jeff morgan

iTrader: (2)

I want to go to a coil over setup because of the height adjustability. The car is 99% street. Is there a huge difference between the viking and QA1 and what spring rate should I go with? I have found 250#, 300# and 350#.

jeff morgan

iTrader: (2)

My spring rate is limited to a QA1 with a 325# or a viking with a 350#. Is there much difference?

JD_AMG

What is the other 1% of driving? The spring rates you pick will have to do with what you want to do with the car (drag oriented or not) and if you have any weight reduction.
However there are MUCH better street shocks out there with adjustable height, they are just more expensive though (ridetech for example).
For a 99% street car I wouldn't touch the non-gas charged drag shocks like QA1/Viking when there are far better options out there (WAY more comfortable + WAY better handling and feel) for similar cost, although not in adjustable coilover form off the shelf, you can buy a coilover sleeve for the front shocks and an adjustable spring perch for the rear.

jeff morgan

iTrader: (2)

The car may see the dragstrip. It is a weekend cruiser. Ive tried Strano and BMR. I want the front end 1/2 lower. I think the abjustable coil over is my best bet.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Single adjustable Ridetech's are only $500 more...I don't have a beef with the vikings per say, there are just better options in my opinion

jeff morgan

iTrader: (2)

no one has used QA1 coil overs??

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

I run a Viking 275/150 combo and have been happy with them so far.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Can't go wrong with Vikings on a double duty street car. They have a very wide range of valving adjustment and an equally wide range of spring rates available. Since every can is different, and every person has a different opinion of how their car should feel, I like to steer people this direction so that they can dial in their car the way they want it, instead of being stuck with preset pieces. The Qa1's have a limited range of adjustment and have fixed valving rations between compression and rebound. Plus for the price, why not have the extra adjustment capability and higher quality for just a few dollars more?

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

I've been nothing but happy with my Viking 4 corner coilover setup. My spring rates are 300/175.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

300/175 seem a little wonky if OP wants a sharp handling street car and plans to run bigger sways in the future. If they're more interested in a good strip car it's a good setup though.

All things equal , if he's running the more than 10 year old stock stuff almost anything will feel better.

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

Understood. My point was the Vikings handle amazing on the street, and with the right spring rate setup, will perform and handle just as well as anything else out there.

JD_AMG

This couldn't be further from the truth.
Sorry but I gotta call you out on that. They are non-gas charged drag shocks and won't hold a candle to something as simple as Koni sports let alone some high end road race shocks like KW or penske. They are a budget coilover with adjustment ***** that don't effect the piston speed, and are based off of QA1s. Excellent marketing like QA1 had with selling people on "multiple adjustments" and being a cool shiny "coilover".
There is a good reason UMI dropped them for their custom Strano tuned/afco body shocks for their car, if they were good enough they wouldn't need to upgrade and you would see guys winning nation champions on them like you do with the other shocks like koni, bilstien, KW, and penske.
Take a look at the differences with the afco body shocks, the shocks valving and dyno curve is very different(digressive curve for example), they are gas charged, and they are even single adjustable, proving again that "more adjustments" are NOT better - especially if the shock is not valved well to begin with.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

And I gotta call you on that. You're skewing this **** way out of proportion. Viking is a fairly new company, and what's being marketed here is THE best drag shock/spring for the money, wait.....listen.....in it's price point, which is essentially entry level. Nobody is gonna win any ******* world championships with them, hell you dont even know if they make a product at that level. Is it made for handling, well probably not. I think what he was getting at is you could tighten them up and go for some spirited backwoods driving. Nobody is talking about autocrossing them.

JD_AMG

You are 100% correct, they are the best DRAG shock for the money.
He specifically said that they could handle with anything else with a change of spring rate, which is laughable.
You certainly could "tighten" them up for back road handling, but it still wouldn't compare to an entry level sport shock.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Just an FYI....We didn't drop anybody!!! We set out to build a "higher end" racing shock and AFCO was willing to work with us to accomplish this.

To throw vikings in the mix with these shocks is just plain not fair. We have sold thousands of Vikings with great success for street applications as well as guys attending competitions.As a matter of fact I've witnessed some pretty great results with guys running the Crusaders.

