Shocks

[Loochy88]

personally i wouldnt want to be around anyone playing with a spring compressor if they aren't mechanically inclined.

[T-Punk]

^what he said. The fronts are easy but can be dangerous if you dont know what you are doing. As for the rears, its a cakewalk. Oh and by the way as Bob said we have shocks all around the fronts use a short long arm style with basically a coilover shock and spring setup. If you really want to get in a debate go on a third gen board and ask which handles better the third gen MacPherson struts or the 4th gen SLA.

[V6Bob]

"but if he has 98 or newer I think he has shocks...much easier"

There's no real difference between any 4th gens. They all have shocks and they're all about the same, probably exactly the same.

Newer cars are less likely to have them rusted on badly, but, depending on where you live, 4 years is plenty of time for rust to develop.

[97burnout]

no a 93-97 maro has struts in front shocks in back... 98-02 has shocks all around... Its not that dangerous unless you don't know anything... as long as the compressor is fitted on the spring right before you compress it now big deal... they are built pretty strong

[V6Bob]

"no a 93-97 maro has struts in front shocks in back... 98-02 has shocks all around... "

Don't know what to do here without just being tiresome. But this is wrong. There were no major changes in 1998, just tweaks to the spring/shock rates. The big suspension change occured in 1993.

Before that 3rd gen fbodies had just one lower a-arm and a strut. A strut is a unit which serves both as an upper a-arm and a shock. It takes side to side suspension loads.

In 1993 when GM introduced the fourth gen, the front suspension changed. In place of a lower a-arm and a strut, the car now had double a-arms and shocks. All the side loads are handled by the a-arms, none by the shock.

The spring just happens to be over the shock. It may look like a strut, but it's just a coilover shock.

The website cited above has clear pictures of each type of suspension, showing the 3rd gens first (labeled "Macpherson strut") and the fourth gens (labeled "Coil Spring I")second.

[ March 18, 2006, 11:53 AM: Message edited by: V6Bob ]

[runtwrestlin]

It took my dad ans me a lil over 3 hours to change the rear springs. The only reason it took so freekin long was b/c we couldn't find where the top bolt was hiden. Then he had hte bright idea to lift up some of the carpet near my trunk and Wala! There was the bolt.

When we changed my rear springs out last week it took us all of 50 minutes to do that.

[FirebirdGT]

The 4th Gen F-body (93-02) DOES NOT and NEVER had STRUTS in the front!! as V6Bob and other knowledgeable people have said.

End of argument!

[97burnout]

Originally posted by V6Bob:
"no a 93-97 maro has struts in front shocks in back... 98-02 has shocks all around... "

Don't know what to do here without just being tiresome. But this is wrong. There were no major changes in 1998, just tweaks to the spring/shock rates. The big suspension change occured in 1993.

Before that 3rd gen fbodies had just one lower a-arm and a strut. A strut is a unit which serves both as an upper a-arm and a shock. It takes side to side suspension loads.

In 1993 when GM introduced the fourth gen, the front suspension changed. In place of a lower a-arm and a strut, the car now had double a-arms and shocks. All the side loads are handled by the a-arms, non by the shock.

The spring just happens to be over the shock. It may look like a strut, but it's just a coilover shock.

The website cited above has clear pictures of each type of suspension, showing the 3rd gens first (labeled "Macpherson strut") and the fourth gens (labeled "Coil Spring I")second.

uh 98 is a 4th generation, but you are right that they are the same..my 98 is the same I checked... It IS a strut. trust me.

[Nikos95]

Well I can't say anything about '98-'02s but I never heard of a coil over shock.... and my '95 has coil overs in the front, and the replacment part number is for a Mcpherson strut, and shock in the the back... Which in my case will be converted to coil over also.

[V6Bob]

Sigh. I used to be a teacher, so I seem to be unable to give up here. One last try. Go to:

http://www.carbibles.com/suspension_bible.html

and look at the picture of the McPherson strut. Note especially how the bottom of the strut bolts directly to the steering knuckle. It has to, because it replaces an upper control arm.

Or see:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?...t%20suspension

"In brief, the difference between a shock and a strut is that a shock has pivoting links on both ends, and a strut is fixed at one end. On a MacPherson strut suspension, the bottom end of the strut is fixed to the suspension upright, and the top is attached to a strut tower by a pivoting attachment point. There is a single A-Arm at the bottom of the upright, which attaches to the frame of the car."

Or see:

http://www.icarumba.com/cobrands/con...suspsteer1.asp

"McPherson strut front suspension differs considerably from unequal length A-arm suspension."

I'm done with this, I've been too stubborn as it is.

[ March 13, 2006, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: V6Bob ]

[FirebirdGT]

Originally posted by 97burnout:
uh 98 is a 4th generation, but you are right that they are the same..my 98 is the same I checked... It IS a strut. trust me.

No, you are WRONG.

[97burnout]

your kidding me right.... I just changed my shocks out this weekend... my 97 it is a strut and so is my girlfriends 98... I was wrong before... I was also wrong about my generations, my bad somehow i always was bad about my Generations... confused now... I thought starting 98 was a different generation, maybe technically they are the same... my bad... in any rate my 97 has struts

[T-Punk]

Explain to me why you say it is a strut. Give me you deffinition of what a strut is. Whatever it is it is wrong. Bob gave you detailed info about the differences but you seem to be to stuborn to read his links or to ****ing stupid to understand.

[97burnout]

hhmmm well when I search napa this comes up... funny Napa: 97 camaro strut.. a strut in this case is what the shock is called... the whole set up is a coil over suspension you are right... funny how all the fronts are called struts... Napa: struts.... Here we go, this time schucks auto parts... Schucks: struts.... a strut is not a whole set up... take a look, a strut is the shock in a coil over suspension... the coil is the "coil" in coil over suspension... If you call a parts place and ask for the front shock in a 97 camaro they are going to say "you mean the strut" and you say yeah... autozone

[V6Bob]

Just when I thought I was out.... :D

They're all wrong. 97burnout. Just look at this one website please:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?...t%20suspension

"In brief, the difference between a shock and a strut is that a shock has pivoting links on both ends, and a strut is fixed at one end. On a MacPherson strut suspension, the bottom end of the strut is fixed to the suspension upright, and the top is attached to a strut tower by a pivoting attachment point. There is a single A-Arm at the bottom of the upright, which attaches to the frame of the car."

The bottom end of a McPherson Strut bolts solidly to the steering upright and serves as an upper a-arm. The bottom end of a shock pivots on the lower a-arm. There is a separate upper a-arm.

Auto parts guys, such as the ones you cited, use the term strut incorrectly - all the time. The upper end of our coilover shocks kinda looks like a strut, so they call it that. But it's the lower end that counts and ours looks like (and is) a shock.

Abraham Lincoln "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?"

Man "Five".

Lincoln " No, four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."

[ March 17, 2006, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: V6Bob ]