Most of the time we are talking about original parts that were mounted >20years ago on our cars and have some wear.
Now anyone compared new OEM-replacement shocks/struts to KYB, Bilsteins, Konis or others?

 

IROC's and i think WS6 cars came factory with Bilsteins

 

I have had both an Iroc and WS6 bone stock and neither came with bilsteins. It was just basic AC Delco shocks and struts. Probebly Monroe.

 

Just asking if anyone switched from NEW OEM ones to other brands or vice versa to have a comparasion how good the OEMs do in todays world.

 

You can't get "new" "OEM" ones. They're simply not available. GM doesn't sell them. Whatever it is they sell over the counter, if they even do that, isn't the same as what came on the car (thank goodness).

Even if you could get them, they'd still be the same garbage that came on the car, and was wore out and useless halfway down the ramp out of the showroom.

And also, even if you could, not sure how you'd "compare" them, except to note that the OEMs would be typical OEM slushy crap, and the others might be .... alot better. Except maybe for Gabriel which are about in the same category as stock. Even Monroe is better. Speaking strictly from similar experience with other vehicles.

So it's not something worth worrying about.

 

According to the Camaro White Book, IROC's were equipped with "special front struts" and "Delco-Bilstein rear shocks."

JamesC

 

Hmmm I never noticed anything differant. If they were, they were crap lol. They just had the Delco stamp on them and were black.

 

What brand are they selling on gm partshouse or partszoneonline

 

stock delco bilsteins were black/blue and say delco bisltein on the shock. the fronts are just delcos.

As for aftermarket, I have used the koni yellows, the koni special D reds and the bilsteins. The bilsteins are about as soft as the special Ds on the std. setting. The yellows are much much stiffer even on the softest setting

 

i believe Twin_Turbo is right, the fronts were just a type of Re-Valved delco strut and the rears were actual Bilsteins.

 

Even if they did come with Delco-Bilstein, the Bilsteins you buy today for our cars are different from Bilsteins 20 years ago (or even 5 years ago).

 

The Pontiac GTA came with special valved gas charged shocks - don't know who manufactured them. Parts store replacement shocks designed for everything from the 4 cylinder models to the 5.7 - no way are they equal to the OEM WS6 shocks. The idea that over the counter replacement shocks are equivalent or better than the OEM HP shocks is incorrect IMHO. I replaced my still stiff factory shocks at 57K miles with Bilsteins and couldn't be happier. Now these shocks are definitely better than the 23 year old OEM shocks. I agree with Reid that the shocks are updated and improved on a regular basis so it is hard to compare shocks from 20, 10 or five years ago with current versions.

 

Here are my original GTA shocks and Koni shocks as well as the original rear springs and newer springs (Moog 5665). I have no idea what brand the shocks were. I think they said NNZ on the tag, which sounds familiar as an RPO code for GTA shocks.



My car is the same as IAGTA's above. 50,000 ish miles. When the shocks came out, I could compress them quite easily in my hands. To do the same with the new ones required using a towel over the end of it and pressing down on the ground using all my weight. Needless to say, my stock low mile shocks and struts were done for.