Craig

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Fine, but its relative. Would I take them on a road course, likely no. Would I turn them up if I was on my street wheel and tire combo and go for a spirited drive? Sure. Would I think they handled decent for what they are? Probably so. Always remember handling is subjective. And everyone expects different things. What you expect determines whether you are let down or impressed.

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

My point is OP is not some bad *** autocross guy who's going to even notice the difference between a super high end coilover vs. the Viking setup. The Viking setup is going to do everything the OP wants, period. He wants a coilover and wants ride height adjustability. The last time I checked, the Vikings offer that, and do so at a very good price-point. It sounds to me like the OP wants something that's better than what he has (stock ****), and again, the Viking coilover setup is going to be WAY better than stock ****. I went from stock **** to the Viking setup, and I couldn't be happier. From experience, when the settings are setup for spirited street driving, the Vikings deliver. You guys get way too caught up in what 99% of us will never experience or do with our cars. Are there other setups out there that are better for the 1% out there who are competitive autocross drivers, yes. Will the other 99% be happy with the Viking coilover setup for their street car, yes.

smitty2919

The people that "blow this out of proportion" are the ones that can't stand to spend money on something that does not prove beneficial. Buying C/O's IMO is a waste of money on a 99% street car since a properly selected spring/shock setup will do the same thing. I would go strano/koni before I did a Viking setup.

If you want to make your car a 4x4 one day then a low rider the next...well sure go C/O. Otherwise stick to a proven shock/spring setup.

Comparing ANYTHING to stock will be better so lets not get caught up in that.

I run strano/Koni SA's on a 90% street car, the rest is all autocross and at some point road race. So my engineering "best bang for the buck/potential performance" mind says I should have just gone C/O's from the start to be able to fine tune spring rates to my liking and be able to corner balance the car if I had adjustable sway bar endlinks. But I can't justify the added benefits of corner balancing for the cost it will take to get C/O's.

On a pure street car, C/O's serve to give you an aesthetic benefit. Meaning they allow you to lower the car past any aftermarket spring lets you do. BUT then you run into many other issues such as exhaust ground clearance/bottoming out etc and if you want to put up with that then so be it.

IMO, I pay for the level of performance I can afford. At the time the stano/koni yellows were affordable and offered a MUCH improved ride quality on the street and on the course. Sure it lowered the car which is nice and all. Since I went "full retard" into this autocross thing, looking back I should have waited and just went C/O for the "do it right, do it once and be done with it". I know what I spent on my strano/koni setup. If it was another $500 to get a good C/O setup like the current UMI combo I would have waited and gone that route.

End rant lol

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Just going to put this out there, but Viking's products for every other platform except F-body and s197 Mustang are more successful and popular in road racing/autocross applications than drag racing. They have several customers who have won SCCA championships for their class on their products, and they actively auto-cross their in house project 69 Camaro. Check out their facebook page and they have an extensive listing of proven handling cars that run their shocks.
Bear in mind, they have 2 different levels of shocks; The Warrior and the Crusader
The Warrior shocks are designed with less aggressive valving and are well suited for a street oriented car that performs double duty.
The Crusaders are custom valved based on the customers application when ordering. They are available in valving for high hp drag radial cars, big tire cars, and for handling applications. A combination of spring rate and shock valving is what helps create this balance.
True, they are still not a gas charged shock. However, fluid aeration seems to be less of an issue with these shocks than many other similar design shocks. The wider range of valving adjustment really helps with being able to fine tune in the performance you are looking for and being able to control higher spring rates

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

I blew it out of proportion and then ponied up the money for the UMI stuff, does that mean I'm exempt?

That sounds more like a band-aid to the issue of not being a gas charged shock. Also I think people need to remember that adjusting compression and rebound is not the same as a full revalve. I don't think cranking up the stiffness on a viking shock and slapping some 600lb/in springs on them isn't going to be the same as fine tuning the valve shape, adjusting the shim stack or whatever depending how the internals are set up.

This is something that gets beat to death in the suspension section and it always comes out, yes they are a great drag shock, yes they are ok on the street (and will feel a million times better than a worn out 17 year old GM shock), but I have yet to have a vendor tell me that they are as good as or better than a Koni, KW or other shock when it comes to handling and they are the ones trying to push products.

@OP figure out what you want the car for, then pick your shocks and spring rates.