone else . . .

[77 Canamman]

Bilsteins are the way to go..