***SHOCKS: Bilstein vs QA1 vs ???***
 

I am looking to replace my current shocks, and I am looking for some opinions. Coil overs are not an option.

Currently I have Carrera single adjustables, the old style that you have to remove to adjust. They were great shocks, and I am very happy with the performance, but they are worn out now. I have composite mono leaf springs front and rear.

I am considering the Bilstein sport shocks, but I am also wondering if the QA1's are more what I am looking for. I don't want or expect a soft ride, I drive my car hard.

The QA1 single adjustables are roughly twice as much as the Bilsteins, and the double adjustables are about four times the price!!! Are they really worth the much greater expense??? Any others I should be considering?

Remember, I am looking for performance, not a Cadillac-type ride! :lol:

I've never used the QA1's, but I use Bilsteins on six cars. I run Bilstein HD's on a 73 Vette,..couldn't be happier. Firm, stable ride that's not harsh.

Monroe shocks and in almost any use and configuration

What is the difference between the Bilstein Sport and HD shocks?

I could be worng, but I don't think Monroe offers shocks that are performance oriented. I have always viewed them as a OE replacement/jobber type shock.

Blisteins good, Koni's are the best imo

:iagree: I have had the same four Koni's on my '69 for 35+ years. Still very good, control the VBP rear mono-spring very well. VBP recommends their specially valved shocks with the mono-spring because there is no interleaf friction to damp unwanted motion. My old Koni's do the job:thumbs:!

Koni shocks are pricey, but over the long haul, well worth the money.

What about semi-coil overs???

You can run the stock a-arms w/ NO mods..

NEVERMIND- I see you've got the mono leaf out back and in FRONT...

But I'll still throw out my shameless plug....


I've gone w/ Vansteels full coilovers & tubular a-arms- not going to be using these. Brand new never mounted $500 + shipping

Richard

Attachment 48183796

How about VBP:s "QA1 Dual-Adjustable" shocks?

Will those pull up with som trackdriving together with fiberglass springs?

Anyone tested those during inspired driving?

//Ricky.

I have VBP Performance Plus suspension with Bilstein Sports. The ride is very hard on the softest spring settings with the sports, but stays very flat it the turns, handling like it's on rails. I'm also running 275/40 ZR17 tires all around. The Bilstein HD's on the rear will help soften the ride a bit, but if you just want performance then Sport's all around.

The QA1 single adjustables are roughly twice as much as the Bilsteins, and the double adjustables are about four times the price!!! Are they really worth the much greater expense??? Any others I should be considering?


I have QA-1 dual a front and QA-1 single Adjust rears. You are paying for convenience. i had rear bilstiens and it was a pain to remove and set the changes. The little dials on Qa's are nice. They are the last shock that you will ever buy.

You have a set of Koni's that have lasted 35+yrs?!?! :lol: How can they still possibly be good, unless you have no use on them! :lol:

Anyways, I've looked at the Koni's, and they are priced just a little more than the Bilstein Sports. They are also adjustable. More research is needed.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KON-80401020

http://static.summitracing.com/globa...0401017_IT.jpg



Thanks for the offer, but I am not switching out my mono leafs at this time.

Thanks for the review on the Bilsteins. Did you ever have the sports on the rear? Is you car lowered? My car is pretty low, so I am also wondering how that may impact the performance and/or life of any shock I choose. My car:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...2/IMG_1210.jpg


Bilstein makes adjustable shocks for our cars? I thought they didn't, but I will look again. I know what you mean about the convenience with the QA1's, so much easier than removing the shock to make a change! I also know they are a quality product, and are also rebuildable......but the cost!!! :eek:

Thats the same suspension that i have appart from that i didnt buy mine as a kit and used it with my BilsteinsHD that i already had.

The suspension funktions very well and the car is very rigid in the corners.

However, those BilsteinHD:s are to soft for the fiberglass springs and the car "bounces" when driving on a uneven surface.

//Ricky.

I must say that it would be interesting to go for a set of QA1 shocks..

It would be crap to buy BS Sports and not being able to adjust if needed.

About the Konis.. I had a set of those on my old Dodge Charger and one have to order those to the config you wanted (like 70-30% and so on).
To fine adjust those Konis on the car one had to remove the shock and rotate the "piston stem".. Quite inconvinient i must say..

