[bama16]

My '81 turbo is all original, 68,000 miles. bought my first car from an old lady for 2000. it was a steal. the shocks are original and i am looking to replace. now is it the strut or the spring that makes it stiffer? would i be fine to replce the strut and leave the spring and still get a stiffer ride or change the spring at the same time? can the spring get soft or go bad? thank you for any info. this site is awesome for info, i can figure stuff out without asking just by reading other people's problems. this by far is my favorite site. i looked in archives for this but i wasn't able to find what i was looking for. thank you again, bama16

 

[mach280]

hey bama..

springs are the ones that make the difference in ride stiffness. struts control the spring rebound.. you can tell if your struts are bad by jumping on your bumper, if you car bounces for a while before coming to a stop they need to be replaced. if youre gonna replace your springs you might as well put in new cartridges though. springs do soften over time, and even the stock springs brand new are easily improved upon by the aftermarket performance springs out there. remember theres always a trade off though, stiffer springs make for tighter handling but ride quality will suffer. oh ya and when time comes to purchase, these guys are much cheaper than motorsport/victoria british : www.shox.com