What is the best and most affordable shock/spring setup for the 1st gen 400 that would give me the ride, handling, smoothness and comfort of the stock setup?

As you may have guessed, I'm only asking because I obviously don't have a trunk-load of $$$ to blow at the stealership. I had narrowed the shocks down to either Monroe SensaTracs or KYB GR2s. I haven't even looked at springs yet, because I'm afraid a stock match will create even bigger wheel well gaps than I have now. So I was hoping to find some type of lowering springs.

ALSO - I've read posts talking about coilovers. I'm a bit ignorant on this, so please help me out. But does the SC use a coilover setup or are the shocks and springs independant of one another? If it's the later, how can you use a coilover setup on a car that wasn't designed for one?

Thanks.

 

If you check out my signature for the SC400 link, that suspension is very very smooth on the road and gave me a sexy drop. Sadly some of the roads here in Yuma are torn to hell so its a slight bit choppier, but well worth it.

 

+1 with DasBach. I run tokico blues/hp shocks with tanabe nf springs and the ride is quite comfy and the drop is nice (about a 1inch drop). Just don't expect the performance of a hardcore coil over setup.

 

Just enough to get the car down to the right height, and go over the bumps nice and smooth.