I have read many forums and have found the Eibach/Bilstein is the best combination for suspension, however, I have some questions.
1. I find this combo./kit is quite expensive; should I save up and hold off on suspension until I can afford this setup, or is there another combo. that is easier on the money?

2. Do any shocks/coils come with polyeurothane bushings, or am I gonna want to get ES poly's separately?
3. Has anyone heard ye or ne on the edlebrock shocks?
4. While I am replacing the shocks/springs, is there any components I should replace at the same time to stiffen up my steering response? As, there is play in my steering and I want to stiffen it up as much as I can...

Thank you for any suggestions and help!

 

Edelbrock IAS shocks are great but not available for our cars...

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/ias_shocks_gm.html

 

I was thinking of doing the same thing eibach/bilstein before I decided to do spohn coilovers all the way around, but that's about ~500 bucks on top of eibach/bilstein setup.

What you want to spend all depends on what you want out of the car. I did same searching you did and I know I want to do some road racing and maybe autocross. Some people I think go with KYB's which are cheaper, but at the same time they are barely better than stock.

If you are redoing the suspension. I'd replace all the bushings while you are in there. And make sure sway bar links are still solid (this wasn't my camaro, but on my daily driver, one of the end links just rusted through and broke). Poly is good choice for most things. But for a-arms, people don't recommend. For those, there is delrin (or something like that, I am not sure)

About the play in the steering. I would check ball joints, tie rods and then the rest of steering (idler arm, center link). When any of that stuff wears out, you can usually move things just by tugging on them. It can also be worn steering gear box itself.

 

So, with suspension, it is either a little better than stock for a reasonable price, or extreme/awesome performance for lots of money? Nothing inbetween?

How do you tell if A-arms, sway-bars, and steering box's are bad?

Another question, how hard is it to install shocks/springs and bushings? Can it be done, or is it not worth it to do it yourself?

 

I don't know if you noticed these threads yet, but you had to. They are right below yours:
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=286710
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=284786

One of them named few brands of shocks/struts which are cheaper than bilstein. Koni is another popular choice, but don't think they are much cheaper. Personally, when it comes to my thirdgen, I am trying to find the best especially things that will last 100k miles.

As a disclaimer, whatever I say may or may not be accurate. I am working on my first car and a lot of things I am still learning as I am going along. So take everything with a grain of salt (as you should every other post anyway)

A-arms, swaybars don't usually go bad. Bushings that hold them in place are typically of questionable quality or are just old. They are rubber and rubber will flex under cornering giving your suspension a spongy feeling. Plus as any bushing gets older it will crack and pretty much deteriorate. If you are down there, you might as well replace all your bushings with poly/delrin ones.

Steering boxes have been known to wear out. When that happens you get loose steering like you mentioned. As someone is holding the steering wheel and you are pushing each wheel, you should not see any movement. If you do, it could be bad tie rod or ball joint. If those are good, it might be the steering box itself. I think they are rebuildable, but I am not sure.

It is possible to do shocks/springs yourself. Everything pretty much unbolts and then bolts back up. But with the springs make sure you don't kill yourself when you compress them. All bushings you can do yourself, except for a-arm bushings you will need a press. You can have them pressed out and new ones pressed in at a local machine shop for relatively cheap (on very slow day, they might even do it for free), or you can go to harbor freight and buy 20 ton press for $170.

 

One more question.
Are Competition Engineering's "adjustable drag shocks" for racing/drag only?

 

Oh, another thing,
How are monroe shocks, compared with KYB.....?

 

don't know anything about competition engineering, but if it says "drag shocks," my best guess they are for drag racing only.

The magic of drag shocks is that they allow the rear of the car to dip fast, but then they resist on the rebound. This helps weight transfer to the rears giving as much down force as possible to the tires that push the car forward. Don't think you would want this type of shock for anything but drag racing.

If you want any performance, monroe are garbage even when compared to more expensive type of garbage.

 

If you have monroes in your car now, RIP THEM OUT. They are probably the worst shocks for our cars. For slightly more money, KYB will give you your money's worth.I think that they're still lifetime guaranteed too.