Shocks

[TomTom]

How long are the Bilstein "INEX" shocks good for ? Mine are 8 years old and was quite surprised that there still good, I thought for sure they would go bad

Are all the "INEX"  Bilsteins valved to be same for everyone " EXAMPLE 50/50" or is there a RR shock, LF shock and so on?

[djracing]

The INEX Bilstein shocks are supposed to be valved the same. If you buy a new set from 600 they should be very close to same as far as comp/reb goes

[TomTom]

Whats the stroke on them ? Don't 7 year old shocks seem like they would be junk, but mine rebound right away when you push down on them w/o a spring !

[JGRacing]

If you have a local race shop that has a shock dyno, it probably would not be a bad idea to have them checked since they are that old.  The rubber seals in them can start to go bad and change the rates.   

Either Stock Car Racing or Circle Track magazine had an article on how to build a simple at home dyno if anyone can track it down and needs a winter project.       

[VMS Motorsports]

That could also be useful for fine tuning, even though they are all "identical". Kind of like the tires, even though they are supposed to be the same, there is always a bit of fluctuation here and there

[TomTom]

How long do you guys keep your shocks ? I was on the dwarf car board & a guy said he replaces his every year!

I'll try to find a local guy with a shock dyno, I just can't believe 7 year old shocks are still good!!!

[Racinjj]

You never know what you have with shocks until you dyno them, they are all different.  The only thing you can tell by pushing them in and watching them come out is if they have good gas pressure in them.  If you are trying to tune your car you should get them dynoed.  If you could run any shock you want why would you run these???

[VMS Motorsports]

How long do you guys keep your shocks ? I was on the dwarf car board & a guy said he replaces his every year!

I'll try to find a local guy with a shock dyno, I just can't believe 7 year old shocks are still good!!!

I usually break mine in a wreck or other unfortunate incident once a year, so I never have to worry about them wearing out. Replaced both rears just the other week again, so 3 of the 4 on the car have 12 or less races on them...can't remember age of the LF, but who needs that one anyway!

[TomTom]

   I run these shocks because thats what was on the car when I bought it. They must work, the car handles good. I can run any shock I want to, but I'm not going to buy a $250-$300 shock for a trophy & $50, plus it's more fun to beat the guys that have them $300 shocks & I run $99 "INEX" specials.

[djracing]

http://www.circletrack.com/howto/82884_buildling_shock_dyno/index.html

[JGRacing]

I might have a winter build project while saving up for the new motor.  Thanks for finding the article. 

On the shocks with a dwarf  car, I would bet that you could find steel shocks in the $50 to $75 range that would at least give you the ability to make adjustments.  If a local shop does not have a dyno, you can mail them to someone and have them checked.  Once you know the rate, you can probably mix these in with a couple of aftermarket shocks to provide for some options. 

[John_Schwemler]

Personally, if I were to run a dwarf car, I would buy the adjustable style coil overs that can be found all over the place.  I'm pretty sure leading performance shock companies like QA1 AFCO and KONI have adjustable coil overs that wouldn't cost much more than the Bilsteins run on the INEX legal cars.  The advantage would be the ability to adjust compression and rebound rates to suit the car, track, and track conditions instead of buying multiple non-adjustable shocks. 

Of course an argument could be made that adjustable shocked coil overs are more expensive as well as having a  steeper learning curve for people not involved w/ adjustable shocks on a regular basis.

Just my 2 cents worth.