RyanJohn2.7

I was looking at the awe site and it states that:

"front struts have 3 extra grooves spaced 1/4" apart below the original groove. Rear shocks have one groove 1/4" above and one groove 1/4" below the original groove."

The only reason I would want grooved shocks/struts is so that in the event they settle too far for my liking I can raise them up further so that the car is not practically sitting on the ground.

I was wondering ppl's thoughts on this - I know there is some *ahem*... bitterness... over another member's experience with the grooved setup, but I think the grooves might be a nice alternative to the extra 500 for coilovers, and I would only use them to RAISE the car in the event the combo settled over time.

edit: part of what I am asking is if the adjustibility up front is to raise or lower (I just assumed lower, but I wanted to check).

Ryan

a_o_smith

i watch yourself with those...dont use the lowest setting...i think its due to damage

Kris Hansen

A better option might be the threaded collars that ECS tuning sells.. They only work on Bilstien shocks, but allow lots more fine tuning of ride height.

Ritz

I just consider struts a consumable and replace them every 50k miles or so. Given the PITA factor of taking them out (which you'd need to do to change the perch on the grooved Billsteins from AWE), I don't think I'd waste my time putting old struts back in.

On an unrelated note...

What do you think of the Outlaw 950? I was going to get one for my theatre setup as I've got a couple of extra Krell amps laying around. I haven't been able to find someone who actually has a 950 to ask about it. :-) I'd have emailed you this question, but your email isn't visible.

Cheers,

RyanJohn2.7

Now that they've lowered the price another $100 to only $699 I consider it a no-brainer. It has all the decoding options, it looks better in person than online (a nice no-nonsense industrial look), and the HD switching is awesome.

However, they also have mentioned on the website that they will be coming out with a replacement in 2005. From the hints they have given I would guess that it will not be available until the last quarter of 2005, but they HAVE stated that it will be a good step up and have balanced outputs.

back to the shocks - I thought from what I had heard that you could change the settings while they were installed, similar to coilovers.

Ryan

RyanJohn2.7

I could just leave them at the stock setting, and have them on the car in case of settling later on.

thanks,
ryan

Ritz

Cool. For $700 it seems like a real bargain. I'd been using the high end Adcom gear for theatre and haven't been too impressed (though the GFA-5800 is a great 2 channel amp if you don't like fire bottles).

As for the struts, yeah you need to take them out to adjust them. You need to compress the spring and then move the snap ring to a different groove to raise/lower it. No way you can do it without taking it apart (well, maybe with a NASA budget you could).

Shoot me an email... chrism at imntv dot com.

Cheers,