Street shock absorber recommendation

Rat Bastid said

IMO, the WORST shock ever. Again, my option but I would look at a Bilstein or something along those lines before I ever thought about those junky KYB’s.


Cue those who run the KYB ago chime in and say how awesome they are. That’s would be their opinion. I gave mine.

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I tend to agree, I’d run Gabriel’s or Monroe’s before I bought KYB’s.

But KYB’s get worse as the torsion bars get larger. Their digressive valving (stiff right off the bat then softer as they work) actually kind of acts as a band aid for torsion bars that are too soft. It’s not the right way to deal with it, but it’s why guys with /6 or the small V8 bars can tolerate the KYB’s.

With larger torsion bars, like the 1.12’s I had on my Challenger when I had KYB’s, they’re an absolutely abysmal shock to run. When I tossed the KYB’s in the trash and went to RCD Bilstein’s the Challenger rode like a completely different car.

So I give a qualified worst shock ever to the KYB’s, they’re definitely the worst shock for any torsion bar larger than 1” in diameter. For a /6 bar they’re not right either, but the combo of too soft a bar with too stiff a shock with digressive valving kinda cancels out the worst aspects of both components. Still not good though.