I have a 01 Camaro SS ,SLP headers/Y pipe and borla out back and a tune. Now I'm wanting to replace the shock and springs and get the car lowered to the right stance. I'm going back and forth over these two setups. UMI has Viking double adjustable coil overs for about a grand. Now BMR has Koni single adjustable shocks with springs also for about a grand. Its hard to pick!!

What im wanting to do with my car is..... weekend driver,take it to the mountains and burn up the corners and do so street beating in a straight line. The suspension must be a decent ride and not shake my teeth out. So which would you pick based on what I like to do????

 

There is a little bit of price gap in the two options. The BMR/Koni combo is actually $800 or 900 depends on if you want on car adjustable or not, and the Viking coilover setup is $1155.
Both are good setups, but for different uses

For what you are describing, I think your best bet would be the BMR springs and Koni Sport Yellows. They are excellent for a daily driver car that will see some spirited back roads driving. The Vikings are usually better suited for straightline performance, but can be tailored to fit a handling application as well. The Biggest advantage of the Vikings would be the ride height adjustability and wider range of valving adjustability.

 

Depending on how low you want to go I'd consider this option. MWC Package

Then I'd do the rear heater hose mod in the rear and get a good all around combo. It is a fairly common combo I have customer purchase. Or for another $30 per shock we could substitute it to a threaded body shock for the rear if you ever wanted to go full coil over.

 

You seem kinda confused.
A Koni/lowering springs setup is for handling, the vikings are QA1 based drag shocks, apples to oranges.
If you want a coilover look at UMIs/stranos custom Afco coilovers, those are proper shocks (gas charged, proper adjustments, proper valving).
Just because a shock can be adjusted "stiff" does NOT mean it will handle well.

 

I do understand the coil over and shock funtion. I've come from the motorcycle world where ';ve run Penske or Ohlin on track/street bikes.I also understand compression and rebound,I have done SOME re-valving on my forks and rear shock"ON A MOTORCYCLE"so.....I'm not really comfused more like trying to understand how it all works in the car world. So to recap,Koni's are for handling, say around mountain roads and street use. Vikings n QA1 are for straight line drag racing?

Having adjustment is what its all about,it just makes it funner

 

Correct. Just saying confused because they are two very different shocks that work differently, apples to oranges.
I agree that it makes it more fun but only when the adjustments work correctly, making a shock "stiff" does not mean it will actually handle well.

 

If your interested in some shock info give me a call at the shop monday.

I can give you shock dyno graph numbers on the shocks you mentioned and our UMI/Afco setup along with some explanations of how different shock valvings work for different applications. This way you'll have an understanding on what will work best for you personally instead of going on forum hear say.

Craig

 

To keep things public and not private, here is a good read from a thread of what UMI is talking about:
(post #19)
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...l#post18889394

 

Comparing shocks like Viking and QA1 to something else like a Koni Sport, KW, UMI/Strano/AFCO Mono-tubes is very much apples and oranges.

First I would never recommend any shock where the damping adjustments on rebound are not on the piston of the shock. Doing it on the body is cheaper, and easier which is why most do it. It's also not nearly as good. Stiffer and softer, yes because they simply let more oil push the other way, or less. Where as a Koni or the UMI/Strano shocks, or Koni Sports are setup where you actually change the flow of oil though the shock's piston. This is more precise. It's better for different shock piston speeds. Basically you get better damping while having a shock that deals with sharper bumps (high piston speeds) better.

That said, the shocks I like better are not equal either. Some are twin tube, some are mono-tube. Some are single adjustable, some are double. Being double just isn't automatically better than single.. can be worse in fact.

There is no way I will do what most others do and sit here and claim to have the answer based on a few short posts in a forum. I know what is going on with the suspension, that's not the question. Each person has a different set of parameters they are looking to fit, and THAT when it comes down to it, has a huge effect on what I'll recommend.

Maybe you want coil-overs in that you want a specific ride height and not be stuck with what a particular set of lowering springs will get you. That's but one consideration. So are what you want the shocks do to. So are the roads you drive. The amount of unsprung weight you carry. Here's one. Money..... everyone has a budget.

You will never have a shortage of opinions from the internet. If you want to settle for internet opinion to make this decision, I can't say that's smart IMHO. I sell parts, so do others. But more than that I do setup work. I race and I win a lot of events, and setup a lot of other cars that do too. Not everyone is running a race. But all cars need to be setup well for their intended goals. And that's integral to how I make my recommendations, but also to how I develop my parts.

Lowering springs are a perfect example. Lots out there, more all the time. Some companies have gone through 3 different versions in 10 years trying to find the magic bullet. I've been making mine, the same way (rates/heights) from the start. Because I did a lot of work on the front end playing with spring rates, and heights on a coil-over/weight jacker setup that allowed me to test ad nausem. And then have the results to back up how the springs work.