Suspension upgrades

[MyFirstZ]

I just ordered UMI non adjustable panhard and rear tubular control arms since they were very much needed. Bushing wise. I also need to replace the shocks and struts and it is probably time to do the springs all around as well. Eventually i am looking to move into some higher hp numbers . So take that into consideration to.

So my question is what do you guys run and how do you like them.

I am staying at factory ride height, no adjustables. But i want something to give me a tighter ride.

I do not autocross, i havent taken it to the drag. I do like to get on it around the mountains and push it on the street. Bigger sway bars will come once i can either find a deal on them or get a little extra cash.. I have poly end links for them as of now.

what kinda of struts/shocks and springs do you guys run and enjoy that you can recommend.

Where did you guy see your biggest suspension improvments?

[KirkEvil]

I saw the biggest traction improvements with sticky tires, which is kind of a forgotten part of suspension. Other than that the best bang for the buck is LCA's and LCA relocation brackets. If you are looking to cut corners through mountains, I think you should look into subframe connectors and a larger front sway bar.

As for shocks, I can only tell you to NOT buy kyb agx single 8-way adjustables; they are crap and not worth the money I spent on them. Everyone seems to swear by Koni shocks for both handling and ride quality.

Tons of Suspension Info (Ls1tech)

[JSPERFORMANCE]

Sub-frame connectors should be the FIRST upgrade to EVERY F-body in my opinion..

[MyFirstZ]

yeah i have sfc's already welded in. but i will deff take a gander at that link. thank you guys.

JS what do you usually put in everyones cars?

i have been looking at sway bars, trying to figure out what size combos to get, but for now this car is my daily driver.

[JSPERFORMANCE]

We set up every car a little different depending on how the car is used, power level, weight, etc.etc. No two cars/drivers are the same so why should the suspension be?

[chknhwk01]

Originally Posted by JSPERFORMANCE

We set up every car a little different depending on how the car is used, power level, weight, etc.etc. No two cars/drivers are the same so why should the suspension be?

oh yeah,player, j&s set my ''suspension up'''
an have no conpleats....

[Blacdout96]

No sense in putting in expensive parts if you have no intentions of expensive playing.

If your not going to be doing any serious turning, no sense in dropping in $700+ konis, when Bilsteins will do. A strut tower brace should also come into play.

[MyFirstZ]

yeah i did not want to do anything that serious. As of right now at this very moment i have . . .

a strut tower brace, Sub frame connectors, tubular LCA and panhard.

I need to do front/rear shocks, struts and springs. Along with that i want to do sway bars to. Then tires on the next set which should be early next year lol

[Blacdout96]

I have 35/25mm sway bars on my car. It's a V6. Even some V8 guys complain its too much for there cars, but I love them, even before my bilsteins/eibachs, the sway bars make it feel like it was on a rail, and very little body roll, now with the shocks and springs it barely nose dives, and it's very forgiven if you push it a little.

[creeper]

here is how my suspension has evolved:
1. stock
with 85k miles on it, it felt mushy and dull. I bought the car because I wanted to go fast in a straight line, but then realized that it's really not that cool. Then I started autox'ing and decided I wanted to do some minor suspension upgrades.
2. added 32mm front bar
really didn't make much of a difference, but it was cheap and I wanted to replace the endlinks anyway
3. poly/poly lca's
definitely helped wheel hop, made rear feel more stable, but I didn't want any bind for autox so I ditched them after a few months
4. hypercoil springs up front, slp eibach out back with no isolators, bilsteins all around
greatly improved stance, handled pretty well, I was happy for a while. couldn't launch for **** afterwards though. also on bumpy roads the car sort of darted all over.
5. poly/poly adjustable panhard bar
made the rear feel a LOT more planted around hard corners
6. lower control arm relocation brackets
helped launch, hooked a lot better, definitely worth it for drag
7. poly/rod lca's
didn't notice as much of a difference this time around, but figured they wouldn't hurt
8. weld in subframe connectors
awesome
9. edelbrock non adjustable torque arm
hard to tell if it made any difference on cheap street tires
10. swapped out rear slp eibach springs for hotchkis
around hard corners on the street if I hit a bump the rear would "hop" more than I liked, causing it to slide a bit. also the stiff rate didn't help launching, so I swapped to the softer springs
11. went to 35 solid front bar with stock 19 out back
got the front bar first, made a HUGE difference in body roll, eliminated a lot of the darting around the car did as mentioned when I did springs/shocks
12. added solid 21mm rear
made the car feel a LOT more balanced with the 35 up front, the rear was slow to follow any more
13. swapped out 35 solid for 35 hollow
no difference in performance, just lighter
14. swapped out front springs/shocks for Koni SA's, GC coilovers, 600# springs
big difference here. a lot less body roll. rode nicer. handled better.
15. swapped out rear bilsteins for 3rd gen Koni's
helped even more with stopping the rear from being unpredictable when hitting bumps around corners. the softer springs helped a lot, and the better damping of the shocks made it much nicer
16. replaced rear spring isolators
gave a nicer ride since there was actually some travel and I wasn't always slamming the bump stops, also probably helped launch since the lca/pinion angle weren't off by so much
17. sold lca's/brackets and went back to stock torque arm
really didn't notice much difference taking these off. I needed money, was sick of the rod ends making noise and needing to be replaced, and didn't want roll oversteer from the relocation brackets

[MyFirstZ]

that was just what i was looking for even though it is per driver preference.

Thank you i apprectiate the time you put into that.

Adding this thread to my favorites

[creeper]

hahah I didn't realize it was such a long post until I hit post. I think bilsteins would be great with stock springs (as they were designed for) but with high rates I wasn't impressed, which doesn't really say anything bad about the shock itself since that is not what it was meant for. I think sfc's, bilsteins, and swaybars are the best bangs for the buck for a daily/spirited driving car.

also my post is based on my opinions, others may have different results and like the feel of different setups, that's just what I found felt best

[noboundreez2345]

Over the weekend I upgraded everything you asked about. I went with slp bilsteins for shocks, and non adjustable lcas, and phb from umi. The car feels a hell of alot better. What I mean is the rearend feels planted with no more loose feeling out back. The ride in general is a whole lot better. After looking at the stock pieces you can understand why. My car is a weekend cruiser with a random trip to the strip so I wasn't looking for Konis or everything adjustable. Also, I went with bilsteins and non adjustable because I don't plan on lowering the car.

[noboundreez2345]

I should also add I have bolt on sfc's that will go on soon to finish off the suspension.

[MyFirstZ]

very nice, it was like night and day doing this, at least for me. . . . . my bushing were gone

[noboundreez2345]

yeah when i pulled off the stock shocks/phb/lcas they looked like they went thru hell and back. How did the car feel after sfc's? I'm looking foward to putting them in and seeing how the whole combo feels.

[MyFirstZ]

i never got to feel my car before the sfc 8/ i wish i could