I like to hear that you are happy with the QA1:s exept for the price.

However, my experince are that the high cost is quickly forgotten about when you get the ride you want and that they are easy to adjust without removing from the car. :)

Thanks. :)

//Ricky.

So you found that the Bilstein HDs were too bouncy with the fiberglass springs? I think the Sports are stiffer. My entire suspension is also from VB&P, including the Carrera shocks that were part of the kit when I bought it. Carrera has since been bought by QA1.

I agree, in general, you get what you pay for. It's just had to justify 2x or 4x the money for the QA1s! :lol:

Thats why i am here asking for experience. :)

My questions are more functionrelated than economyrelated at the stage im in. :)

My questions are adressed to those use their car similar to how i use mine, so please fill me up with inputs of function on the shocks. :)

//Ricky.

I presently have the rear 420# mono and 3/4 spring ends sway and I had re repair my wheel flares because of tire rub. So I was considering getting the rear QA-1 dual adjust with a coil over and use some very light spring like 50 or 80 # in conjunction to my Mono.

some how I manage to get over 3 inches of wheel compression in a turn I have about 58% rear weight bias on a just over 3000 lb car. with additional spring I want to limit the tire to @ two inches of compression in a turn with big road racing slicks

I thik you are pushing quite a bit harder in the corners than i do "gkull", Im running on DOT street tyres so i will never se the same g-forces as you do. :(

But it is an interesting thougt to go for the "dual adjust" shocks to be able to find "my own" settings. :)

Is it posible to put on an additional "wery light spring" on any QA1 or does it have to be a purpouse made shock for coilover use?

//Ricky.

I was wrong. It was the Koni adjustables I had on the rear. You had to remove them and do some twist and turn and hope that it went to the next setting. I have them in my new used parts junk pile

The dual adjust shocks are actually confusing to a layman. To really use them you would need track time with data aquisition on suspension movement. I don't have D/A on my car Some of the race cars at work do. I had to have a professional test driver explain to me what the info I was looking at meant.

But other than that having a 100 combinations is kind of fun. My fronts are set to more rebound resistance than compression because of my 600 - 700# springs and lighter front end

I was going to say that my Kumho street tires are actually pretty good. It takes pretty high cornering speed to get 335/17 rears to slide sideways

So......I guess you didn't like the Koni's then?!?!?! :lol:

I talked to the owner of my local road race shop about them, he told me Koni's were junk and he wouldn't recommend them to anyone! I guess it's either the Bilsteins or saving my pennys for the QA1's.

I have the Bilstein Sports on all 4 corners, with 550 lb front springs and a VBP 365 (or 360) rear fglass spring. The ride is stiff but not jarring, I found that adding the Sharkbar really stiffened the ride up as well. MotorHead and I bought them together about 10 yrs ago and for me at least no issues to date although the front are starting to go so will replace in a yr or so once I upgrade the wheels.

Here's my setup:

Front:

1 1/8 inch OEM bar with all poly bushings
Shock Tower spreader bar
Poly upper and lower control arm bushings
550 springs, 1 inch lower than stock
Every OEM component replaced-ball joints, tie rods, idler arm etc
Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks with poly bushings on the towers
255/45/17 ZR ultra high performance summer only tires
OEM steering box-Blue printed/rebuilt with custom components-zero play

Rear:

360 Monospring with poly cushings
Competition adjustable Strut rods with Heim joint ends
3/4 Inch OEM type rear sway bar with poly mounting bushings
Bilstein Sport shocks
255/50/17 ZR tires

The Bilstein HD's were not stiff enough for the 360 monospring-too much bouncing on the highway to me. The Sports in the rear only, solved the problem and to be perfectly honest is not that stiff at all-actually pretty comfortable with the 360 spring. The Bilstein HD's in front with the 550 lowered springs are more than adequate since the springs are so stiff.

Thanks for the feedback. :cheers:

It seems a few people use the HD in front with coil springs and Sport in the rear with composite mono spring. I am thinking if I do go with Bilsteins, it will be Sport front and rear because I have a composite mono spring at both locations.

Thats exactly my experience to. :)

//Ricky

I tried Bilstein HD and sport but I ended up with single adj QA1 front and rear ( F41 suspensions).Expensive but at the end you can tailor them on your needs with just a knob.cool stuff in my opinion

I tried out Bilstein sport, Koni Classic adjustable and QA1 single adjustable both front and rear.

