Suspension Help---willing To Spend $$$ Then Give Feedback

[myk02k]

I'm tired of having squeaky ass dead shocks so I'm looking to replace them. Further, I have a nail in one of my bald tires and I want SFC's to stiffen up the ride.

Here's the specs of my car: K&N FIPK, Hooker CB Exhaust, Jasper performance trans. My trans I guess ripped apart the back tires through shifting pretty quickly, because the rears have a lot of wear on the center tread compared to the rest of the tire. I currently have 16" firebird chrome rims and still have the stockers on the side of the house and I'm thinking of going to 18" rims (anyone know the difference in treadwear from 16" to 18"?). With that, I can lower my car just a bit because I want to get rid of the 4x4 look but without having to worry about scraping my Y3F body kit, so I guess lowering it w/ 18" rims will keep stock height.

Please give me any suggestions what to upgrade along with SFC's, new tires, and shocks (what type?) with respect to a college student's income. I have about $800 in the bank right now and I'm going to save up enough and get all this done in one shot. If you know of good coil-overs then tell me too. Air-bags are a possibility as well as long as they aren't too much so I can play with the height without having to work on the car.

[myk02k]

Oh yea, and legal height would be nice. Specific brand names would be nice and a complete list of what you would do.

[Hurley711]

Bilstein HD shocks from Sam Strano Auto...best mod for my DD to date. BMR SFC and LCA, stiffer FSB, 32mm or 35mm

[myk02k]

Fsb?

[Hurley711]

Front Sway Bar

[sunsetorangess]

I noticed more of a diff after my stb over my sfc instail but i went with bmr sfc and so far so good.
J

[myk02k]

panhard rod a good mod? what does the AF lca's do?

[myk02k]

What I'm thinking of doing is going off to the track before the tires & suspension, see what i run, them come back after the tires & suspension upgrade because I'd like to think it did something for me

[myk02k]

how would the 18" wheels change my 1/4 mile??? my guess is negatively effect my 0-60 and maybe 0-100 but increase the 1/4 mi. a little bit but not much.

[Eugenio_SS]

I wouldn't go air-bag approach nor coil-overs... not only are they $$$, but will not necessarily meet your needs.
apart from your SFCs, wheels + tires, I'd just get a BIG front swaybar, keep rear stock one, and deal with springs/shocks.
springs/shocks can get quite expensive depending on what you want.
From what you said, the budget is still limited and have to spend the $ wisely.
Having said that, if you are able to live w/ a 3/4" drop, you can save money on getting great shocks such as Koni SA in the front and some Bilstein in the rear.
The Koni SA will allow you to drop the car height by 3/4" because it has 2 perch locations. For the rear, replacing the rear spring isolator by heater hose on the first coil will lower the car by the same amount.
The shocks are a bit more expensive than standard shocks, but still cost less than a standard spring/shock setup, while giving you a MUCH better handling/confort ride... and costing you a bit less. It still lowers the car, but by 3/4", which is a good stance in my humble opinion.

[myk02k]

So far indefinitely:
18"-9.5 rims or 18"-9.5 rear 17"-8.5 front (2nd option give better handling?)
Possibly Vredstein tires on those
2-point weld-in sub-frame connectors

I've ruled out coil-overs because of the cost. I don't want to spend over $2000 at all.

I think for lowering my car, I'm going to go with Granatelli's lowering springs. I've heard good things about them from a friend that has them. What shocks would be good w/ these springs? What kind of drop could I expect with those rims and lowering springs? Again, I'm not interested in lowering but closing up those damn wheel-wells so I don't look like a 4x4 anymore.

Possibly bigger front sway bar - 2 votes
strut tower brace

any use for LCA's, LCA rel. brackets, panhard rod, or upper panhard rod?

Also, PLEASE tell me what would be going over my head for a 19 year old with a Camaro running mid 13's. My intent isn't making my Camaro significantly faster than it is right now due to gas prices and Ford loving police. I'm not doing any internals on this, just bolt-ons (unless I find a magic cam that won't kill MPG)

[Eugenio_SS]

So far indefinitely:
18"-9.5 rims or 18"-9.5 rear 17"-8.5 front (2nd option give better handling?)
Possibly Vredstein tires on those
2-point weld-in sub-frame connectors

I've ruled out coil-overs because of the cost. I don't want to spend over $2000 at all.

I think for lowering my car, I'm going to go with Granatelli's lowering springs. I've heard good things about them from a friend that has them. What shocks would be good w/ these springs? What kind of drop could I expect with those rims and lowering springs? Again, I'm not interested in lowering but closing up those damn wheel-wells so I don't look like a 4x4 anymore.

Possibly bigger front sway bar - 2 votes
strut tower brace

any use for LCA's, LCA rel. brackets, panhard rod, or upper panhard rod?

Also, PLEASE tell me what would be going over my head for a 19 year old with a Camaro running mid 13's. My intent isn't making my Camaro significantly faster than it is right now due to gas prices and Ford loving police. I'm not doing any internals on this, just bolt-ons (unless I find a magic cam that won't kill MPG)
for handling, go wide in the front... stay with at least same width in the front... I'd go w/ 4x 18x9.5
Also, for the STB, keep your $... it's a cosmetic piece, not a handling/performance piece.
For now, you don't need to spend any $ on LCA/PHR... the stock one are more than enough for great handling... if you do, stay away from polyurethane unless you want the car to becaome a pure dragster and sacrifice handling.
The Granelatti's springs are fairly stiff and very progressive... and since you're not into too much of a drop, I'd go w/ the 3/4" drop and save the $... while getting great shocks.
For speed, there is alawys nitrous to get you there... a 100-shot would do the trick @ track.

