Shock Brands

[CageFaraday]

While i will agree with what others have said here in regards to getting the results you want with pretty much any shock brand. From my experience penskes have been far more durable and trouble free for us. And second to them would be afco and then ohlins. Integras were great from a perfomance standpoint but seemed like we could hardly make it through a couple of nights of racing without something being wrong.

I didnt get any time with Integras, they came along as we were selling out to QA1. Your right, if the shocks won't hold up then it doesn't matter if they were perfect on the dyno.

[Matt49]

I voted but as long as we're adding commentary, I'll add mine.
We started on Afco stuff years ago and they were just fine. We didn't know what we were doing anyway so...
When we upgraded to Ohlins we were very happy with feel of the car and we had a shock guy that could really help us out.
As mentioned a million times, having a relationship with a shock guy is pretty important.
Our shock guy went to work for a team in our area and was somewhat monopolized by them so we went to Genesis. Loved the shocks' range of adjustability and the service was always great but I just never got the "feel" I wanted out of them. We went back to the Ohlins and felt better with what we had even though we lacked support.
Been on Penske the last two seasons (limited schedules in both) and can't complain at all. They called several times while they were building to get specifics on our setup, travels, etc. They are the best I've ever felt when the track has some holes on entry. It just never seems to upset the car. In the slick, also very good but we struggled personally with side bite but not the shocks' fault. Since the RR shock doesn't have as much range on the compression adjustment (something we went to quite a bit on the Ohlins) we've simply had to find different ways to get side bite in the slick that we used to find unnecessary.

[ZERO25]

you have to have a knowledgeable shock builder that you can communicate with , ill take any of the ones listed , as long as jerry link is working on them...jmo....

True story about Jerry. He built us a special lr so we wouldn't need a lrf. It worked very well and we had very good luck with it. The next year we dropped down a class and had to run a conventional shock with no external adjusters. Because we had bought a Rocket and he was a Genesis dealer, he made us a very good deal to use Genesis. So I sent them my lr from jerry and told them to copy it. Mike from Genesis called me and asked where I got the shock from because he said he had NEVER seen anything like it. Of course, I didn't tell him, but it just goes to show ya that, some people are just a little smarter than the others!

[Krooser]

You guys are going to have a big laugh but I bought 11 shocks from a guy on FB for $80.00... ten afco's and one Pro... all twin tube.

I took them to one of the local guys that builds A mod chassis and manufacturers a bunch of suspension parts for dirt mods and pavement late models. They have a young guy that does their shocks and he seems pretty knowledgeable.

I had him go thru what I had... three were the older style Afcos that he couldn't get parts for so he set those aside. He rebuilt and revalved all the rest to suit my needs and even did a "special" setup for the single adjustable lrf shock.

I brought him a couple QA1's to redo, too.

So I have about $320 invested in 10 shocks. I must have gotten the senior discount. Anyway I figure they will be a good place to start and will help put one more car on the track... yuk it up kids.

[Jking24]

You guys are going to have a big laugh but I bought 11 shocks from a guy on FB for $80.00... ten afco's and one Pro... all twin tube. I took them to one of the local guys that builds A mod chassis and manufacturers a bunch of suspension parts for dirt mods and pavement late models. They have a young guy that does their shocks and he seems pretty knowledgeable. I had him go thru what I had... three were the older style Afcos that he couldn't get parts for so he set those aside. He rebuilt and revalved all the rest to suit my needs and even did a "special" setup for the single adjustable lrf shock. I brought him a couple QA1's to redo, too.So I have about $320 invested in 10 shocks. I must have gotten the senior discount. Anyway I figure they will be a good place to start and will help put one more car on the track... yuk it up kids.

Nothing wrong with a good twin tube and as far as feel the best stuff I've ever been on was twin tubes. The gas shocks clearly have their advantages but nothing beats the feel you get from twin tubes

[fastford]

True story about Jerry. He built us a special lr so we wouldn't need a lrf. It worked very well and we had very good luck with it. The next year we dropped down a class and had to run a conventional shock with no external adjusters. Because we had bought a Rocket and he was a Genesis dealer, he made us a very good deal to use Genesis. So I sent them my lr from jerry and told them to copy it. Mike from Genesis called me and asked where I got the shock from because he said he had NEVER seen anything like it. Of course, I didn't tell him, but it just goes to show ya that, some people are just a little smarter than the others!

thing about jerry is , he is very soft spoken , if you approach him as a know it all , he want help you very much , which im the same way , but if you are knowledgeable to accurately give him the info he needs , then IMO , he is the best on any shock.........also im glad he made it to a company big as afco , down side is he is harder to get in touch with , but that is to be expected.......

[ZERO25]

You guys are going to have a big laugh but I bought 11 shocks from a guy on FB for $80.00... ten afco's and one Pro... all twin tube.

I took them to one of the local guys that builds A mod chassis and manufacturers a bunch of suspension parts for dirt mods and pavement late models. They have a young guy that does their shocks and he seems pretty knowledgeable.

I had him go thru what I had... three were the older style Afcos that he couldn't get parts for so he set those aside. He rebuilt and revalved all the rest to suit my needs and even did a "special" setup for the single adjustable lrf shock.

I brought him a couple QA1's to redo, too.

So I have about $320 invested in 10 shocks. I must have gotten the senior discount. Anyway I figure they will be a good place to start and will help put one more car on the track... yuk it up kids.

You old buzzard.....wont be going fast enough to know the difference!.......jk,jk

[Krooser]

You old buzzard.....wont be going fast enough to know the difference!.......jk,jk

As long as it's faster than my mobility scooter I'll be ok....

[r.paradise06]

Thanks everyone for the responses and opinions. Sounds pretty clear that my first step is to get a shock guy!

[hucktyson]

Beware there are a lot of snake oil salesman out there. There is no magic, the only way a shock guy is going to make you faster is if your car is currently doing something wrong that can be corrected with shocks. And just because it corrects that issue on that track in that condition doesn’t mean the car won’t be worse on other tracks in other conditions ...

[Matt49]

Some truth to what huck says BUT...about 9 out of 10 "shock guys" have a very good understanding of general vehicle dynamics. So there is a wealth of knowledge there that goes way beyond just the shocks.

[grt74]

jerry is top notch

[powerslide]

Matt mentioned trying genesis but never getting a feel he liked. Who is the best for genesis stuff? I've got a LR thats leaking need to send off. Looked on the website and dealers aren't listed.