QA1 wins hands down not only for convinience but also for quality.

Thank you both for the honest feedback. QA1's are what I really want, and this thread was supposed to help me come to the conclusion that the Bilsteins were just as good for 1/2 the money....so thanks for nothing!!:lol:


So, elle88, you have front coils and rear steel spring? Why single adjustables, and not double?

PNK, what is your suspension? Why single adjustables, and not double? Yes, the QA1's are very convenient to adjust almost on the fly, and I have had one in my hands and saw the quality....they even felt high quality! Another plus is that they are rebuildable.

:cheers:

I went single adj and not double because of the price (double price too) and because i don't think i'm able to set up correctly the double adj . btw took my car to the racetrack and i was very satisfied. My car has stock suspensions ( no fiberglass) so it reacts much different from your. I think fiberglass springs need more rebound damping
Ah... some months ago there was an issue with single adj QA1 availability because QA1 modified the catalog. check actual availabilty first

Koni's have a very good reputation because they are made to a high standard. Koni recommends that you leave the shocks in the softest or lowest setting when first installed and as they wear, increase the damping to accomodate wear. I have well over 100,000 miles on mine, and as I said earlier, they dampen the mono-spring just fine. They are pricey but I think it's a case of you get what you pay for.

:cheers:
Pete

A few years back, in 2005/2006, I spoke with "Michelle" at a Corvette aftermarket place that went under (owner going through divorce I think), and not knowing or understanding the difference in shocks, she broke it down "Suspension for Dummies" style....

In her words:

When I swapped out the stock shocks and replaced them with Bilstein's, it was a night and day difference. When i swappe dout the Bilstein's with QA-1s, it was a night and day difference. If you ask me, get the QA-1s."

Then, I paid $995 for the set of single-adjustable HA: QA-1s and at first, the ride was so stiff, it was making my stomach sick. I felt every single inclination of the Autobahn, every bump, everything was amplified 10 fold. It was crazy. My stomach was feeling nausious, but it was a GOOD feeling, because the suspension was that tight.

Now that I am used to it, it don't feel as tight as it was. Maybe the shocks need reconditioning. I don't know. It may be possible.

What i do know is, the settings I have them on (10 all around at this point), the car sits stiff and can be barely moved at all. (That shock up and down movement). When people get in, the car does not sink at all. When you push down on the rear quarter panel to try and rock the car up and down, the car does not move.

Just something else that comes to mind about the OP's original question concerning Bilstein shocks: With any high quality shock/strut that I have used over the last 30 years on many different cars, I have NEVER had one "wear" out. My recollection about the Bilsteins is that they were warranted for life to the original owner although I am not sure if Bilstein/Koni still offers that coverage. With that said, I do know that Bilstein does claim that wear for their shocks is still within new tolerances on cars with 200,000 miles on them-another words unless you have driven at least 100-150,000 miles on your Bilsteins, they are probably NOT worn out and the issue may be with the front springs, not the shocks. Lesser quality shocks such as KYB, AC Delco, Monroe etc do and have worn out and in a few cases, have been replaced under warranty.

I currently have Bilsteins on my 94 Mustang GT convertible (no perceptible wear at all), KYB GR-2's on a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix (about 50,000 miles on them, warranted for life and beginning to show a little wear), and Sachs shocks/struts on a 2008 Chrysler 300 with 73,000 miles on them (no wear yet). Bilstein would probably replace your shocks if you still have the original paperwork if indeed the shocks are worn-How many miles are on them? Just a thought!

Interesting thread, I appreciate it's a bit old but hey.

Sorry if it seems like i'm hijacking but hopefully this will help?

I've got a lowered '71 with the usual fast road mods and lowered. I had the Koni's first, they were ok but taking them off to adjust them was a pain.

I then fitted the VBP front mono spring and fitted single adjustable Spax's (English shocks) and the ride is bouncy (I didn't know enough about shock valving at the time). Adjusting them seems to only make the ride bad in a softer or harder kind of way

Anyhow we've decided to put the Spax's on our '51 Studebaker and i'm looking for new shocks for the Vette so i've decide to go for what I should have done in the first place - double adjustable QA1's on the rear, this seems to be where you feel most of the jolts as it's next to your ass. Dial in some rebound.

