86 SE question

[lhomen]

So it looks like the struts in my '86 are about done.. it's bottoming out on the left hand side under easy driving.. this car is mostly original from what I can tell.. it belonged to my stepfather until he passed in '02 and has sat for most of the time from then to now. He picked it up used in '88, so I figure the suspension is mostly stock stuff, and in need of some updating after all of these years. The car has about 115k miles on it.

My question is this, with the numerous brands of suspension equipment on the market, I figure that there are a few options on how to set this car up, what are some recomendations as far as brands that work better than others, and setups?

I'll check the steering linkages and tie rod ends when I'm under her, however what else should I be concernd with?

Thanks for any suggestions :-)

-john

['88 Dread GT]

I replaced my Shocks, struts, ball joints, and tie rods about 3 years ago on my '88 GT. Since I have the '88 there really wasn't anything to upgrade. I'd check the Fierostore.com for upgrade ideas and maybe compare those brand names prices with other places since Fierostore.com tends to be overpriced on some stuff. I bought the heavyduty KYB shocks (adjustable) for the front and KYB struts for the back. I also replaced the strut boots and mounting plates.

My '88 corners real good now! I love it! Better than my mother's '01 Supercharged Grand Prix.

There are higher performance shocks and Struts than KYB like Koni but can be real expensive. The KYB's are reasonably priced and they're better than the original ones I had. And that's on an '88 GT which was the year they finally did the suspensions on the Fiero justice.

Good luck!

=-Dread

[Old Lar]

Ball joints too Check out www.rodneydickman.com who makes lots of specialty parts for Fieros. Some suspention components for the 88 may be hard to come by.