Hairmetal_still_rox!

Whos got QA1s on their vetter and what are your thoughts. I was thinking of Edelbrock IAS but recently was turned on to the QA1 shocks. Love the aluminum finish and the single adjustable shock is just a tad higher in price then the edelbrock. thoughts or pix anyone ???

Umrswimr

Unless you're a drag racer, I would avoid them.

The QA1 shocks are single adjustable, but they adjust the bound AND rebound together- with the same force (AFAICT). On my C5, this resulted in exceptionally harsh bound and too soft rebound. On the street they were not very comfy and they absolutely sucked at autoX and RR.

Then there's the reliability. I had the fronts revalved TWICE in less than a year because they started leaking. A poor lower A-arm mount design resulted in rattles that were NOT SOLVEABLE. They later redesigned this mount, but would not fix mine without a fee.

I absolutely HATED every single second I had those shocks. I now run Single adjustable Koni's with MUCH better results.

Hairmetal_still_rox!

OH MY !!!!!!! Guess I am going to back to my original thought of the Edelbrocks.

TankerVette

if you were looking at the QA1's, the Koni's are only an additional $40 for the set of 4...

Still $580 a set, though...

Umrswimr

Go with the Koni's.

0ski_dwn_it

I have qa1s all around on my vette and love them. For Drag racing they are not the best thing at least for the front, as they have equal resistance up and down. Therefore yes they come apart easy, but they also collapse equally easy.

For the street I LOVED them. All I needed to do was turn them to whatever setting you found you liked. The car could be set to ride like a caddy or like it was on rails. And they were EASY to adjust.

I am not a autocrosser so I they may not be the BEST all around performance shock, but I sure liked them.

Mo_Bandy

I love my QA1's too, that also have a new set with separate settings for compression and rebound ...

You can see mine on the site in my signature below...

Mo

Hairmetal_still_rox!

Thanks for the replys everyone , now I am unsure of which, gonna have to give it some more thought, I might be leaning towards the qA1s again.

Umrswimr

For $40 more, you get a proven Koni name and performance.

Even without my negative feedback, I would go for the Koni's.

vinnies87

Have the IAS's and there're great, for street and around. No complaints, look good and drive well.

Triple Black 88

I'm in the same boat, I need shocks BAD. I'm riding on stock Bilstiens from '88. I narrowed my choices down to Edelbrock & QA1. I haven't heard anything negative about the Edelbrocks, but I do know 2 people with the QA1's and they highly recommend them. The adjustability is tough to pass up. I have read a few negative comments about the QA1's on the forum, mostly about leaking and something about rears in that you need to weld up your own bushings. (Not sure what that's about)
One other thing I've heard is that if you lowered your car, you will need a shorter shock or they will bottom out. I believe you would need the '82 Corvette shock. Maybe someone will chime in with more info!

froggy47

I have run them 2 years street & lots of autox (2x mo avg). They are about 2.5 lbs lighter per corner than Bil/Koni.

All the way soft for street works for me (and is stiffer that stock base Bil's).

No issues at all re: quality, and you get to adj. rear without removing the shock from the car.

Buy them, you will be satisified.

Koni is a fine shock, but I like to adj. both ends when I autox.

BrianCunningham

I love my QA1's. Drag, road race, autocross, street. It's the range and the quick adjustment I like.

That said, one of my rear adjusts is stuck

I need to call them up once I get the car back out here.

tempest

i got my QA1's last year for street and auto-X and i'm pretty happy with my decision. took me weeks to decide between these and the Koni's and went with the QA1's since i adjust the rears at every race, and i am too much of a lazy a$$ to remove the rear shocks to adjust them if i went with the Konis.

bacardioil

qa1`s on my 93 best shock i ever used.
regards

JrRifleCoach

I undestand that the QA-1 support shops can revalve those shocks to your liking. C45 had a set on his 84 and visited the shop there in Sacramento.

VR'92

I am also a huge fan of QA1s. All of my experience with them is from a road course / auto x perspective.

Gold1986Vette420

Is there something wrong with the stock bilstiens? I just replaced them on my 86 Z51 and the new set were like night and day.
Aren't they tuned to the stock setup?

Vetracr

Interesting thread as I just bought, but have not yet received a set of QA-1's for my 93. I've run Bilstein Corvette challenge series shocks and Koni Sports on past C4's and can't complain about their quality. I ran the Koni Sports on my race car and they worked very well. I'm running a new set of Bilstein Z-51 shocks on my new C4 and frankly they are not very good. They are way too soft. The car just won't turn in with them . I was very disappointed.

I went with the Qa-1's for several reasons. For one, the stock Koni Sports won't work on a really lowered C4. There is not enough compression travel at the front. I was able to order a set of front shocks from QA-1 with a 9.5" compression height, shorter than the C3 version. They also have the adjustability feature so they can be cranked up for track use and backed off for street use. The adjustment is easily accessible. Anyone who used Koni's knows you dont adjust the rears once they've been installed. You cant without removing the shock unless you drill through the frame for access and fabricate an adjusting tool. Been there, done that. The QA-1 can also be rebuilt which the Koni's cant. On the whole, they were worth a try. I'll know when I get them.

Larry

VR'92

I found the Bilstiens to be soft.