Views on the double adjustables? ( I have a fibre spring in the rear)

For the fronts it seems like i'll use Bilstein sports, any joy with these with the mono spring? If not i'll go for the double adjustable on the front.

With lowered cars you need the adjustability or you'll bottom out and have to buy stuff again

My car is lowered and I drive fast

Cheers.

I've also done a rear crossmember mod to raise the diff up 3/4" to bring the half shafts back to parallel, worked a treat.
http://s877.photobucket.com/user/aar...ml?sort=3&o=26
Attachment 48183801
Attachment 48183802

If you want a really fast Vette buy either of these sets of shocks, the way they lighten your wallet, your sure to go much faster!



Attachment 48183803

Attachment 48183804

I installed the Billsteins HD series on front and rear.
I have a 68 427 w/ AC, PS, PB so it's a heavy C-3.
I like the ride firm yet rebounds nicely.
Marshal

I run Bilstein Sports front and rear, not adjustable, and VBP monosprings front and rear that are adjustable.

I have the QA-1 dual adjust semi coil over fronts and dual adjust rears. It is a nice function to be able to change compression and rebound with the twist of a nob.

I tend to run less compression than rebound

I have been using Ride Tech shocks now and there a great shock too

How's that working out for you? Did you ever wish you had adjustable shocks?

I guess I will have to update this thread now! :lol:

I ended up going with single adjustable QA1 shocks front and back. I am very happy with them, it took some time to dial them in to my liking, being able to adjust them so easily was a big plus.

My car is lowered quite a but as well, so I am hoping to do some suspension mods this winter to correct the geometry. I am interested in your diff crossmember mod! Is that as high as it can go without hitting the body? What did you do for the front diff mount? Is your strut bracket modded as well? I was going to make a spacer to put between the diff and bracket to lower the bracket. I am also wondering if there is a way to either lower the rear lower shock mount or raise the rear upper shock mount to gain more shock travel.

The Bilsteins are stiff even on the softest spring setting. It would be nice to soften the ride a bit more for just cruising around, but at this time I'm not looking to spend big bucks for the QA1's. The Bilsteins work great as a performance shock with my setup.

Maybe I'm getting too old for this or getting more sensible about these these things. I used to think like most as far as I can see that if it is better for racing or performance it is just better...

I would first think about what the car is used for. Not "Hope to bring it to a real track one day (And 99% NEVER DO), I go to a 1/4 mile once per year and hope other people will see me go real fast, etc..."

If you trailer the car to the track as a dedicated track car that is one thing. And you likely are working with a much more sophistocated setup then just changing shocks.

For me I drive the car on nice days and hope to have a smooth stock like ride. I took off the Bilsteins it had because it bounced too much for regular road drivimg and replaced with modern stock like shocks. It is great now and it has parts for whet I use it for most of the time.

I can always bring it to the track each year if I want with the stock like ride but MOST OF THE TIME I just drive it.

Build your car for what you do with it. Don't put one part of a performance car, suffering the side effects and never use it for that.

So my vote is to ask what the performance specs of the stock shocks were. Ask for a modern shock with similar specs.

I wanted a vette that would handle as well as it can within a reasonable budget.
So i looked at the suspension and decided what works and what needs to be changed. The c3 has a high ride height in stock form and in stock form the car doesn't appeal to that much, it just looks like an old car, the lines are there, and it's beautiful, but it looks dated, just my opinion.

So, bigger wheels were the start, to fit 285/40/17's required a shorter spring (1"), E bracket moving and the sway bar removing.
Then I lowered the rear with longer bolts, this put the half shafts higher at the wheels than the diff. I looked around at ways to raise the diff and thought modding the crossmember was the most logical.
3/4" is the most you can do without cutting the floor of the car, the diff is tight up against the floor at the moment, not touching but tight.
if I did it again i'd mod the floor and put the diff up higher.
The welder cut a 13" section from the crossmember and welded it 3/4 lower, with reinforcing inside.
I didn't change the pinion angle as it's a minor diff move, a spacer put in/removed would work, best to get the car up in the air and check the prop angle first before you do the mod (I didn't so I have no reference).
Smart strut is stock and in it's lowest eccentric setting is fine, just try to get the rod and halfshafts parallel as much as poss and be done with it.

