I had Monroes on my car when first purchased and there was no telling how many miles on that set. I do know that hitting a gentle bump on the highway at 85 MPH caused a rubber smoke smell inside the car after the rear tires hit the top of the wheelhouses. When removed they easily were compressed and extended by hand.
I then started searching for shocks. I am kind of thrifty and found what I thought was a good deal once I decided on a brand and part number. The attached spreadsheet represents an number of vendors prices on comparable fit (not neccesarily performance) shocks. This was from about four months ago but should be represenative.
The KYBs are great shocks on my 1993 Coupe!
Thanks Brian, I have been to all those sites and seen them, price is not a big deal, have 6 figure bank account, what was bothering me was the hard ride, 1985 was the only car in american history and still was until 2007 the viper broke that mark by a smidge, it was the only car to ever pull a 1.00 G on the skidpath, and with 255/50/16 tires at that, I have 335/35/17 and michelin pilots at that, back to what I was saying, the 85 was the hardest ride to get that performance, owners complained and from 1986-1991 they got softer and softer til the 91 pulled .91g on skidpath, so I have this harsh performance suspension with blown out bilsteins, and I was just trying to see if it was worth it to goto a softer shock, I do not track race or race at all really, so was looking for comfort in older age, if they made a soft riding shock for $300 and it was worth it, I would buy it.
It boils doen to much to ones taste and opinions, allot are younger and race oriented, or figure you have to buy a performance shock, I agree for a gas shock KYB is a awesome buy, and I ordered edelbrocks and may cancel as I have heard now they are real harsh. I want less performance to get a better ride, my filling fall out now with blown shocks, funny those old monroes were easily calapsable, my $110 bilsteins also collapsed, any old shock will, the new monroes would not calapse I bet, I know I tried in NAPA to do it. during hard driving, the oil will foam due to oxygeon in the shock, the gas shocks still have that oil, but use Nitrogeon instead of Oxygeon thats all, and this keeps the oil from foaming and losing its damping capabilities, which may not even happen during regular driving. I think I am buying the KYB and the Monroe, and I may do a follow up for everyone out there, since no one could really tell me, if your a racer, get the best, but if you want to take care of the car and not abuse it, and enjoy a better ride, there may be an alternative? I will get back to everyone on what I find out, thanks for everyones input...
