Coilover ride quality?

[We Gone]

Question for you coil Over guys regarding spring rates? Been doing searches for a few days and found no good answer.

Been considering going to them so I can lower one to one and a half inches (lose the 4x4 look). I have lowered C4's in the past with the long bolt rear and cut rubbers front, while it looked great I did not like the effect on the ride and would not do this to my ZR-1. I see most use 425/275. Does lowering change this rate? if so would I need to go with a lower spring rate?
I do not want to lose the ride I have now would like a rate that will maintain the stock ride or no stiffer than a 96 Z51 (have a 96 LT4/Z51 and its not to bad at all) when ride control is set to performance. car will only be used for lots of road trips. tell me your thoughts on how the ride changed if any and what rates you went with. And yes I'm getting to old to bounce my kidneys all day ..LOL

Thanks Steve

[secondchance]

I'm thinking of coil-over conversion and also interested in feedbacks.

[XfireZ51]

My 84 Xfire was an original Z51. I like a taut German ride to my cars. So my ZR has 425/300 w Moracca valving for the Bilsteins. Also drive mostly in SPORT unless my wife is in the car. I switch down to Touring with a less than perfect road. It corners very flat w little to no body roll. I haven't tested the limits. The 12" Nittos in back really plant the rear.

[rkreigh]

in general I feel the stock springs deliver a much better ride than coil overs. I went with the 425 front and 275 rear and yes lowing the car down does stiffen that up a bit

I also have 19" runcraps which makes the ride MUCH worse. when I switch over to the 17" amolds with sumis on there the ride is actually pretty decent but still "firmer and more jarring" than stock.

handing improvement is good, car tracks tighter around bumpy corners but is still to skitish in comparison to my c5 with coil overs which rides like a cadillac in comparison.

I'd like to hear more about the van steel qa1 combo as the shocks might be setup better and I like the rear mount very much as it stiffens the mounting point and changes the shock angle.

yun,

we can do a ride anytime you like. I'll likely have the LSV out at Katie's on Sat. but the best thing is to ride in the car with the amolds mounted. I have an old set of hoosiers that haven't seen enough drag strip time and need to be "used up" I'll likely mount those up soon as I need to clean the wheels for carlisle coming up!

like to hear feedback from other coil over ZR-1 guys, frankly I'm a bit disappointed in my setup and it needs some fine tuning!

part of tha is that the C5 rides SO much better with the pfadt coil overs. much of this of course is the stiffer chassis and improvements, but I want to come closer to the great handling and relatively cushy ride the c5 z06 has.

step one for me is LOSE the runcraps.

the F1 (f@#$%ing 1) EMT (expesive malfunctioning tire)

[JimZRyd]

Originally Posted by rkreigh

part of tha is that the C5 rides SO much better with the pfadt coil overs. much of this of course is the stiffer chassis and improvements, but I want to come closer to the great handling and relatively cushy ride the c5 z06 has.

step one for me is LOSE the runcraps.

the F1 (f@#$%ing 1) EMT (expesive malfunctioning tire)

I agree! I want to get my 94Z close to what I had in my C5. On that car I had the Pfadt C/O's with thicker sways and a thicker tunnel plate, after I switched out the runcraps for a good set of rubber the car rode like a dream! Smooth but planted. I'm really interested in the QA1 setup as well.

[Bob G]

I hated my coil overs made the car feel like a bucking bronco .I also tried lowering it with bolts & cutting robbers on front spring did not like that either It seams that lowering the car puts the control arms & or the shocks in a bad position that makes them not operate as intended
Bob G

[We Gone]

First thanks for the input so far.

Bob G, This is exactly what I want to avoid.

Originally Posted by Bob G

I hated my coil overs made the car feel like a bucking bronco .

rkreigh, I have read your posts on issues with coil-overs. We have met a few times over the years at SGC. Its looking like I may need to find another alternative to lowering. I can live with the front ride level so if I just do longer bolts to the rear to drop 1 inch, how will this effect the suspension geometry?

Reply from DRM

quote:
Thanks for the email,
For more of a softer ride we would have to drop the spring rates about 50 pounds all around. The problem with lowering the car down and using soft springs the shocks or car may bottom out frequently and cause a extremely harsh ride during that condition. At 3/4 to a 1 inch you will be ok running the softer springs. Lower then that extreme care will be needed not to hit pot holes and etc.

--
Randy Rippie
Doug Rippie Motorsports
412 Pacific Ave
Waverly, MN 55390
763-658-6109

[rkreigh]

I'm also going to try raising the ride height up a bit.

my c5 is "slammed" and it's so low the front spoiler scrapes all the time.

the zr-1 is not so low that I'm bottoming out, but if he helps with the shock travel and making the car less "boaty" over bumps, it would be worth it.

I also tried the DRM camber brackets, to be honest they made the problem worse.

bottom line, I think the c4 suspension is actually "pretty good" out of the box and coil overs are more for balls out racing and not so great on the street.

many will disagree of course, but the c5 was much more responsive and worked better with coil overs.

I've even considered switching back, but it's a big hassle putting the stock stuff back in and I'm going to play with tuning what I have a bit more before I throw in the towel.

[ZZZZZR1]

Tough call

I had my coil overs professionally installed and
when it was done I wasn't that impressed. I thought
the ride was harsh....

Took me a few months to get used to it and now
very happy with it. I did keep the FX3 shocks but
I don't have Moroccan valving. Thinking about
adding that but roads here suck!!


Just got back from almost 1k miles going to Canada
and back... LOVE THE COIL OVERS!! Many twistys
thru PA and with good tires, PERMAGRIN!

Yun. Your welcome to drive mine



David

[secondchance]

Ron, David,

Thanks for your offers - I'll take you up on it! Interested in variation if any.