Oh I also removed the shocks, spring and bump stops and manually pushed the wheel as far up in the arch til it hit something, then allowed 1/2" (I think from memory), then cut the bump stops down, this gave an extra 3/4" travel (again from memory), this is vital on a lowered car, any travel you can find the better. (same with the front)



Ideally a lowered car should have shorter shocks but mine work fine at stock length.

Have a look through this lot - http://s877.photobucket.com/user/aar...?sort=3&page=1

Crossmember - http://s877.photobucket.com/user/aar...ml?sort=3&o=29

I've just applied common sense to get the geometry right at approx 3" lower ride height.

Front - offset top arms, borgeson steering conversion, mono spring, cut down stops, bump steer kit

Is that a real Lola T70 your crossmember is perched on? Hope the owner of that ride never checks your posts or Internet photos, you would have some serious explaining to do around shops I frequent treating a ride as a prop for a frame member photo.

No kidding! With some of the guys I know you'd be wearing that crossmember on your head!:ack:

Here's what I think about adjustable shocks. I think the majority of people wouldn't know how to really use them to better the handling of their car. Even George (gkull), a guy who works with race cars and has a lot of track time, alludes to that in this thread from a couple years ago. I'm not saying that no one here can handle dialing in their car, but I'm sure more would have trouble with it than those who could really benefit from the adjustability.

My 80 with the F41 suspension had new NAPA (Monroe) shocks on it when I got it. It rode very nicely for a C3, but it would dive into corners, the front end would dive under hard braking, and under acceleration with my 406 in it, it would feel like it was doing wheelies. I put a set of Bilstein Sports on it and it was a completely different car. Cured all of those issues. It rode a little stiff, but not bad.

My 75 came with 550 springs front and a 360 glass spring on the rear. It had Bilstein HD's on it. The front was fine, but the rear bounced a lot. Enough it would make you queasy after a while. I'm completely redoing the suspension and steering on the 75 and it is getting Bilstein Sports for now just for simplicity and cost. Down the road I may upgrade to QA1's.

Kinda on the same subject. I followed a C3 down the road for about 5 miles the other day. I could see it had a glass spring on it. It was bouncing like a carnival ride. I don't know how anyone could stand to drive it like that. Way worse than what I described in my 75 with the HD's, and I couldn't stand that.

I 100% agree that adjustability sounds great but can get you in a mess real quick.

The Lola is the welders car, not mine, awesome bit of kit. I needs a crap load of work and the crossmember on his roof is the least of his worries. He took the pics.

I completely agree as well :iagree:

My 78 L-82 4 speed originally equipped with the F-41/Gymkhana stock suspension road very hard, bouncing over big bumps like a truck, especially in the rear. After 30 years of tinkering with the suspension, I came to the conclusion that there are 2 inherent problems with the the C3 suspension, too much frame flex and too much suspension movement, in general.

The front suspension is generally not bad BUT the frame flex must be addressed and I did with one of the best investments one can make in the front suspension, a spreader bar-mine is a Speedirect one ($100) designed to be used with the stock mechanical fan. Many folks don't like poly upper and lower control arm bushings but I use them as well to eliminate unwanted control arm movement and found that they made the front feel really planted AND did NOT make the ride harsh. I use 550 springs 1 inch shorter than stock currently and have used Delcos, KYB's, Koni oils, not gas shocks, and currently Bilstein HD's with the 550 springs. The current setup is so much better than the stock front F-41 step up and is stiff but not harsh.

In the rear, the same deal-too much suspension movement with my 360 mono spring installed in 1986. A few years ago, I swapped out the Bilstein HD's for the sports-in the rear only with the HD's up front. Transformed the ride and handling. The other big change was the addition of competition adjustable struts with Heim joints-no bushings too deflect. Solved the bouncy ride issue and the car is really planted with a firm,NOT harsh ride.

After all the suspension tweaking over 30 years, I finally concluded that I had to go to 17/18 inch rims to get rid of the crap 15 inch tires available for these cars-This is a MUST for a good ride. The 15 inch tires make the car bounce all over the road on their own-the sidewalls are too big and too soft. Currently run 255/45/17 ZR ultra high performance summer only tires-transformed the ride, steering, and handling of the car alone!

I wish many of you could actually experience how my 78 rides today with all the modifications to the suspension and steering (GTR1999 custom blueprinted/ rebuilt OEM steering box). It would be very enlightening!

