Shocks are such a debateable arena... so i'll throw my .02 here as well. On a race car, shocks are used as tuning aids (just as a sway bar) and selecting the **right** shock and tuning them is something of a black art. At any rate, taking the same idea you can tailor your street car accordingly. Just be sure to choose a shock that fits your application properly-- extended height, compressed height and the dampening rates. So basically, know how low your car is and what your spring rates are.
Here's just a few observances that i've come to from many years of highly scientific testing (running them on my cars).
KYB- best bang for the buck on stock suspension.
Monroe HD units- Okay shock, decent price, poor fit and finish
Monroe Sensatracks- better over all quality, nice ride with .92 bars and still cheap
HD pepboz brand- a little harsh on the compression, and not nearly enuff rebound for the .89 bars
Edelbrock IAS- great shock, a little spendy but high quality. also they're a little too tall to run on a lowered car and you run the risk of bottoming one out and ruining it.
Now into the R&D arena-
Rancho shocks, after changing the bottom bushing and wrestling them into place, the performance was rather remarkable. Overall price was pleasing, however i would not suggest them for street use.
Toyota 4WD shocks on a severely lowered early a-body. Able to control .990 t-bars, and had the right comression to get rid of the push on my dart. A cheap alternative to KYBs
Bronco 2 rear shocks, yeah nasty ford products on a mopar... but sometimes ya gotta use what ever works! After combing the gaberiel catalog with my specs in hand, autozone supplied the terrain tamers that worked well with the formula S springs.
Exotics:
Koni will make you a double adjustable for any application you want. only problem about 490 a corner.
Their single adjustable is something ridiculous like 250, and they don't make a front application for A-bodies HAL/QA1 is an externally double adjustable (compression and rebound) shock that can be had from Summit for about 600bux for a set of four. Use the Chevy Caprice application and change the bushings.
Spax- made in australia. the cheapest double adjustable on the market. about 80bux each, and the only mods you need is to enlarge the hole of the lower front bushing and they're a b*tch to get on the top rear mount.
Penske- got 5K hanging around? then you can have the absolute top of the line for your mopar. Fully independent rebound and compression dampening for both high speed and low speed. Rest assured, you do get the polished stainless steel remote reserviors for that price tag.
reporting from the bleeding edge of the A-body development neitherworld
-JYH
