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Front is 18 X 8”, 245/45-18, rear 18 X 10”, 295/45-18. ARE Torq Thust II aluminum wheels. Torsion bars are 1.00” dia. Car is lowered but not excessively. HD440 rear springs. KYB shocks seemed pretty good but I took a big dip at freeway speeds the other day (Highland exit from 101 south) and car bounced as if it really bottomed out hard which it had never done before so I am think shocks are a bit worn. Shocks are 6 years old-50k miles, tire about 30k/4 years old. I hear KYB’s are pretty stiff but don’t have any other reference as the last 4 cars I built I used them. My ride has seemed stiffer and more jarring on potholes lately. Front more so than rear. Buying new shocks as a Xmas present and new tires may be next purchase. In my experience old tires in L.A seem harder as they get older (ozone). Both front rims have bends on inner lips from potholes here.

Like I said this is a daily driver and I want a performance ride but more importantly need to smooth out the bad roads here. I do mostly city not freeway driving. I actually lost the whole accessory electrical buss once as the main feed separated from the buss connection (at fuse box) driving over the bumps on Franklin Ave. between LaBrea and Fairfax.

So that is why I think the inertia valve design in the Edelbrocks might be the answer. Looking at prices my choice is either Edelbrock or Bilstein. QA1's too much $$$.

Opinions? Anybody have Edelbrock shocks?



That southbound exit off Highland has those soft lumps, it's sort of high speed, everyone drives over the speed limit on it, and it's a soft radius turn. The stretch of road is good test of shocks though. Just driving around Hollywood today for business as a matter of fact (company van).

I bet the front shocks are toast. Lift of the car, extend the shock and look for leakage. I did that once with the cuda and the KYB immediately made a puddle of oil. Just drained out right there. On 60 mph freeway connector curves when you hit soft lump and cracks, does the car sort of wallow/yaw/hunt around a little bit? When my KYB's went bad it did that.

I've heard the E-brock shocks are stiff. Gmachinedart (Peter) has run them with 1" T-bars. Hopefully he will chime in.

The low profile front tires are contributing, but the are not rubber band category.

I'm thinking Bilstein or QA1. But if you were happy with the KYB's originally, they're a BIG price difference.

I've never bent a rim on any streets, but my car has steel rims. We have a Mustang GT in the family with 245/45 tire but those rims are cast aluminum.

What color is your Charger? Is it the dark blue one that Jack used to own?