Hope that helps!

Oh yeah I forgot about the frame flex, it's terrible.
If someone had told me this before I started modding the car i'd have put a roll cage in first.
I can feel the jolts transferred through the car.
It's a tad difficult putting a cage in a 'vert but it will happen eventually.
It's not like there's loads of room as it is....

Yes, the frame flex. I have that problem stuck in my head and I'm not sure what to do about it. This is mostly a street toy, but I will do an autocross now and then. I would like to have at least a loop or dual loops for some safety in a roll over, but a full cage just is a little much for a street car.

I have a spreader bar for it and solid motor mounts. That will help the front a lot. I am going to take the rubber cushions out of the differential and raise it 3/4" by the weld in disk method and a solid front mount. That stiffens the rear up a lot, but there is a lot of flexy frame in between the front and the rear. I keep thinking what can a guy do besides a full cage to tie the front and rear together. Haven't come up with anything yet, but the gears are turning and the smoke is coming out of my ears!:confused:

I have the Koni adjustables for the front with 550lbs springs and Bilstein sports for the back with the VBP dual mount spring (came with the rear kit from VBP).

I haven't installed the new suspension yet, I will be working on that upgrade this coming spring.

I am not expecting that this setup will give me the best suspension available for a C3, however I do expect it will be an noticeable upgrade from the stock 36 year old systems. I will also be installing a Borgeson steering kit with the new suspension.

These upgrades should make the car more responsive for steering and suspension capabilities.

I had a look at the QA1 and the coil over systems originally, but the cost was too much for me and I was only looking to upgrade for spirited street driving and some possible autocross use.

The car is not going to be raced on a track but it is not a daily driver either. It will just be a fun and safe car to drive fast.:)

The reason I even started this thread was because I was trying to get rid of some bad wheel hop issues. When my car had a TH400 auto trans in it, I could do John Force style burnouts all day long with no wheel hop at all; then I switched to a TKO-600 5spd and then had the wheel hop issues. This was with no other changes to the driveline.

I thought maybe I needed better shocks to dampen the rear suspension better to control the hop. I removed the 8yr old 3 way adjustable Carrera shocks and found that they were worn out. I replaced them with the single adjustable QA1's, and after I had them adjusted to my liking and driving style, I found they did improve the wheel hop issues a lot, but not completely. So I am now on a mission to get rid of the hop completely.

When I did the body-off resto to my car, I prepped the frame by fully welding all the seams and adding all the recommended gussets.

Front suspension consists of:
-VBP tubular upper control arms with offset cross shafts
-VBP front composite spring conversion with tubular control arms
-VBP spreader bar
-QA1 single adjustable shocks
-all poly bushings

Rear suspension consists of:
-Van Steel c-channel trailing arms
-VBP 360lb composite spring
-VBP adjustable struts
-VBP diff crossmember locating discs
-QA1 single adjustable shocks
-all poly bushings

Now I am considering either mounting the diff solidly to the frame or going to a stiffer rear spring, perhaps even a dual-mount. Maybe even both.

I am thinking that the hop came from 2 reasons:

1) the torque convertor in the previous auto trans acted as a fluid dampener of sorts while the manual trans allows the drivetrain to be hit harder by the engine

2) the engine is putting more hp to the wheels because the manual trans has less losses

Any insight to wheel hop issues? I am also considering the VBP traction bar, but I think I would rather just solidly mount the diff to the frame.

:cheers:

If you turn the QA-1s all the way in does the wheel hop go away?
The fact that it improved with better shocks means its still to bouncy in the rear, you may have to go to the 420# spring.

I switched from Bilstein sports to QA1 single adjustable. I could not believe the difference. QA1 all the way! And if i want it stiffer I just turn the knob, it takes 1 minute.

I'm glad this old thread came up, lots of good info. How many of you guys with lowered cars and stock length shocks still up and running? I will definitely be lowering mine.

Strut rod modification
 

I have wondered about a 3/4" spacer between the differential & strut rod bracket with grade 8 bolts. Seems like in would accomplish the same thing without altering the u-joint angles. Don't know of the downside or any negative effect on handling.

Bilstein HDs with new 550# coils and 330# 7-leal steel rear. Firm but not bone jarring. I'd do it again.