Anyone know if the 01 front springs are the same as the 00's
 

I am thinking about going back to the 00 shocks and am wondering if the front springs are the same 00-01. Changing the front shocks won't make me have to get an alignment, will it?

After reading Sal's post about his test and tune session the same kind of question entered my mind. That TV show that's on TNN did a segment on the 01' and I seem to remember them saying that the spring rating changed from the 99-00's to the 01's to improve either ride quality or handling, I don't remember which. That would be the first thing I'd investigate. And as far as needing and alignment after changing just the shocks, unless you remove the tie-rods, spindles, or springs for some reason you shouldn't NEED an alignment. However if it were me, I'd get it checked anyway. I just have a lowly 00' so I was wondering why you were considering getting rid of the Bilsteins? Is there one certain aspect about them you don't like? I'm only asking because I was considering updating my suspension to the "latest and greatest".

Springs are the same. Shocks are of course different. I think the Bilstiens may be the cause of lost traction at the strip. On the strip you need the weight to transfer to the rear. Softer compression shocks help here (99-00). The Bilstiens are much stiffer on the compression and rebound which aids in cornering, but is bad on the strip. My .02:)

NIXSVT

Frankly, I think the fronts bottom out on our lovely Michigan potholes horribly; I mean the whole damn interior gets shocked. I put 26k on the 00 I traded for the black 01 and the suspension, staightline and some cornering on the 00 was a lot better. I've pretty much decided on going back to 00 shocks all around. I wouldn't say that the Bilsteins are bad in any other conditions; I'm sure you southern and western guys just love the setup because your roads tend to be pretty good and you may not even be able to relate to the SH** us northerers have to put up with. I mean, Michigan's highway and local roads infrastructure is in a shambles. Sure, there's a lot of new road work going on; but, this only started about 4 years ago. Before that, the only good roads seemed to be new construction roads. It will take decades to rebuild the postwar road infrastructure because it went unrepaired statewide for so long.

Silver-Bolt

As for dragstrip performance, you and Sal are correct; I just can't seem to avoid loosing traction in the 60 ft area. I put 800 rpm on the fire and still have to feather the throttle so as not to spin. Feels like my old 97 Camaro SS; it was science to get that car to hook good.