Got the Disco inspected yesterday, among the other $#!* the SLS pump is near death (water) and there's a hole in the left bag. Right now that's more $$$ than I want to deal with so I've decided to convert to springs.

I've ordered a pair of coils from Atlantic British: Rear Medium Duty - Old Man Emu / ARB #9794 ~ OME781. BTW, kudos to Dave@AB for helping with shipping!

The next thing will be the coolant hoses (swollen and cracked) and a good system flush, and (a few paychecks) after that I would like to change the shocks. I've done a bit of searching and prices seem to go from just over $200 for a set of Terrafirma or KYB shocks to almost $600 for the Bilstein, with SuperGaz at $300 & OME at about $400.

I know from my experience with motorcycles how important "good" shocks are, buuuuuuut also how the law of diminishing returns kicks in past a certain point. For 99% of riders $1200 Ohlins forks are more for bling than actual need.... So, are the Bilstein the equivalent of bling? Or are the more economical ones just a waste of money?

Back to the disco: it needs to get me to and from work when it's cold, it needs to be able to tow my bikes around, and it needs to survive a few forest roads on the occasional weekend. I'm not interested in lifting or anything fancy, just the most bang for my buck. What do you say? Thanks in advance!

 

Bilsteins are not the equivalent of Ohlins by any means. If you want to do it right get a custom valved set of fox piggy backs. Closest thing to Ohlins in the Rover world. If you want quality and price get the OME and be done. I have Ohlins on the car and bike. Had Fox's on the rover after first having TerraFirma.

 

I personally have the TF +2 inch shocks and I really like them, especially for the price! The ride is good and it has performed excellent off road paired with TF medium duty springs all round. I've also have had great experiences with Fox, and if you have the money, get yourself a set of fox piggy backs!

 

I like my terrafirma prosport shocks

 

If you are talking for a vehicle with a lift to 3"s go with the OME Sport Shock, the onlt 3 valve gas shock on the market with a 3 year warranty.
They are a great shock that will give you a good 100,000 miles of service, which maybe the Bilstein may do but the T>F. can't give you.

 

You are always knocking the terrafirma shocks. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them, except one guy that couldn't figure out how to install them and one guy that had leaking... You can find the exact same kind of comments for the OME stuff too.

Most people that have owned them seem to like them ok.

Who knows, maybe I'll change my tune in a 100k miles, but for a relatively new product I don't see how you can say that won't last long.

 

Fox piggy backs are most likely out of the question. Not that I wouldn't like them, or a 3-4 inch lift, or ARB bars front and aft... [drool!], but right now I need to focus my $$ on the parts that need fixing, or I will end up with another project vehicle with fancy parts that can't even move under it's own power...

Does anyone use KYB (Land Range Rover Discovery KYB Shock Absorber) or Super Gaz (Shock Kit Front/Rear Super Gaz - Land Rover kits from Atlantic British) shocks?

Terrafirma seem to polarize quite a bit, what's the deal with that?

I'm not really interested in a lift, it's fine if there's a well priced set of shocks and I get an inch or two. but I don't want to go beyond that since (if I understand correctly) it would put more stress on the drive train...

Thanks again for the replies!

 

There's a really wide range of Bilsteins. They go from Monroe-equivalents to rivaling Ohlins in the price tag. The Atlantic British price on Bilsteins is a complete rip-off. Those are the 4600's that sell for like $75 elsewhere. You can get four 7100's from eshocks.com for $551. Poly and eshocks have Fox 2.0's for a little more. Since you're budget is tight, I don't recommend them, but don't want you to be misled.

 

I only base my information on what gets posted on the other Rover forums I over see. There have been a number of people who have reported broken or fail TF shock and as of early this Spring and number of people has posted threads regarding replacing their TF suspension with OME's to get the sort of control they were hoping for from the TF lifts.
My feeling is that most buy, based on their threads, the TF suspensions more for the cheap price then then tried and true quality of the OME's and the RTE's.

 

My indy rover mechanic swears by the Super Gaz. He says for the money they are a great option. He says he has installed dozens of them with great results. I think Super Gaz comes from the UK...

If it were me, I would put the OME on and call it good. Nothing against any others, but why not spend a little extra in the short run and get something that's proven to last. Just my .02.