Bone stock suspension...
10-25-2010, 07:49 PM
#1
On The Tree
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Bone stock suspension... I want to get into upgrading my suspension. So, for an amount of let's say $200 per month, what would you guys buy, and in what order? I know a lot of things I need, just not the order I should get it all in... I plan to take my car to the dragstrip every so often, with the most miles on the backroads and some highway.
10-25-2010, 08:12 PM
#2
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Shocks and springs first, then swaybars in my opinion. Add control arms and other stuff later as $$ allows. Think first and plan ahead. Save up and do it right the first time and you only have to do it once.
10-25-2010, 08:41 PM
#3
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Sweet, just what I was looking for. Is getting the pan hard rod, LCAs, SFCs, and strut tower braces worth it? I figured I could at least chip away on some of those, and do a full shock/spring set-up when more time/weather allows.
10-25-2010, 10:12 PM
#4
TECH Senior Member
An adjustable panhard rod is used to recenter the rear end after being lowered, and I highly doubt you will notice a difference (I didn't). Strut tower braces are useless with these cars, we don't have struts and our shock towers don't see the stress that strut towers do when cars have struts. SFCs are also arguable, while I agree that chassis stiffening is a good thing, you may not notice a difference with them because these chassis are pretty stiff from the factory, and the problem most people don't realize is in shock dampening, not chassis flex.
Our suspension's weakest link is easily the stock decarbon shocks (see if you have them, they are orange/black).
The valving is goofy and leaves you with little rebound (giving the floating, bouncing, disconnected feel) and too much compression (jittery, jarring and hoping over bumps, also snap oversteer). Both of these combined lead many people to *think* they are feeling flex, when they are just feeling the weak shocks not working properly.
Getting sport shocks(gas charged shocks like Konis, Bilstiens, KYB AGXs, Eldlebrock, etc) will dramatically improve handling, ride quality, feel, and balance. I can tell you from first hand experience Koni SA's are a total night and day difference over stock shocks and well worth the money (check out stranoparts.com).
Those alone will do WAY WAY more than the above mods you listed (I know, I have all of them except aftermarket LCA's).
Other suspension mods that make more dramatic differences are [good] lowering springs, and a [matching] set of swaybars.
But start with good shocks and look into some good tires and then go from there.
10-26-2010, 10:10 AM
#6
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Shocks and springs are always nice, but if this guy is going to the drag strip he probably wants to look at other modifications first. Shocks are probably still a good idea though
10-26-2010, 10:40 AM
#7
Are you planning on dropping your car or just want to make it ride and perform better? If you're just going to use stock springs (which are actually pretty good) you can get by with less expensive shocks if you so choose. Bilstein's aren't as durable/performance oriented as Koni's, but on stock springs they should work well and cost about half the price.
That leaves money left over for things like LCA's, sways, torque arm, etc. to help you handle on the street and hook on the track.
That leaves money left over for things like LCA's, sways, torque arm, etc. to help you handle on the street and hook on the track.
