Re Doing suspension, what to get??
 

so over the winter i am thinking about re doing most of my suspension and i was wondering what i should think about getting. the car is a 95 z28, i mostly drive it on nice days, it goes to the drag strip a few times a year. I'm looking to improve the ride quality and handling. The streets around here are pretty bad.

So far i was thinking about rear tubular LCAs, and panhard bar

Front upper and lower tubular A arms, and QA1 shocks
(will the upper and lower A arms affect the handling on the street?)

now what i was wondering about is if i need adjustable or non adjustable? the car is stock height as well, and im really limited how much i can lower it if any.

so what do you guys think, should i think about adding anything else to that list?

Thanks

I put tubular a-arms in my car. They are pretty much made just for weight savings. And I can tell you from personal experience, they make your ride harsher. I would def. look into some sub frame connectors. Umi makes some awesome products.

i was actually looking at UMIs bolt on sub frame connectors, i would def like to pick those up to stiffen up the body.

i think the last thing i would end up doing would be the front A arms

Just my $.02 I would at least do weld in's. They are much more of a solid install for the SFC's to do their job.

If you are looking for handling and ride quality putting a non gas-charged drag shock like QA1s on your car would be the last thing you would want to do. Thats going to kill ride quality and hurt your handling if anything.
Look into gas charged sport shocks like Bilstien SLP/HDs, KYB AGX's, Koni sports etc.
Next don't bother with a PHB or LCA's and save your money on something that will actually help handling, like swaybars (preferably a balanced set like a 35mm front and a 21mm or 22mm rear, ideally not anything bigger in the rear like a 25mm.) Or some good lowering springs (preferably strano springs, not some no-name Ebay spring).
Search "handling" and you will see Sam Strano's name mentioned quite a bit for a good reason, hes won multiple national Auto-x events in his '00 Z28 with some pretty simple bold on suspension parts (Konis, strano springs, strano swaybars are the major ones).

You have bigger fish to fry (like getting good shocks, which will make the most difference out of all the suspension mods you could do), so save money to spend else where for handling mods. I just installed 3 point tubular SFC's on my car (for use as a better jacking point) and as I have experienced before I saw no performance benifit from them (actually couldn't notice any difference).
The big difference came when I installed Konis, those got rid of all the rattles, dramatically improved overall handling, grip, balance and feel while also much improving ride quality (think BMW 3/5 series). The body "feels" like its flexing because the factory shocks are valved so goofy leaving the floaty, disconnected feel and "twisting" when launching.

There really isn't any benefit for tubular front control arms for a street and occasional drag car.

I would do good shocks (ie Bilsteins, Konis) and sway bars, and inspect/replace your bushings and balljoints when you do the install. Just those alone would probably meet your goals.

right now i have decided what i am getting:

UMI LCAs and UMI subframe connectors

i have a couple of questions on those two things
first should i get adjustable lca's if i plan to lower the car eventually? or is non adjustable fine.

second should i get 2 or 3 point subframe connectors?

the car is not gonna be road raced, im just looking to make the undercarriage look better and handle a little better as well, and im hoping the lca's will help a little at the drap strip.

Despite what some say I still recommend subframe connectors first. Uni-body cars benefit greatly from subframe connectors and this modification just mainly provides a firmer platform to build your suspension from. That being said, the next improvement to make the car ride and handle better is a good set of shocks and sway bars. Either one will be a noticeable improvement in the way your car handles but a combination of the two will literally transform your car.

Beyond that, a set of lower control arms for the strip and you should be good to go. Front A-arms are mainly intended for weight loss only, I would just use that money for some of the upgrades listed above....you would be way more happier.

im gonna be doing all most of the suspension stuff over the winter so by spring it should be set.

now that i have decided what im going to be getting, i need to start getting into specifics as far as what ends i need and if i need adjustable LCAs. Looking around im seeing poly ends as well as roto joints. what should i go with for a weekend driver?? and should i go with adjustable LCAs or not?

Also i noticed that my bumpstops have fallen apart, should i replace those immediately as well? or are they no big deal and can wait?

You're looking to improve the ride quality and handling....and seemed to completely ignore JD's post up above. Shocks will make the largest impact on your handling and ride, and you don't have to be a auto-x person to notice. My car is a street car, I would like to try auto-x some day but not until I can afford to replace brakes and tires! My Koni's made this car so much more fun to drive on the street, in cornering and stability. Overall, #1 mod you can do to your car.

I would do UMI or BMR rear LCA's and adjustable panhard bar. Then SLP Bilsteins or Koni shocks. Lower it with Hotchkis, BMR, or Strano springs.

To the OP, it is sometimes easier to do some of the supporting mods first to gain confidence in what you're doing and are easy bolt on mods. That's what I did while I re-searched/saved for some of the bigger mods and there's nothing wong with that. Just make sure they work well with your future mods. But if I had to do it over again Shocks & Springs|Sways would be first.

For a DD I'd go with the UMI Poly/Roto-Joint LCA's non-adj if you plan on keeping the stock rear and similar size tire/wheel, get the adj if you plan on upgrading to larger in the future.

No need for adjustable control arms, there is no benefit other than centering your wheels in the wheel well. I would just recommend our TCA001 control arms. This is the most versatile and economical arm to use and works great on street cars all the way up to 9 second drag cars. They have internally fluted polyurethane bushings that are greasable for a long, trouble-free life of street/strip use. As for the bump stops, if your car is stock ride height you can probably leave them for now. If your car is lowered 1" or more I would suggest replacing them when you do the control arms...

I think for ride quality/handling/ and a few drag strip runs once in a while... I'd recommend keeping stock LCAs and swap to solid rubber bushings which are essentially turning it into a 1LE control arm. The stock LCA's are not a bad thing.

Benefits to this:
-Rubber bushings absorb shock better than poly or rod ends.. better ride quality and will be quieter
-Rubber bushings with stock LCAs will allow the axle free movement with no binding compared to dual poly LCAs if you get those.. lets the shocks/springs/swaybars take care of that job
-less maintenance
-cheaper

Lots of autocross drivers use this combo

I'm going to recommend you do none of the above, at least not at first.

The biggest single thing you can do to improve handling and ride in these car is to improve the shocks, bar none. Go not pass go, do not collect $200. And QA1's aren't the kind of shocks you want for this. The LCA's, the A-arms, that sort of stuff isn't really a handling problem.

My guess (not really a guess I suppose) is that you find the car to be not very well behaved. It probably wanders around, feels a bit floaty and disconnected from the road, vague. It also probable rides like crap, hits bumps hard, makes you cringe when you see them coming... am I on the right track? Those are all shock issues above all else.

I'm not saying those other parts don't have their places, but not here, not now. The big items for handling and ride are Shocks, bars and springs. Then for handling a Watts link would be #4. THEN you are getting into LCA's and A-arms and that sort of stuff.

Drag racing, that's a little different. But seems to me that it's a street car 99% of the time and you might drag it a little here and there. Ok, there are things you can do to help the drag while not hurting the street ride and handling (but there are things that will wreck the ride handling too).

Bottom line, what do you dislike about how the car feels or what it does? That's how you pick the parts. I'm assuming a little here (guilty) that the things I mentioned above are a lot more bothersome to you than other things. Maybe I'm off base, and if so that's ok--just need to know what you are trying to change about how the car works to get on the right track.