HI i have been looking at getting some adjustable shocks but being wondering what exactly do they help for can i raise the car and lower or what's the good side of getting them since i seeing they go for over $300. Any help I would appreciate it thanks.

 

Just my opinion, if you have to ask what Adjustable struts & shocks to for a car, you don't need them. For a daily driver non-adjustable will be fine for you.

 

first of all you do not raise/lower the car with shock but with springs!!!!!!

second of all single-adjustable shocks adjust only stiffeness of shock not their travel
double-adjustable shock are required for lowering/raiseng the car to properly adjust travel of the shock (and ofcourse their stiffeness/softeness)
also thay say thay you do not need to replace shocks for adjustable ones if your lowering is 1" or less

if your car is daily driver get good quality non-adjustable shocks like koni or bilstain they will do the job for better handling, brakeing and will last longer than normal OEM shocks

best regards

 

Hey JR, You're asking a valid question. Could you share a bit more of what you have in mind though? Those of us who do adjustable/double adjustable shocks are 'usually' experienced racing enthusiasts who like to bang our heads against the wall in total frustration while attempting to set up our suspensions for specific road surfaces.

There are adjustable shox for drag racing and for auto-x. Are you really planning on spending the $$$$ to install an adjustable suspension of some sort???? Nitro

 

no...single adjustable shocks or struts give the user the ability to adjust the rebound valving. double adjustable let you adjust rebound or compression.
no shocks or struts, that I know of, let you adjust ride height or travel UNLESS they are rebuilt with spacers or something to limit travel (and that would only be for limiting travel, not ride height).

 

What i am wanting is to be able to lift my car so for when i am going through a driveway i don't scrape the front lip also wanting some better handling on the car for the turns.

 

That's just not going to happen. It's a design flaw that comes with a long overhang front end. the only way to resolve it is to switch suspensions out to an airbag system; which people swear by, even though the upfront cost seems initially high. Nitro

 

@AM91Camaro_RS rebound valveling is actually stiffeness of the shock/strut.
as for height did you read firs sentence that i written? i have never said it adjusts level of the car but only travel of the rod by changeing compression ratio

best regards

 

you did say that you don't raise/lower the car with shocks (or struts). but, this statement is not correct. which is mainly what i was getting at. they are not required. you can use non-adjustables at whatever ride height you want (with other factors considered). what you said about travel is half right. i don't have time to type it all out right now, though.

 

i know what You mean and maybe because english is not my native language i wrote something incorrectlty

my main thought was that if lowering car more than 1 inch you should replace shocks/struts because stocks wont work properly with lower springs

best regards

 

So the only way to lift it would by getting air bags then

 

^^ springs. why do you want to raise your car anyway?

 

the only way top raise it on demand, then lower it again, is with air ride suspension, its going to cost big bucks

 

I am wanting to raise it because it's always scraping my way out of the driveway and i am painting it right now and wouldn't like it to get all scraped right away, or how can i get it back to stock height because i seen other thirdgens and they are not as low as mine.

 

What I'd suggest is that for keeping the front air dam from getting scraped up from the driveways is to attatch an aluminum plate to the bottom to it takes the hit instead of the painted plastic. You'll have to be a little inventive. Nitro

 

i put some new z28 springs and it got lifted about two in. now it don't scrape would i have any problens with alignment though

 

Yes, your alignment changed its articulation range and will cause uneven tire wear. You will need to have it aligned again after that change!

WASyL, AM91 is correct in his summury and he was only correcting you misleading quote. I was about to also til I read he had already done so.
Just to clarify shock labeling-
*Single adjustable- can be either just one **** adjusting only rebound forces while the compression force is fix valved...OR...it can vbe refered to the crappy linear rebound AND compression adjustment done together all in one **** (this is not the way to go other that a cheap 4x4 shock trying to damper those massive 44" tires- note that 4x4's are not intended for transition asphalt handling purposes).
*Double Adjustable- separate adjustment for rebound (Generally a ****, but not always), and another separate adjustment for compression.
*4 way adjustable shocks- one lower rebound adjustment, one higher rebound adjustment, one lower compression, one higher compression.
What is meant by lower and higher adjustments? Shock pistons are rated in the speed they travel The type of piston deflection discs they have will determine the speed of the damper rate based on force exerted agaisnt it. Adjustabe discs are just that, they allow the user to adjust the damper force to control the force exerted against the pistion rod by the chassis, suspension, the road, and gravity. Anything that moves the piston and rod between 0-10" per second is considered lower damper force. Anything moving the piston 10"-25" per second is considered on the higher damper force range. These allow the use of linear valving but can be decreased in higher piston speeds not to be harsh. Alot of fixxed valve (non-adjustable) shock rely on digressive valving as to release some of the high build up forces you get with higher piston speeds while trying to control high damper lower piston speeds. In other words a fixed digressive valve shock will in essence "bleed off" as not to be too high forced at higher damper speeds and be less harsh while retaining good low speed dampering.

I run 8 shocks on my truck in order to kind of trick the suspension into the same thing. I run one linear and one digressive fixed valve shocks on each corner of the truck. My shocks are all custom valved through trial and error til I had it where I liked it.

Dean

 

Oh yeah... Air ride sucks for handling purposes. I will put my 4800lb work truck up agains AirRide's best car any day of the week for a Biatholan challange- then I will drive that truck right over and load 3000lbs into the bed and drive down the freeway at 70 mph no problem!

Trust me, air ride bounces like a dam hoppity hop and the air chambers unless you go with a very expensive 4 separation bag system, they will cross bleed in lateral set and induce more roll. Air ride cars have to run massive sway bars which also reduce ride quality to avoid the good old tire rub against the fenders that just about every high dollar custon vintage hotrod that runs them suffers from. Oh it looks great sitting low at a car show or cruising REAL SLOW down the Blvd, but get on that puppy and you are repainting a fender real quick when it bounces and bobbles all over kindom come.

When I went down to this recent Ultimate street car challange that was hyped up and then written about in HotRod magazine at Eltoro CA? What a frikin joke that was and they minopolised and shut out the general public and billed it as a private event where they DUPPED the photographs for the article!!!! I ran accross the TCI guys at Pomona swap meet the two weeks later and I embarassed the hell out of them in front of about 20 patrons on the subject of their and Airrides piece of crap air ride cars and this wonderful ultimate street car challange that was a joke. When he arrogantly asked me who the hell was I? I arrogantly pulled out my NASCAR license for the crowd. I had 3 people follow me asking me questions after I walked away and a whole lot of others laughing...