RE: Better Ride with Better Shocks Okay, based directly on my experience with an '85 Westy and now a '90 Westy. Going from 'wrong' tires to right tires: Oh Wow!! I don't feel like I'm riding on an elephant in a mud wallow! Replacing badly worn shocks with new KYBs: Double Wow! The damn thing actually tracks on the highway! (Include a wheel alignment also) Replacing the KYBs with Bilsteins (HD, Bilstein doesn't list the Touring for the Vanagon) because replacing shocks was cheaper than replacing the fillings in my teeth, I now have a vehicle I can drive with both confidence and comfort. A friend is sure the KYB stands for "Kill Your Butt" or maybe "Keep Your Bilsteins". Neither one is perfect, you're not going to get sports car handling. If I never drove on anything but very smooth blacktop or concrete the KYBs would be fine. But on any rough surface, especially washboarded dirt roads, they are just to stiff. With the Bilsteins my Westy handles much better. There may well be a better solution (some say Koni) and I know the Syncro drivers love the OMEs but for what I do and where I drive the Bilsteins are a very good solution. YMMV |
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