SSilver Bullet

What I would like is to have a lowered car that can still cut 1.7 or 1.6 60' on a drag radial. I'm going strano springs but I would also like to have a shock that is adjustable; I want to be able to adjust it at the track to hook up, then adjust to for the street when I leave. NOT a drag race shock and NOT a handling shock, kind of in between to where I can adjust it to either side of the spectrum. Any recommendations?

I already have LCR relocation brackets and a torque arm.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

the 2 main options that come to mind are:

Koni gen 4 rears
QA1 generation "F" adjustable rears

the Koni gen 4's will allow you to adjust them while they are still attached to the car (the gen 3's have to be removed to adjust them). the QA1's i believe should also be able to be adjusted while they are on the car.

both of these are good sets of shocks, it just depends what your core focus is.

the Koni's are going to lean more toward handling performance (although some have been known to cut some pretty decent 60' times on them), and the QA1's are going to lean more toward drag performance.

whichever you choose, stay with the same brand for the fronts also, don't mix-n-match.

see Sam Strano for the Koni's. period.
UMI Performance has the QA1's, although i didn't really look around to see if they were the least expensive. even if they're not, i would still buy from them anyway....i've bought multiple items from them, and they're a great company to deal with, and have awesome customer service.

SSilver Bullet

If the Koni's can be adjusted for both handling and drag I'll go with them. Anyone else think I should go with Koni? I would also prefer a shock that has an almost "stock" feel for a DD application. I like to go to the drag strip and the circle track accasionally. I do like how you can adjust Koni's on the car.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

Koni's should give you way better than "stock" feel. i have some, but haven't put them on just yet.....but from what i've heard others say, they will firm things up (in a good way), just not to the point where it's bone-jarring.

JD_AMG

You can adjust the front to soft and rear to hard for drag racing, and vise versa for handling. Even when set up for firm handling the car will ride better than stock. You know some of those big bumps that the rear end thumps on? Yeah, you will forget all about that with the Konis. Easily the best mod I could've done to my car.

edit: just noticed you have revalved bilstiens, (depending on how their valved) the ride and handling should be similar.

chrismorales75

You can't get both from these shocks, in the rear you can run a single adjustable shock 10/10 20/20 30/30 40/40 50/50 and so on but in the front if you want to be able to use the shock and have it work correctly I would go with a double adjustable front shock for two reasons.

1. A drag type front shock is always set to allow the car to lift fast and easily.

2. A single adjustable general "f" type shock will not work well with drag racing because the car will lift fast but will not have the valving to hold the car up and if you hit the brakes with the shock setup to a "loose" setting it will have basically no resistance to stop it from going down and you'll bottom out your car, needless to say it isn't safe.

With a double adjustable shock you can tune the shock to handle and corner well or work specifically for drag racing.

Biggest draw back will be running a spring that will be good for both applications because they require two opposite types of springs, soft vs stiff.

My suggestion that will work best for both worlds, run a double adjustable up front shock, single adjustable in the rear and stock type or lowering springs.

At least this way you can set the shocks to work with the springs and get the front to lift quick and hold the weight of the front.

You'll "never" get a car with drag specific springs to hang a tight corner, but you can get a car thats lowered or has stiffer springs to at least leave descent.

Just my opinion though...

RedRyder518

iTrader: (2)

I know this thread is a bit old, but I think I'm having the same problem as far as what suspension to go with. I'm planning out my car as within a while, it will hopefully be at about 650 rwhp so I need something that will be great at the track, but it will also be a semi-daily driver so street manners are a must. I'm willing to spend the cash on some Konis if that is the consensus. Right now I have Bilstein HDs and an Eibach Pro-Kit, BMR adjustable TA, adjustable PHR, SFC, and LCA relocation brackets.

bad6as

iTrader: (17)

you cant get a car set up for drag racing to turn well at all. but you can get a car set up to turn to hook

RedRyder518

iTrader: (2)

I know what you mean, and maybe I should of also said that I don't do any sort of road racing, just drag racing, but I also don't want a car that is a piece of crap on the streets.

bad6as

iTrader: (17)

i would think qa1 then

RedRyder518

iTrader: (2)

I dunno, I've heard these suck pretty bad for a DD...

bad6as

iTrader: (17)

cant have it all.

firebird6786

get a set of konis, sam strano springs, 35mm/21mm sway bars, SFC,STB, TQ ARM, street slicks say17x11 rims for the back, stick some 315 tires on their. yes it is a set up for taking turns, BUT if you r going drag race at the track disconnect the front swaybar(10min ordeal) adjust the shocks to full soft. i believe u could trap a 1.6-1.8 in 60FT times. the problem with a drag setup on the street it gets annoying swaying up and down and some what of a feeling like ur launching the car every time u step on the gas.

BubaGumpShrimp

iTrader: (1)

i have the qa1's all around and no you dont get the swaying up and down like your launching the car every time you step on the gas, it can be made firm enough not to do that but i will say they do suck *** going over bumps and dips in the road. Thats when you feal the annoying swaying up and down and you will feal like your in a mixer as the car basically gets tossed around to where ever it wants to go untill it finally settles down. I cant wait till i get some strano stuff and koni's so i can actually see what everone is talking about. I too wanted the drag/street set up and i mostly drive on the street here in shitty nj with crap roads from all the trucks. Took me a while to figure out why the car drives like crap and after reading responses like in this post i know why. If your dead set on qa1's (which i might add are a great launching shock) i will be taking mine out soon. Might want to send me a pm if you want to buy them/trade for them.

DGageSS

iTrader: (9)

konis

RedRyder518

iTrader: (2)

Well, I ordered a set of 4/4 Konis last week. They should be here this week sometime (hopefully today!) and probably be put on this Saturday. I'll let you all know how they turn out, but I'm quite sure you already know they will be badass.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Guys--

I have a number of customers on my springs and Koni's running in the 1.6 range with drag radials on a well prepped track. And I have one customer on stock springs that pulled a 1.50 on Koni's (faster than on his drag shocks he had before).

I wouldn't consider a 1.6-1.7 60' car a "drag setup", as it can be done fairly easily. Then again, there are cars with suspensions that are much more drag oriented that can't cut a 1.9 to save their lives, be it from poor track prep, poor tires, or poor driving.

And what's more, if you feel you need DA's, Koni makes those too. But I don't usually use or recommend them as they are generally overkill for most uses. Hell, I *own* a set, and yet I run SA's on my car.

And fwiw, with my setup which is not in anyway geared to launching, I can pull 1.9 60's on completely unprepared surfaces with no burnout on my much stiffer than drag radial Hoosier A6 autocross tires. I have stock gears and a 6-speed. I could do better with deeper gears and/or better tires too, let alone a surface that has VHT down and the ability to heat up drad radials.

A few of the earlier posts were correct when they indicated that drag cars don't turn, but handling cars can leave pretty damned well. So it depends on what you want. And you can do some things that don't damage handling, but can help the launching when you need it too.

Every part under a car has a job, and no part only effects one thing. The trick is to understand how the parts work, how they interact with each other, and what you need done.