Sooner or later, somthings gotta give. This somthing happens to be the rear suspension on my '85 Cutlass Supreme. Its not totally shot, but I can definetly tell its going to come. Now the question is what to do? I have bin told to replace the suspension with air bags, but I myself lean more towards the muscle car other then the pimp mobile (not sure if thats one word). I figure I should go to a GM dealer and get matching coil springs for the rear, and then throw on the newest from monroe shocks. Any ideas or comments?


-->Also just ordered 2 flowmaster Super 40 mufflers!

We are not mind readers. You must be more specific?


Not a fix for anything I know about.


First step in solving a problem, is to define it. The more accurate the definition, the closer you will be to the solution.

Norm

The driver side rear shock is bleeding, the springs are old and she's leaning on the driver side.

Going by the information given:


Replace both shock absorbers.


Not part of the problem.


See what it looks like after you change the shocks.

Norm

Any preferences on brand? Any insight into quality and design for shock absorbers?

Any good quality shock should do the trick. I prefer Monroe SensaTrak, but there are many other good ones out there.

Andrew

Any OEM quality replacement. Except for my Coupes, I use whatever my supplier has on his shelf.


Hard to improve on a part that was engineered as part of the original chassis. If the suspension is modified, or the car will be used for a different (racing?) purpose, a different design might be needed. At that point, one would pick a design to fit the new application.

Should have mentioned this before. If you can use a floor jack to lift the rear at the differential, you can check the front for a sag on one side. If so, you could have a broken spring on the low side.

Norm

Im pretty certain the sag is in the rear.

And I gave you a simple way to to verify it.

I just put new Monroe Sensa Trak shocks/stuts in my Olds, they helped the ride and control of the car though they were the most $$$$$ but it was worth it. My old shocks/struts were bad like yours seem to be and it made the car ride like a different car.

Hi 85cieraholiday, all,

New cheapos would have had the same effect.

Nothing against any brand. I just don't know that any one is that much better than the next.

Regards, Norm

I know that any new shock/strut would have made a difference in ride quality but I did some digging around and found that these seem to be well likes products. I was also looking for a soft ride shock/strut. I already knew that these were the model shock/strut I wanted but I asked the local parts store the question of which model would provide the softest ride (I know they guy who works there personaly so I know that the choice wasnt based on making money etc) and he said the Sensa Trak would be the best choice.

However I am about a picky with my Oldsmobile as can be so even the slightest difference in ride quality can make all the difference and since the Olds isnt a daily driver but a weekend cruiser I wanted to make sure that I got exactly the effect I wanted in order to keep the car enjoyable.

What is important is we need to know what this car will be used for. I took into consideration the fact that my car is being keptm stock so I used a part that I feel mirrored the original model yet improved on it with superior ride quality. If this car is going to be used for preformance a different product may be in order.

For the present time, the car is a daily driver for 3 seasons, so anything that closly replaces or improves the original set. High performance is not an issue at the moment, but possibly in the future.

85cieraholiday: Good post.

Norm

I don't mind if someone shoots this down or contradicts me, as I'm not an expert with these cars, this is just my experience.

Since you said perfomance could become a later issue, consider Sport adjustable shocks. KYB makes them (don't know about for your car sorry..) as well as Tokico. I just put tokico sport adjustables on my 85 pontiac 350'd firebird, and I love them to death. Set them to road or track settings, 1-5, adn they work great. 3 is fine for daily driving, 4 is a bit more tight, and what i prefer, but look into it. Tokico runs rather expensive though, so ya know. just my cents.