What you have said is partly true. Racing shocks are desined to be maintained and revalved by the racer. Companies like Penske do a very nice job of setting up their shocks right out of the box and most likely will never have to be revlaved, just rebuilt. Less expensive shocks either can't be revlaved/rebuilt or they have to be sent out to do so. With that being said, I think we have come to the conclusion that single adjusable "sport" shocks like Tokico, Koni Yellow, and GAB Super R are a compromise and no matter how well they are valved or setup, they just won't perform like a high dollar race shock. Besides, I've never heard of anyone slapping on a set of high dollar race shocks and complaining about the car not performing as well as their single adjustable sport shocks. My point that if you buy your shocks from a reputable shop like Tripoint Engineering, they should be setup well enough out of the box so the end user doesn't have to do all they research that is required to set them up properly.

 

Well..I'm a bit unsure of just what part of my comments are untrue.

but I suppose I could expand my feelings on the subject, unless your willing to either learn how to maintain and adjust the shocks OR pay someone to do it for you you may as well just get some off the shelf sport shocks since you will not be able to get the maximum benefit of race shocks with out proper knowledge of how they work.

all shocks race or not are a compromise what makes race shocks better is that they allow you to minimize the compromise via the ability to revalve them to match your specific needs for your specific conditions so unless you plan on making use of that I would recommend you save your money.

Silver7 "Companies like Penske do a very nice job of setting up their shocks right out of the box and most likely will never have to be revalved, just rebuilt."

So you just called up penske or since your in PA you just drove over and told them that you would like a set of shocks for your rx7 and they had just the right valving for your specific spring,bar,tire,track,driver...etc. Anita would get a chuckle out of that. jeez if it were that easy I wouldn't have a job.


Silver7 "I think we have come to the conclusion that single adjusable "sport" shocks like Tokico, Koni Yellow, and GAB Super R are a compromise and no matter how well they are valved or setup, they just won't perform like a high dollar race shock."

Who is WE? and just exactly how have you come to this conclusion... I would agree that on a race track with a good driver, engineer and proper race car you are correct but just how much better do you think a set of penskes with a ballpark curve is on a street car on the street or weekend track day with street tires? how do YOU judge how a "high dollar race shock" performs????

 

After re reading my previous post from a couple years ago. I regret posting this And would like to apologize to Penske and forum readers for the misleading content. The conditions in which these problems have been encountered were under very heavy track use. Of the High end race dampers on the market penskes are one of the best...duh they're in almost every professional series world wide. I posted this originally to bring to light that with any High end shim shock maintenance will be required and that I personally would rather run cheap *** tockico's on a street driven car, however I did a **** poor job posting this and should not have singled out penske since it reads as though they make a inferior product which is not the case at all. If anyone reading this really feels that they are in need Something better than "sport shocks" And are considering choices for race shocks My first choice would be penske Do to them being one of the easiest to maintain and valve and are made in the states however as with any Real race shock just be prepared to service them when needed. so now to **** off the over the seas knock off shock manufactures....Don't waste your money on them, If your going to go for more than a cheap Sport shock go all the way and get a real race shock such as penske, ohlins, motons, jrz.

 

So i have a 'parts' FD in my driveway.... i had a look at the coilovers it had today.. they are Aragosta's! So from what i read they are pretty darn good, this is exiting news because i was looking for a set of coilovers for my FD something around 8k/6k maybe tein ss or flex.. but now that i can score these Aragosta's i am stoked!

I have emailed Aragosta to see if they can rebuild these coilovers for me, and to see if they have any other spring. I see that amongst their equipment is a custom spring making machine! So ill keep you guys tuned.



=Ben

 

Silver7 "Companies like Penske do a very nice job of setting up their shocks right out of the box and most likely will never have to be revalved, just rebuilt."

So you just called up penske or since your in PA you just drove over and told them that you would like a set of shocks for your rx7 and they had just the right valving for your specific spring,bar,tire,track,driver...etc. Anita would get a chuckle out of that. jeez if it were that easy I wouldn't have a job.



If Penske can't set me up then I will buy them from Tripoint and have them do it.



Silver7 "I think we have come to the conclusion that single adjusable "sport" shocks like Tokico, Koni Yellow, and GAB Super R are a compromise and no matter how well they are valved or setup, they just won't perform like a high dollar race shock."

Who is WE? and just exactly how have you come to this conclusion...



"We" is everyone I know who used to use these shocks and have since switched to something higher end because they don't work very well.



I would agree that on a race track with a good driver, engineer and proper race car you are correct but just how much better do you think a set of penskes with a ballpark curve is on a street car on the street or weekend track day with street tires? how do YOU judge how a "high dollar race shock" performs????



I am basing my comments on personal experience and knowledge I have gained talking to other track people who have higher end suspension systems. I have never heard of anyone who has spent the money on set of Penskes, Motons, JRZs, etc and complained that the performance wasn't worth the expense. I have owned Koni sports and Gab Super Rs and have recently driven another RX7 that has JRZs. There is without a doubt a notable difference in the ability to dampen the springs on the track and on the street. I personally dont have a problem with rebuilding my shocks when needed, the car is not daily driven and if I damage something I will just drive on down to Reading, PA and pick up the replacement parts to get them running like new.

 

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

 

Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck with the rebuild process of your ZEAL coilovers. I've had them on my FC's in the past and loved them. The ironic part of this post (to me anyhow) is that as far as I know ZEAL uses many off the shelf Penske parts. At least they used to. Now I want to get my hands on a used set and tear them apart to verify! If so, they are still a good deal.

 

ptrhahn - The durability of Motons and JRZs came up on the Porsche forum. You'd be surprised to find that a lot of club racers using these shocks are going years without having to rebuild.
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