Hey all

As title suggests, I'm about to lower my mont and am trying to figure out a good brand that won't break the bank.

Can anyone suggest some good brands? I know of a few but not really about the quality of them.

Cheers

If you going to use low spring then go for KYB but if your going lower than LOW spring then go for Koni or Bilstein shock

I personally prefer KYB to anything with Monroe or Pedders branding - but Bilstein is by far the best you can use - and economics wise, my Bilsteins are still going strong after more than 10 years in the car.

I tried both Koni Reds and Yellows and didn't like either of them - they make for nice ride but don't compare to Bilstein for true handling - and one of the yellows s**t itself within a couple thousand km and the dealer wouldn't help replace it. "You must have used it wrongly" - yeah I really did - by fitting it to my car and actually driving the f&^%en thing!! Damned things didn't even work well as door stops - because of the leaking oil...

Another type of shock that I found handled as well as if not actually slightly better than Bilsteins was Gabriel VST (were extremely cheap too! ) - but they only lasted 5000km or so. Having already tried various monroes, pedders, konis and finally KYB's - the Gabriels were like gifts from God as far as handling went - so even tho they crapped out quickly I was about to just buy three sets of them at a time and put up with changing them every few months but decided to try Bilsteins first - which came so close to the Gabriels that I was happy - and like I say, still going good after 10+ years. I note that Brendan Mock used Gabriels of some sort on his EF...

I have heard that either the Gabriel VST's have been improved - or there's another type of Gabriel available now that lasts better. VST stands for Velocity Sensing Technology - ie. variable internal valving - Bilstein uses virtually the same thing (and it's not the same cra p slots in the cylinder nonsense that Monroe uses in their Sensapoo or whatever it is).

Gabriel VST used to be REAL cheap! So as a way of sampling what you can expect from Bilsteins, you could try Gabriels. I don't know if they come in a version suitable for super low tho.

That variable valving when it's done right like Gabriel VST's or Bilsteins - is almost like active suspension - marvellous result - for example going round a curve at high speed, the outside shocks will firm up but the inside stay softer - so the car acts and feels like there's more camber on the road than there really is. Konis will just suck down onto the road and then at a random point will tend to tip the wrong way - making the road feel like it has LESS camber than it actually does - not to mention instantaneously changing the whole balance of the vehicle - which is f*&^ing dangerous and terrifying!!!