Club Cobra - Preferred road racing shock absorbers

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Preferred road racing shock absorbers

There are many good shocks out there for hard use, like Koni, or Carrera shocks, I am told (questionable) that Gas shocks are a gimmick for general use and fail a lot sooner than a good quality oil shock.

Having said all that my car isn't a space frame race car, so there is probably not much point in fitting much stronger than 450Ib F/350Ib R springs to the approx 1000 - 1100kg car, as the ladder frame, which is plenty strong enough would probably suffer from rigidity problems, and I suppose the shocks don't have to be that good for 10 - 15 minutes of racing at any one time, or to higher valving!

Carrera make what appears to be a good alloy Promaster 12 point setting adjustable shock with adjustable spring platform at half the price of the double adjustable oil Koni's with spring platforms, but the question is these Carrera alloy shocks, (they also have steel) may not be a good proposition for a lot of road use, as you may have to rebuild them periodically?

Afco shocks etc informed me that there race product, similar to the road race koni should be rebuilt yearly, but thats on hard dirt track usage - to maintain maximum performance, but even on a bi yearly basis, no way do I want to send them back to the US for serviceing.

Ant

Ant - I would give the Olthoff's a call and talk to them about their "race" prepared Bilsteins. They are not adjustable, however they are the same Bilsteins that come on the newer Superformance cars, but re-valved for road racing...The same shocks they used on their Laser red car that was tested in Car and Driver. $1000 for the shocks and new springs...They seem to be the best option unless you are going to go with a full race Koni setup that will cost you well over a grand.

I can vouch after years of chassis development that Bilsteins are hard to beat. First off, they aren't gimmics and second, they are OIL shocks that use a floating piston pressurized with nitrogen gas to keep the oil under pressure so it won't gas and will damp immediately. As for durability, I have had a set of Bilsteins on my Mustang since 1974 and have not experience a single problem.

Speed220mph
For sure Bilsteins gas/oil type are very very good and not a gimmick, and be as good as Konis, I think the cheap gas types used on passenger cars can be limited, but thats understandable.

Agro1
Will try them and see what I come up with, Koni's are quite expensive but I am sure either Bilsteins or Konis would be more than adequate for my car and also outlast me!

Ant

My Carrera adjustables are not even dialed in yet

But, man, the handling sure is sweet... my cobra does have a nice spaceframe and the best suspension I could get, however.

I also have fron t and rear sway bars, and 17 inch low profile Z rated Pirellis

The Shelby Challenge cars use Bilstein shocks with Eibach springs. After EXTENSIVE testing, this setup proved to be the best.