Boge shocks and replacements

[ben parrish]

This site is great and I believe it helps many of us save thousands of dollars in repair bills. On the other hand, it helps many of us SPEND thousands of dollars in “improvements”. My real question has to do with shocks. I replaced mine about a year ago and went with the original Boge replacements. I must say that my old shocks and struts (86 Carrera) were worn out but I don’t really think there was a great improvement with the replacements. Does any one else run new Boge shocks and struts? How do you feel about them? I think I may change to…? Suggestions? I do some DE but the car mainly is used for spirited mountain driving. It handles very well now but I am looking for even better.
Thanks, Ben

[einreb]

I just installed bilstien sport shocks and inserts... it made quite a difference. There are other parts or adjustments that will also affect how that car 'rides'...

bushings, torsion bars, tie rods, ride height, alignment, tires et cetera

[Wil Ferch]

Ben:
From an earlier post....

I may have mentioned this before, but here goes...

Both Bilstein and Koni are very good brand names.
If your car had Bilsteins, then you can go with them again and not have to readjust ride height. You will most likely require ride height adjustment as you move from Boge to high pressure gas shocks like Bilsteins.

I had Boges originally, and went to adjustable ( for rebound) Konis...low pressure gas fronts ( not requiring ride height adjustment...or at least easily done if required)...and fully hydraulic rears, also adjustable. These special part number rears are also about 2" shorter in body length..making them ideal for later car lowering and it won't bring the working guts out of shock travel range. Both front and rears are adjustable via removable knob on the shock top...so you don't have to take the shock apart ( from one end of the mounts) to adjust like other Koni's.

Altogether ...a nice set up, and the additonal rebound adjustment can also be used for ( later) larger torsion bars....if you go that way later.

--Wil Ferch

[ZAMIRZ]

Sorry to hijack your thread ben, but I'm also curious on which bilstein's I should get for my '83SC. I want to go either HD all the way around or Sport all the way around, don't care about ride quality, just want a well-handling car.

[masraum]

I went with Bilstein Sports front and rear and they are great. No complaints and I drive my car 25 miles to and from work each day.

[caliber60]

"I just installed bilstien sport shocks and inserts... it made quite a difference."

Me too. I had Boge original replaced with Bilstein heavy duty, not Sport. My Boge has 96,000 miles, was leaking oil and were very harsh when driving on the freeway. The shop also cleaned up a frozen tie-rod. It made much less steering effort. I thought the hard steering effort was normal but until you try the correct set up. It can be smooth as well.

The new Bilstein makes driving freeway speed like gliding on carpet. Smooth but not hard. It's wonderful feeling. Definitely worth $750 for all 4 shocks and alignment.