GM A Body: Worth it to go from Bilstien to Varishock or Ridetech shock?

[Nicks67GTO]

So im slowly going to upgrade my 67' GTO to the stage II SC&C package. I picked up the Currectrac uppers and lowers and Helwig bars last week. Im going to wait on the front A-arms and springs until I get my new frame boxed, coated and ready to install. I will however be buying those parts tward the end of the summer. I already have Bilstiens in my car. They ride really nice with the bone stock suspension and were a massive improvement over the brand new Monroe autozone POS specials I had in there prior. My question is this...... Is it eventually worth the extra expense for me to sell my 1 year old Bilstiens and get the SC&C recommended single adjustable Varishock? Are they that much better than the Bilstiens? Does Ridetech make an adjustable shock in that price range that work well with a coil spring package like the SC&C stage II? I like the idea of the Ridetech warranty on their dampers. This will be an all around car. Anywhere from daily driver/grocery getter, to the occasional auto x, and maybe even a 1/4 mile or two here and there. I would put it at 90% or above for street time though.

Discuss

[marolf101x]

http://ridetechshocks.com/gm-shocks/chevy-a-body/1964-67-chevelle/

-Fixed valve and rebound adjustable options
-monotube design
-1,000,001 mile warranty
-designed to be an OE replacement (if the car is lowered we can accommodate that as well, we just need to know how much it's lowered so we can use a shorter shock).

[Nicks67GTO]

http://ridetechshocks.com/gm-shocks/chevy-a-body/1964-67-chevelle/

-Fixed valve and rebound adjustable options
-monotube design
-1,000,001 mile warranty
-designed to be an OE replacement (if the car is lowered we can accommodate that as well, we just need to know how much it's lowered so we can use a shorter shock).

Are these adjustable at all?

[Carl @ Chassisworks]

Hi there Novaguy, this was actually covered very recently in another thread. In short; YES it's worth it to upgrade to an adjustable shock. While a set rate shock can give you good performance at the track or a good ride it will rarely do both. One person's 'good ride' may be another's 'mushy pile of garbage' so it's a very subjective way to look at things. The advantage of the adjustable shock is that you can have both. Go to work in the morning with medium settings, add a couple clicks and take the long way home with stiffer settings, then back the damping off and hit the drag strip at night.

There's a lot of good info about the kit you're considering RIGHT HERE (https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?98475-Considering-buying-the-SC-amp-C-touring-plus-package-are-there-better-choices-for-the).

[marolf101x]

Yes, the "smooth body OE replacement" shocks are available in rebound adjust.

[Pro-Tour Heavy Chevy]

Got Bilstien's on my 71 and won a set of non-adjustable (HQ) Ridetechs that i plan On trying out. Might be a couple of weeks. I'll report back on the comparison. My current set up is nice with Eibach Springs.

[Nicks67GTO]

So are the RQ and HQ series adjustable shocks limited in travel like the Bilstiens? From my understanding of Bilstiens, they are limited in travel by about 2" and its one of their faults. I was told this might be an issue with any monotube designed shock. Is there any of that going on with the HQ and RQ series shocks?

[Nicks67GTO]

Got Bilstien's on my 71 and won a set of non-adjustable (HQ) Ridetechs that i plan On trying out. Might be a couple of weeks. I'll report back on the comparison. My current set up is nice with Eibach Springs.

Please do

[marolf101x]

"So are the RQ and HQ series adjustable shocks limited in travel like the Bilstiens?"

Our threaded body shocks are actually the same sizes overall as the twin tube units we were running before we switched to the Fox monotube.
Our smooth body OE replacement shocks were designed off the stock shock dimensions, and actual test fitting.
Though a monotube shock typically has a longer body than a comparable stroke twin tube, you very rarely run into an issue where the compressed length is too long.

We have smooth body strokes from 3.85" all the way up to 8.35" (at which point we switch over to the larger body shock as the shaft is bigger and can be made up to 16" or longer stroke). So we can fit a HUGE number of vehicles.
We have also chosen the lengths of our shocks so you can easily fit a lowered vehicle. If you use shock "X" on a stock vehicle, but then you lower the vehicle 2 inches, you will now use one size smaller (shock "Y") and still have the correct amount of stroke.