I replaced my 12 year old KYB's this weekend with Bilsteins just to try
something different.  The ride is smoother, and I think the reason is
the rear shocks are not as stiff as the KYB Gas Adjusts.  For a very
unscientific test I pushed on the KYBs and Bilsteins to "feel" the
differences in resistance and rebound. The fronts were very similar in
terms of the effort required to push them down, and the rebound was
fairly rapid for both.

The rears were similar on the down stroke, but very different on the
rebound, with the KYBs rebounding MUCH slower than the Bilsteins.  This
indicates to me that the valving is different, since they are both high
pressure single tube design gas shocks.  Though it's possible my KYBs
had lost enough gas pressure to account for the slower rebound.

Bilsteins are very high quality, and the rears will really "advertise"
with their blue and yellow color in the big rear wheel well (until they
get covered in mud), but with four KYBs going for $108, you really can't
beat them at one third the cost of the Bilsteins.

--
Stuart MacMillan
Seattle

'84 Vanagon Westfalia w/2.1
'65 MGB (Daily driver since 1969)
'74 MGB GT (Restoring sloooowly)

Personal mechanic for:
'70 MGB GT (Daughter's)

Assisting on Restoration (and spending OPM):
'72 MGB GT (Was daughter's, now son's)
'64 MGB (Son's)

Stripped and gone but their parts live on:
'68 MGB, '73 MGB, '67 MGB GT