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Old 10-26-2009, 05:45 PM   #17 (permalink)
Kyle@STILLEN
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Bullitt,

Thank you very much for your input and I agree with everything you have said. I would love to see two way adjustable Penske's for around $2,500 maybe even $3,000.00. However, I don't know if they can physically be made for that price. When it comes to Penske shocks, cost comes second to quality in their eyes.

KW's are a fantastic coil over and we do carry them here at STILLEN and they are proven winners in some of the BMW spec racing classes, Tanner foust also won the drift championship with V3's on his car. Don't get me wrong, KW makes a very nice shock! If memory serves me correctly they even come standard on the Dodge Viper ACR. Penske is the next level up. They are race shocks that work extremely well on the street.

With that being said, there is definitely room for improvement. Whether those gains would be worth the cost would depend on the person spending the money and what they are using the car for.

Here are a few of the major differences between penske shocks and some of the other options currently available:

1) Material- Penske uses CNC machined aluminum shock bodies. This means less weight and less heat. The majority of other manufacturers are using stainless steel shock bodies which is fine and works very well but it is a little heavier, it is definitely less expensive to produce, and the steel will retain more heat than the aluminum.

2) Ease of adjustment- The KW's are not the easiest shocks in the world to adjust. One of the adjustment screws is in the bottom of the clevis which is a pain to access when trying to dial in the suspension. Penske would mount their adjustment knobs on the top of the shock shaft (inside the engine bay and cockpit same as KW) and the other adjustment screw would be mounted on the remote/piggyback reservoir. With the KW adjustment screw inside the shock clevis it can be a real pain to access quickly/easily. With the Penske's both adjustment knobs can be quickly and easily accessed and adjusted.

But, let's be honest...Most people won't adjust their shocks more than once or twice after they've been installed on their car. With our cars we constantly adjust them because they are being driven on the track and street and different tracks and what not. So for us, the ease of adjustment is a big feature but for most people it won't be a huge problem.

3) Custom Tailored- The majority of aftermarket coil overs come in a standard kit, spring rates, shim stacks, reservoir selection and so on. The Penske's would allow for more custom tailored setup which again, really only affects the die hard track guy or hard core enthusiast. We can make any changes you like with numerous choices of spring rates and things like that.

With all of that being said, Penske still needs to make a product that comes in at a price point where people are interested in buying them. It might be the best thing since sliced bread but if no one is willing to buy them, then there is no point in Penske developing them.

Thanks again for your information and please keep it coming! I will take all of it to Penske and see if we can make something work!

Last edited by Kyle@STILLEN; 10-26-2009 at 05:59 PM.
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