shocks/struts

I've currently got a set of sensatracs on my foxbody, and they're not doing the job for autocross.

I'm looking for a new set, and not really sure what to get. The only other shocks I've really dealt with were a set of Tokico blues on an AE86 and some Bilstein HDs on my '98 Cobra. I wouldn't mind going with Bilsteins again, but at $600 for the set, I'd like to find something less spendy that would still hold up to a potential future coil-over conversion. Ride quality is less of an issue, as this is a mostly autocrossed, occasionally driven to work kinda car, not a full-on DD.

I'm not really a fan of adjustable shocks, from my understanding when you put them on a shock dyno, the cheapest adjustable that's not total crap is a Koni Yellow, and they're more like $650 for a set of four.

How much seat-of-the-pants difference there really is between a $300 set of Tokicos, a $350 set of Koni STR.Ts, and a $600 set of Bilsteins? Am I gonna kick myself for not spending the extra money on the better shock, or am I just throwing money down the toilet? I've never had a chance to drive two similarly setup cars with the only difference being shocks, nor has anyone else that I know, so I'm curious how different they really are.

Thanks!

Koni's are on sale until June and I plan on a set of STR.T's for autocross. I am also not sold on adjustable wonder shocks either...

On sale from where? Direct from Koni? I just checked, and they don't even list a price for the STR.Ts for a '90, though they do for reds and yellows.

I know they at least make 'em for the 5.0, as Maximum carries 'em.

I have had a Mustang with Bilsteins and another with Koni's and if you want to go coil over down the road get the Koni's now. In my opinion Bilstein is not what it used to be. For some cars still them make very good shocks/struts for other cars what they sell is no better then what other lesser shock makers sell. I guess it has to do with the fact that the market for "performance shocks" for some cars is so small that they don't bother even offering any.

Okay, so does anyone have any info on the STR.Ts? Near as I can tell, the only difference is that they're entirely nonadjustable.

ReverendDexter wrote: How much seat-of-the-pants difference there really is between a $300 set of Tokicos, a $350 set of Koni STR.Ts, and a $600 set of Bilsteins? Am I gonna kick myself for not spending the extra money on the better shock, or am I just throwing money down the toilet? I've never had a chance to drive two similarly setup cars with the only difference being shocks, nor has anyone else that I know, so I'm curious how different they really are.

In the price range below $500 per damper I've never heard of someone considering a better engineered damper a waste of money. Personally, I think that dampers are one of the most underrated performance components to "most people". It always amazes me when guys spend thousands on their engines, but then complain about the expense of Koni yellows (not necessarily talking about you - sorry to get on a soapbox).

From all the shock dynos I've seen and my butt-dyno experience, the Koni Yellows have valving more to my liking. They have more low-speed compression, so you don't have to crank them up as high as the Tokico Illuminas to get control of the spring. They're also more digressive than the Tokicos, but probably not as much as the Koni marketing would have you believe. The Tokico blues don't even compare and wouldn't hold up to spring rates designed for autocross (the aformentioned coilovers you spoke of).

The internetz hearsay says that the STR are similar to a Yellow on full soft. Take that with a grain of salt. If it's true, they'd work good with stock springs or maybe a mild aftermarket spring. If you plan on running rates higher than 300-400lb/in in the future I'd go ahead and opt for the yellows which seem to max out around 500-600lb/in in the applications I'm familiar with, which are all small imports btw. I'd double check with Koni for your specific application before you put stock in my numbers.

Okay, thanks for that info, Matt.

Rechecking the prices, zomg when did DA yellows jump in price? I thought I had looked six months ago, and it was ~$50 difference between SAs and DAs, now it's more like 2x?!?

I think I'm just gonna suck it up and roll on the monroes until I can afford the good stuff. If nothing else, I'm thinking that having the adjustability will let me re-match the dampers to the springs when I go from stock location springs to COs, as I know I'm not gonna be able to do both at the same time.

Range of adjustment may not cover changing from stock springs to whatever aftermarket springs you use to do a coil over setup. I think someone here within the last month said that most adjustable shocks change damping rates by ~10% from full soft to full hard.

pres589 wrote: Range of adjustment may not cover changing from stock springs to whatever aftermarket springs you use to do a coil over setup. I think someone here within the last month said that most adjustable shocks change damping rates by ~10% from full soft to full hard.

Well, MM says the Koni yellows and Bilsteins are both good for either stock location or CO use. :dunno: