ls1ya

iTrader: (2)

Bear with me this is on my cell phone. Well, los angeles has the worst streets; potholes, uneven, and dips. I feel every one of them too. Springs squeak, torque arm rattles, and car feels hard as hell. But funny on the freeway everything feels o.k., except sometime when I hit highspeed 130 + I feel a little tail wander. What can I do seriously? car is going up for 2 months while I get this figured out good. I have tightened the torque arm many times and somehow it wiggles loose. Just replaced shocks and struts a couple of months ago with monroe sensa traks, new motor,tranny, and torque arm mount. What's the deal? The cars also gonna be up so I can do the regular maintenance, mod, and paint to be ready for the first of the year. please help...

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

You don't mention what year the car is, or how many miles it has on it. Without those specifics, it's hard to make any recommendations, however new ball joints, and control arm bushings, BOTH front and rear, followed by a front end alignment, would be a good place to start.

ItsNotStock

iTrader: (24)

When installing anything it's recommended to go over the bolts again after you drive it a while as things tend to settle. Try tightening everything up again and see if the squeaks and rattles go away.

ls1ya

iTrader: (2)

Sorry guys, I was at work its a 98 z, 114k on the body, 18k on motor, dd, a4, 20in rims and tires, like I said new shock and struts, mounts, a buddy of mine said if I changed the bushing I feel more cuz it will stiffen it up

gopherit98

iTrader: (7)

prob. your rims man use the blue locktight on torque arm bolt grease everything with silicone polyeurathane

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Hello
Like you mentioned above your friend suggested looking into new bushings (yes that would help) But even if you upgrade them I would look into a set of poly bushings. They will hold up a lot better than rubber and to tell the truth I would just look into just upgrade to a complete rear suspension package eliminating all of the stamped flexible lowers and pan hard bar. Another suggestion for you check the hardware as well and make sure nothing is broken. Below is a link to show you what all UMI Performance has to offer.

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...lk3kffop0rojm2

If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will be more than glad to help.
Thanks
Brad

jmilz28

iTrader: (13)

You are not yet getting much good advice, though notstock and leadfoot are getting there. Here is some relevant advice that addresses your needs--

You have a couple of obvious issues you MUST address if you hope to have a car that doesn't ride like complete ****:
1. You have horrible shocks. (You do not have struts.) The damping ability and overall quality is barely sufficient for a bone stock, light duty application...not at all suitable for a performance application and 20" rollers. To make this car livable, maybe even nice, you need Bilsteins if you're on stock springs, and Konis if lowered (dunno how you could be with 20s).
2. Your 20" rims give you virtually no sidewall, so your shocks' lack of damping quality quite literally hits home. Going with 20s REQUIRES you give up some ride quality, regardless of shocks.

Some things we need to know more about:
What suspension parts do you have? Springs? Torque arm? PHB? LCAs? Sway bars? What front shock mounts did you use - GM or other? I suspect your 100k+ mile bushings and joints are shot, contributing to your issue.

Without really good shocks, on 20s, your car will ALWAYS ride like ****. Monroes are a well known brand, but not a quality shock. Sorry...

JD_AMG

^ X100000
Listen to this guy.
1" difference in wheels can be night and day in ride quality, especially with a bigger sidewall.
You want the best ride, with the most stability you NEED good shocks (nothing you can get over the counter at autozone) and more than likely you need to ditch the wheels for something more like 18" at the very most.

ls1ya

iTrader: (2)

Thanks jmilz28, what would I need to do exactly to keep a 20 wheel at least in the rear and have the ride quality of just say one of these modern cars with 20s yet still be able to hook up and hold the road right. I really just want to run a 20x10 or 10.5 in the rear and a 19x9.0 or 9.5 in front. I just love the way a big wheel looks in the rear

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

Good post!!

I sort of skipped over the part where the OP mentions 20s...Yikes!! Sorry UMI, but 20s, and questionable roads, will NOT be pleasant with poly bushings.

I've used poly bushings in various cars since the late 70s, when they first started seeping into the market. I live in the "snow belt", where the winters wreak havoc with the roads, and in cars with 70 and 60 series tires, poly bushings will work pretty well. My '96 Z-28 was the first car I got that had 50 series tires, and back when the car was a year or two old, I threw a complete set of poly bushings. I had done it with my other cars, so for me it was just "SOP". Short story, I took them out after 1 year...way too rough, on both me, as a rider in the car, and (IMHO) to the car's suspension attachment points....

JD_AMG

What you will need is a completely different chassis with different suspension.
Seriously though, those modern day cars were designed ground up for those bigger wheels, our cars were not by any means.
You wont ever be riding like those cars on 20s, but to improve your ride quality you would need to be on stock springs at stock height, GOOD QUALITY shocks (something like strano spec bilstiens, or possibly konis to deal with all the extra unsprung weight), as much sidewall as you can get with the right amount of tire pressure.

Personally 20s on the 4th gen look ghetto to me, a good looking 17" or 18" wheel makes all the difference in the world (and you wont be sacrificing ride, launch or handling).

jmilz28

iTrader: (13)

I agree with JDAMG. If you're hell bent on 20s, I'd stick with the stock springs and get some Konis. Having less sidewall, I'd probably stick with rubber bushings in most places except sway bar bushings. I'd box the PHB and LCAs, keeping stock bushings (though they may need to be refreshed). I might do a good torque arm with poly bushings, just make sure you do not do a tunnel mounted unit.

You can lower the car and go with 18s and get the look you want, I think. Either way, I think Konis are your best bet for shocks and will most greatly affect your ride quality.

Still need to know what parts you have on the car now, as asked in my initial post. Also need to know your goals and budget.