Which shocks?

[blown69nova]

QA1 stocker star single adj.
Koni classic
Bilstein
Edelbrock IAS
This is for a 69 Nova with GW upper arms, Hotchkis 600lb coils, 175lb DSE leafs and Hotchkis front sway bar.
I want good handling, but I want a better ride than the KYB's I currently have. The KYB's are kinda choppy feeling!
Just some opinions needed.
Thanks, Steve

[chicane67]

Hotchkis'steins...

[blown69nova]

Anyone else?

[Blown353]

What's the price range?

In my opinion/experience:

Under $100: Bilstein/Hotchkis or Afco. The IAS shocks, while starting pretty good, tend to get soft fairly quickly... my IAS shocks are getting pretty squishy and are in need of ebaying.
$100-200: Varishock QS1

[blown69nova]

I really don't want to spend more than $150.00 ea., so that leaves out the the real good stuff.
Sounds like the Hotchkis/Bilsteins are the way to go in this price range.
Does anyone have an opinion on the QA1's?
Thanks, Steve

[EFI69Cam]

The QA1s are made of imported parts. If you want them to leak, buy them.

The Varishocks are superior and not much more money.

[chicane67]

I dont think that their valving goes in the right direction for the use at hand.

I believe that if your chassis was more towards stock... that they would benifit it better, because once you put in higher rate springs, lower the chassis and effectively change the CGH and get to re-tuning the dampers.... you'll find that the valving gets too still too quickly and all you will ever use is the softest setting.

KONI and Vari shocks would also be something to consider for around the price that you are looking at.

[novanutcase]

Haven't used them but everyone I talk to likes the varishock! That's what I'm using for my project.

[VenturaII]

One of my double adj varishocks leaked when I put it on during moc up. I sent it back and they said they would have to repair it rather than replace since I had installed it. After a month it was returned still leaking. 300+ dollar shock. I wouldn't buy them again.

[Blown353]

One of my double adj varishocks leaked when I put it on during moc up. I sent it back and they said they would have to repair it rather than replace since I had installed it. After a month it was returned still leaking. 300+ dollar shock. I wouldn't buy them again.

I recently had a Varishock QS2 on a car I was working on start leaking immediately too, but the shop that bought them buys a lot of Alston/TCP stuff and it was exchanged ASAP. Your situation sucks!

Shocks are another area where you get what you pay for, and unfortunately to get the really good stuff you have to dig quite deep into the wallet for it.

[novanutcase]

YIKES!!! That is not good! I may need to rethink the shock issue. I have heard the same thing about the QA1's.

[blown69nova]

Thanks for the info guys.

[6'9"Witha69]

Get the Hotchkis Bilsteins. They are valved to match the Hotchkis coils you have.

[jwcarguy]

Steve, I just finished up my suspension in my 68 Camaro. I went with a complete Hothkis TVS kit, ATS spindles GW UCA's and Del a lums in the stock LCA's with the Bilsteins for the Hotchkis kit. Give Tyler or Shane a call a ATS, They're a distributor for Bilsteins and Global West, just to name a few. Check out their link on this page. They were a HUGE help in getting my car updated. The car is unbelievable!!! Go with the Bilsteins!! Hope this helps, Jeff Wheeler

[Marcus SC&C]

Gotta agree Bilsteins have great bang for the buck. Hotchkis revalved ones aren`t a bad idea at all for more serious cars. Std. Bilsteins work great for cars that are more Touring than Pro and still handle very well. We`ve had really good luck/results with the Varishocks, not so much for the QA1s. The QA1s on one of our test cars beat the bushings out of the fronts every 10K miles and 2 of them leaked the first year they were on the car. More annoying is that the settings were inconsistant which made tuning a lot more of a hassle. The Varishocks are MUCH better in that regard. It`s a bummer about the guys who got leakers but to be fair I`ve seen that on shocks costing twice as much too. Overall the Varishocks are a very high quality product especially for the money. Cost no object I really like digressive valved adj. Bilsteins for ProTouring cars and of course it`s always hard to go wrong with Penskes. Mark SC&C

[blown69nova]

I'm not road racing or anything like that, should I just get "off the shelf" Bilsteins or is it a better idea to get the ones matched to my springs from Hotchkis?
Steve

[vintageracer]

If anyone has a shock abosorber dyno to recalibrate or setup shocks to your needs, there are lots of high dollar shocks available cheap in NC from the Nascar shops. You can overcome the mounting issue rather easily but the overall length issue may be tough to overcome in most cars given packaging conerns.

[cudaman]

I have Hotchkis revalved Bilsteins that work perfectly with my Hotchkis springs. The price is identical between revalved and standard. There's probably no way you can go wrong with them.

[blown69nova]

Thanks guys, I just installed my DSE 2" drop leafs last night and now I just need to drive it to see if there is a change. I'm still using the KYB's for now but am probably going to get the Hotchkis Bilsteins.
Steve

[VenturaII]

Looking back I think I've been unfair to Varishock/Chassisworks. I was contacted by them today and told they would repair my shock for free. I apologize to them for not giving them a chance to rectify my problem before posting here.