Bilstein vs Edelbrock vs Gabriel VST

[GJarrett]

NOTE: This poll for street applications; offroad is another subject and those of us offroaders have our own favorites. This is for the streeters who may be interested in a fair opinion.

I keep reading "what's the best shock" threads and the same brands seem to consistently show up. I cannot remember direct comparisons though. Obviously all three are good shocks and you won't go wrong with any of them, but I wonder how many of us have the experience to directly compare any of them.

PLEASE READ THE POLL OPTIONS VERY CAREFULLY. Most of us will not be able to vote. I'd like informed experience only from the following Explorers:

Those who have experience with two or all three of these on an Explorer and so can offer realworld experience as to which may be the best.

I know I could add other brands, but the Bilstein vs Edelbrock debate seems to be the primary one, and many of us have discovered the cheapo dual-valve dampening Gabriels are comparable to the similarly designed Edelbrocks, so that's why I limited it to these three.

If you feel a need to define "best" with your vote, please reply to this thread. For example, I voted that Gabriel VST is better than an Edelbrock, but believe there's not that much difference in their feel and performance. However, the Gabriels have held up much better to offroad abuse than the Edelbrocks and so I assume they will outlast them on the street too, so my definition of "best" in this comparison was longevity, not feel. Please keep your comparison shock vs shock only, don't vote on basis of value for price, in which case the Gabriel would probably win hands down. I'm interested in how good the shock itself is.

 

[Alec]

While I've never had both on my truck, I have tested the Edelbrocks vs. the VSTs. When I was stock, a friend of mine had an X that was exactly the same except for the fact that he had an XLT. The Edelbrocks in his and VSTs in mine rode very similarly.

Hands down, you can't beat the VSTs for the price, and they work much better than the Edels offroad.

From what I see, the Bilsteins are better for a lowered application, and they're ok offroad. The Gabriels are very good all-around, and the Edelbrocks are generally not as good offroad or as the Bilsteins in a lowered app.