Thx, Stuart.  This is helpful.  I'll be looking for other feedback from the
list also.
    Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart MacMillan <macmillan@home.com>
To: Bob McMain <RdRunr@ZIANET.COM>
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: Shocks: KYB vs Bilstein

>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
>