All the kit pieces that look like brass actually ARE brass. And you're right, spring shackles would never have been brass. In fact, I've painted a lot of the brass chassis pieces and crossmembers red, because on the real car pretty much every chassis and suspension part is red. But the brass parts are just so cool looking...I hate to paint them all, even though it would be more realistic. But the shackles, yeah, I think I'll unscrew 'em and paint them red too.