[Qman]

Dears,

I did several rides with my 1967 Bonneville 4 door hardtop (see my introduction).
The more I drive it the more I fell in love with it!

Unfortunately we do have a lot of small and curvy roads here in Germany. Being said that I wonder if it will be an improvement to change the shocks to become a bit better"contact" to the street. Sometimes I feel like a Captain on a boat

Are these the correct shocks:


Do you think it would be better to change the springs as well?

Thanks for your input and have a great day.

BR
Andreas

[HWYSTR455]

Well, KYBs are not a very good shock, and wear out pretty quick. I would say if you can get Bilstein then those would be a much better choice.

With that said, another thing you should check is the sway bar bushings and end links. If those are worn, or if you don't have sway bars, adding them will make a dramatic difference.

Tires make a big difference too, and check the obvious first. Tread, general condition, and tire pressure. If they are old, or of a poor design, you would be best to replace them.

Try those items first, and if there's still a problem, might want to dig a little further, like control arm bushings, etc.

.

[JLMounce]

It may be a language barrier. Are your complaints with the car geared towards it handling improperly/erratically, or that the handling characteristics of the car are not to your liking?

The big bonne will tend to be floaty and wallow around a little bit, with a decent amount of body pitch in corners. HWYSTR455's recommendations are a good start if you're having issues with how the car is supposed to be handling. If you're wanting to alter it's as designed characteristics, I don't think shocks alone are going to get you there.

The big car is horribly under sprung to begin with, and you're really want to look at something with a bit more spring rate in it. Of course a quality shock like a Koni Classic or a Bilstein HD should be paired with the spring upgrade. You may also consider going to a larger front, and possibly adding a rear sway bar.

You don't have to go low with such a setup either. It's becoming more and more common to be able to find springs with high rates in them that have a more modest 1" lowering over stock. When replacing a 50+ year old spring, typically the ride height doesn't actually change.