[myk02k]

I just did some measurements, and if I were to get bigger rims, the only tires recommended are the exact wheel height as what I've got right now. Sooo getting bigger rims won't raise my car to lower it and get rid of the wheel-well gap?

[Eugenio_SS]

to get rid of the gap, you need to lower the car... not get bigger wheels.
you can do so by getting lowering springs (pretty much any spring will do that), or shocks that have multiple perch locations, such as the Koni's SA... that's for the front.
The rear, either lowering springs or hose-mod.

[wesTXwitesnake05]

Check out ebay for KYB AGX 8-way adjustible shocks and struts, i got mine for $304.00 shipped to my door. As far as suspension, BMR has the best boxed SFC's in my opinion. I got my adjustible Lower Control Arms, adj. panhard, and Strut tower brace from UMI performance for a good price. and the most expinsive part was the $450 spohn torque arm, but it was worth it.

[myk02k]

OK, no more hesitation. I need to buy a pair of shocks by Wednesday since I already have my NGK Iridium plugs, Granatelli wires, and the SFC's are on the way. I think I'll wait on the FSB unless I find a good deal and get some time to measure mine before purchasing.

If I get Koni adjustable shocks and lower my car say 1/2 an inch, would that need an adjustable panhard rod or lowering springs??? Any shock advice I'm listening. From what I've heard is Koni is the best to go and Eibach is right behind. KYB is a so-so and HAL is for drag racing.

Eugenio, what's this hose mod? Gotta link? Why miss-match shocks? I'd expect a weird ride having 2 different sets of shocks. I like the idea of just a 3/4 in. drop and hopefully it won't cause me to destroy my body kit. All I want is those wheel-wells to have an even gap all around rather than huge at the top...

[mrr23]

the hose mod is where you remove the rubber isolator from the top of the rear springs. it's about 3/4" thick. then you get a piece of 5/8" garden hose and put back in place of the isolator, so you don't get and noises from the spring rubbing the body of the car.

an adjustable panhard rod is a good idea regardless if the car is lowered or not.

[myk02k]

what's the diff. of single adjustable and double adjustable shocks?

[myk02k]

:cuss: Koni SA's are expensive!!!!!!!

828 all around compared to 409 for KYB AGX shocks

i need some input whether this jump is really worth it.

[Eugenio_SS]

you get what you pay for... KYB suck for handling/car control... pretty much a purely drag setup shock... with no damping control.
Anyways, the difference between the SA and DA is Single-Adjustable vs Double-Adjustable.
The single adjustable has 1 setting that control both rebound/compression
the double adjustable allows you to set them independently.
DA's are WAY more $, and not really worth the extra $ unless you REALLY serious about racing. I have them and love them... but if i had to redo it all over, i'd get SA with stock springs.

[wesTXwitesnake05]

you get what you pay for... KYB suck for handling/car control... pretty much a purely drag setup shock... with no damping control.
Anyways, the difference between the SA and DA is Single-Adjustable vs Double-Adjustable.
The single adjustable has 1 setting that control both rebound/compression
the double adjustable allows you to set them independently.
DA's are WAY more $, and not really worth the extra $ unless you REALLY serious about racing. I have them and love them... but if i had to redo it all over, i'd get SA with stock springs.



i'd have to agree with you about kyb's i have them on my t/a. of course i picked up way better hadling than the stock blown-out shocks, but its not what i expected on the curvy stuff. straight line performance on the other hand was a night and day difference. i set the rears on the hardest setting (8) and the fronts on one of the softer settings (3-4)...big difference in my launches, they were worth the $300 or so i payed for them

[Ratdaddy07]

O.k. so I have KYB adjustable in front but must have thrown the instructions what is the best setting for drag, what will let the front come up easiest?

[Ratdaddy07]

I guess my question is answered before I asked: put the front on the softest (lowest) setting right? But why hard on the back? seems like backwards? Maybe I'm over-thinking but seems you would want the front stiff and the back soft so the car will want to sit back.

[wesTXwitesnake05]

I guess my question is answered before I asked: put the front on the softest (lowest) setting right? But why hard on the back? seems like backwards? Maybe I'm over-thinking but seems you would want the front stiff and the back soft so the car will want to sit back.

if the shock is set soft on the rear when you launch the rear end will squat and in my case it bottomed out and resulted in an immediate loss of traction. when i set the shock on a stiffer setting [7 out of 8] the car didnt squat much at all and put more force on the rear and planted the tires, they still spun some granted they are cheap street tires, but i did gain alot more traction.

[Ratdaddy07]

O.K. I can see that, I think it all really depends on getting the weight to transfer and getting the pinion angle to be right when it hooks.

[myk02k]

SFC's and strut tower bar has arrived. Wires and plugs still sitting around. Either all around KONI SA's or just the fronts, I'm still wondering. After reading around I think shocks is the absolute #1 thing to do, no matter anything else you do (other than SFC's), and shocks sometimes make or break a car, so unless anyone has another opinion, 4 Koni's ordering this week.:mel: