TireSm0ke

iTrader: (1)

Im currently running a completely stock suspension on my 106,000 mile TA. The stock setup is terrible and im looking for a new complete setup. Im currently having these problems with my stock setup:

-Ride quality is terrible, every bump in the road jerks the car violently.
-Lots of noise, creaks, squeaks, you name it
-Car tries to follow every groove in the road
-Steering is tight but unresponsive, especially at highway speeds.

Overall im just sick of the TERRIBLE ride quality. Im looking for a setup that is smooth, not like riding in stagecoach like it is now, but I also want the car to handle much better. I know these arent luxury cars, but id like to get as smooth of a ride as I can get while still being able to take the canyons every now and then. Can someone recommend me a good setup? (Shocks, springs, sways, lcas, panhard)

2000Z28M6

iTrader: (13)

Nothing against bandwagons or our sponsors....but before anyone says strano.

The single best improvement you can do is aftermarket shocks. Konis SA are probably your best bet, dont waste your time with anything less, they are worth the money. That will make a huge difference. If you are going to swap shocks you might as well swap out springs, springs will depend on taste. I would recommend hotchkis the drop is really nice and I hear they arent that harsh. If you hear squeaks, more than likely you need new endlinks or bushings, might just need some grease. Never hurts to upgrade to poly.

I forgot the most obvious..get a good alignment man...! As far as tires following grooves, if you have the alignment done and your rack is good, get used to it, fbodys have wide tires 275s are nothing to laugh at, they will naturally do that one crappy roads.

Start with that....if you want more handling. Swaybars are next and then of course a real nice set of good rubber. Eagle F1 GS-D3 are nice!

BMR Tech2

iTrader: (5)

Hello, 2002Z28M6 is right, shocks are going to be one of your best improvements. As far as the rest of your mods go i would like you to give BMR your consideration. We have lowering springs, sway bars, control arms, k members, and a arms. We also have packages of all types. If you find parts in several different packages i can make you a custom package. Give me call if you have any questions.

dragonrage

Tramlining info.: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

And Strano just happens to have great pricing on the Koni's...... fwiw. Better, the knowledge to help you with installation details and setup information.

Every complaint you have can be helped with dampers. Every one. The sluggish reponse, the pounding impact harshness, the directional stability (though shocks can't cure a bad alignment and bigger, stiffer tires just tramline more). And the creaking, and groaning? Some of that is just due to body age and flex. But every time you slam a bump and it hurts you, that same impact was forced into the unibody as well. The shock shocks, even when new let alone with 100k+ miles on them do a lousy job of damping out impacts and that in turn makes the entire car quiver and shake.

SFC's might well be #2 on your list. But they can't do anything about the damping issues--that's the job of the shocks.

You don't NEED Koni's, they are just the best shocks around for the car. Given what you have almost anything will be markedly better. Really depends what you want for a result. I sell Tokico, KYB AGX and Bilstein as well as a few others like KW, Edelbrock and Monroe (but rarely use those). In other words, options abound, and I'd be happy to help you sort your way through them.

ThumperNC24

iTrader: (1)

consider running Koni on the stock springs using the lower perch and hose mod.

I think that might be more of what you are looking for because lowering springs might make the ride a bit harder than you want...

Siphon

iTrader: (7)

I bought UMI sfc's. They improved my ride quality a huge amount. No more sounding like the car is being torn apart on bumps. Spent around $240 on them.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

At least a 7 year old car and at 106K, I bet your suspension bushings are shot.

That would account for the violent road characteristics, noise, trammelling and sluggish steering input.

Don't get caught up in the hype to change a whole of things at once. Your best and most dollar friendly approach would be to change one thing at a time. Otherwise, you will waste a crap-load of cash on parts you don't need or does anything to fix your problem.

First order of business would be to go to your local GM dealership and order 1LE lower A-Arms. Last time I ordered them, they were $160 each and came with new lower ball joints. That should tighten up the front end considerably.

From there, I'd look at shocks. Lots of possibilities and potential. Again, don't get caught up in hype and buy something that you really don't need. Adjustable shocks are great, but if this is a daily driver and you really don't understand how a car reacts to shock changes, then you will probably never adjust them. And paying for adjustability doesn't make any sense.

The point of all this is do your homework, decide what your REAL goals are and stay focused on them

ThumperNC24

iTrader: (1)

if koni made sport non adjustable shocks, that may be more true.

You pay for koni shocks because they are the best for handling, not for the adjustability.

the blow something like bilstein out of the water for these cars.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

They are best for handling under what conditions? With an adjustable shock, there hundreds of settings to screw up the handling and just a couple that help it. One size doesn't fit all, as you've been led to believe.

In the Texas region of Camaro Mustang Challenge racing, The guy currently in second is on Konis 4/4s. The guy running away with the series this year is on 3 year old Bilstein HDs ... plain old, OTS Bilstein HDs. In my mind, the best damn, all-around shock out there.

So, I guess that blows your superior handling theory out the window.

Again, unless you know what you are doing, adjustable shocks are more of a hinderance that a benefit.

Finally, all that adjustability costs somebody somewhere something. My bet is the consumer ultimately pays for it.

dragonrage

Sorry, but that idea is absolutely idiotic. There are far too many other factors, the most important of which perhaps being the drivers themselves. Put the Stig in that second place car and I can guarantee you it would become a first place car by far.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Maybe they guy in 1st is a better driver....

Maybe the fact you are road racing in Texas on a closed course that's probably not as rough as a lot of real-world roads is a factor?

I've run both, and I have Koni's on all the cars I drive--both autox and daily. And what's more is if you ask around you'll find other that have had both, and almost without exception the preference is to Koni.

Bilstein's are durable shocks, and you can worse. But let's face it there a number of factors you aren't accounting for Mitch.

And as for 'unless you know what you are doing adjustables are useless' thinking. I guess you can make that argument. But that's why I try and explain to customers how a change in damping force will effect the car. And if they want the car to X, Y, or Z how changing the shocks can help them. So it's not like folks have to be ignorant on the adjustment. That's up to them. It ain't rocket science after all. The idea that LG used to spout that there can only be one right, which makes everything else wrong is crazy. If that was the case we'd all have the very same of everything, not have a need to tune our cars, or for that matter change anything from stock. After all, there are those at GM that put the cars into production the way they came off the line... someone felt that was "right".

And yes, Koni's cost more... But then what in life that is better doesn't cost more? You want more power? You pay for it. Want a nicer house? Costs you more. Want stickier tires? They aren't $100 each. You name it, there isn't much you'll find at a dollar store that you can't find a better version of somewhere else.

ThumperNC24

iTrader: (1)

I guess all I can say is that I have koni and I don't regret doing it for a second. It totally transformed the car in about every way possible. There is just no way to put it other than that. Steering was more responsive, ride was firm, but no longer harsh, car is much more predictable, and the car just sticks so much better. I have so much more confidence driving the car now it is unbelievable. It is hilarious to listen to the reactions I get when I take someone for a fun little ride, they can't believe the car sticks the way it does now.

I highly recommend the product to everyone. I am a koni nutswinger, but I feel it is justified, they transformed my car into what I think it should have come as.

You know what else, I can guarantee that I would be slower than the bilstein guy around a track. I have less than ~1500 miles on my six speed car (and had never driven any kind of sport manual car much before this) and I don't know how to drive it perfectly yet.

There are a million factors that go into making someone faster, and it doesn't matter how perfect a car is if you don't have the skill and practice to drive it. How do you think vettes, vipers, etc get run down by miatas on the track. You think the miata is honestly the most capable car out there?

This doesn't even start to get into how things feel vs. how fast they are. You can always just strip the car down to 3100lbs and I am sure that car will handle great, but I don't want it. The shocks don't just change the actual performance limits, they change how the car feels and the confidence transferred to the driver.

I guess you can call me a sheep, and I do agree that people should do their research before they just go buy something because one person said it was cool. I did a lot of research and talked on the phone A LOT before I bought my setup, and I couldn't be happier.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

So how many of your daily driver customers do you think pull over at the next rest stop and make a shock change?

The point is, the typical "enthusiast" here sets them and forgets them. And I bet a large majority never moved the settings they were configured in.

And by the way, those guys are a lot faster than me.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Why don't you ask them directly, if they've ever changed the settings and found something they like better?

I know on my daily driver (which is a Mustang admittedly) with stock springs I don't run my Koni's @ full soft. I didn't particularly feel the Bilstein's had enough damping for that car, and don't regret for a moment putting Koni's on that car (and it's not in anyway used for competition--hell I have winter tires for it). The point is I adjusted the shocks to a setting I liked the feel of best.

Mitch, I don't deal with or want to deal with the lowest mentality. I'll leave that to others. You are free to think that there is a perfect answer, that's fine. Damping is personal to some degree, just like your preference for food, drink, women, cars, trucks, shoes, houses.... If I am spending money on something that's a long term part, I want to be happy with the result.

You and I often disagree because we are very different in how we think. That much is clear. Don't take my word for it, you know PLENTY of folks agree with me, just like Thumper24.

Oh, and fwiw, when the shocks are first put on I often play with them to dial them in to my liking. The point that seems to elude you is that if you don't have adjustment you can't find what you like best, you are stuck with what you have. And the adjustment is not to be used everyday for the sake of adjusting. Should guys who want their cars tuned not by HPtuners because once the car is dialed in they won't use it all the time? Don't be silly.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I don't start Koni customers at the full soft out of the box setting... So right away they have used the adjustment. And again, as I stated before you seem to imply that setting them and forgetting them means the adjustment is useless..... Well, you can't SET THEM unless you can change them.

ben77

iTrader: (1)

I'd get the rear lca's and panhard replaced. My TA had about the same miles and I was having your exact same symptoms. My lca bushings were squeaking so I knew they were shot and the rear was all over the place over bumps. After replacing lca's and panhard rod, it drove like a new car.

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

Subject to where it's applied it can improve or hurt/hinder performance and/or reliability.

Whilst engine mounts and swaybar bar-to-body bushings and sway bar endlinks are great places, rear trailing arms and front lower control arms aren't very wise areas to use them. As a matter of fact, I and several others have experienced failure of the poly caster bushing on front lower control arm.

The bind that poly bushings have aren't necessarily bad, but unfortunately there's way too much marketing hype about being a "direct upgrade" from any rubber bushings in any location, and that's not always true.

flymybird

I drove for a little under a week on my new Konis with 1/2 hard in front and 1 click away from soft in the rear and I already want to adjust them to stiffer. And I'm glad I can. I like to be in control of my own destiny as opposed to have to "live" with something that was predetermined for me by the manufacturer. Also, if I decide to sell my car people will be more happy to know that I have Konis because people will know they'll be able to adjust them to their preference. It's a win/win.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

And there is the PERFECT example of why adjustable shocks are worthwhile. Well said flymybird....