ive been looking all day at recommendations for shocks, and most results end with lowering spring and koni or revalves, where in this would people place qa1s, ive heard there name being repped as good shocks a while ago so i was looking into them, the intentions for my car is to fix the bad shock and while i am at it get a setup that i can drive on the street/strip with, the qa1s double adjustables sound ok to me, then again ive never had to deal with suspension and 500+ hp before, im still doing some research on the konis right now, also some other things to consider, i have a 9inch,lcas and relocation brackets, any help is greatly appreciated
Ted

 

QA1's are not good dampers. Nowhere near the control or life of Revalves or Koni's. These are nothing special, cheaply built (but not cheap), chintzy adjuster having shocks. And drag shocks, who's intent is to allow for weight transfer (which worn out shocks do quite well thank you). They try to cover all the bases, but they can't. Koni can't, and doesn't even try.... they have specific drag shocks, which carry a disclaimer that they should never be used on a highway or personal injury could result.

When you compare Koni's and QA1's you are comparing apples to oranges.

 

i see, so koni double adjustables should be 1 of my top choices then...thank you
Ted

 

I don't think I said Doubles specifically, did I? Hell, if you want to drop $1200+ on them, feel free. But I own a set and I don't even run them on my car, which I use to compete in.

 

no, actually i misread the message, i dont want track specific shocks, ive been reading articles describing the use of adjustable shocks as a good shock for street/strip and im wondering if it is exaggerated out of proportion, if thats the case should i just buy a basic shock to replace my old stockers, and if it IS beneficial should i bother going single/double adjustable, i dont tweak my car at the track so maybe i should be looking at regular shocks then?

 

Dampers work on the street as well, and the amount of damping can drastically change the way the car rides, reacts and generally drives. Way, way too many folks tend to say "I don't race" and then think that they wouldn't or couldn't benefit from good, or adjustable shocks. The fact is the car has no idea what it's surroundings are, only how the road is. And the mass of the car is there no matter what, and rebound damping is a control of that mass.

I don't believe you'll find anyone who has good adjustables to have regretted it for a moment. And there are more than a few around who have had more than one set of shocks on the car. You will find folks with cheaper shocks sometimes not liking them so much. And the fact of the matter remains, if you don't like what you have with a cheap shock and/or a shock that's not adjustable or otherwise fits the bill, you haven't saved much money buying twice.

I already gave you my thoughts on DA's vs. SA's. But having a rebound adjustment does keep you from being backed into a corner. Like anything, you have choices to make.

 

Sam wouldnt double adjustable front shocks be about the best for drag racing. That way you could let the car rise up quickly but then hold up for some time to keep the weight planted while at the track. Then when going home you could adjust for a normal or actally above normal ride. Worn out shocks would work to let the car lift quickly but they will also let the front end come back down easily when the car shifted etc.

Sam I am not trying to be a smart *** or know it all here this is meant to be more of a question to you not me trying to give out my 2 cents. I will be ordering some new shocks for my car within the next year so I am doing the research now to find out what I want. I have spent 5 months figuring out what I wanted for a rear end and rear suspension setup (adj pan hard and lowers and torque arm with relo kit for it and the control arms) and have just now started to order some parts for it. I see your sig says you are a umi dealer but I dont see anything on your site for it yet. How do your prices compair to theirs I would much rather give money to the middle man so he can make some as well instead of give it all to them. I am the middle man at work and its paying me well so I have some money to spend on the car.

 

Not every adjustable shock, be they single, double, or double acting single adjusting ones are the same. And no. Generally with a DA shock the change in compression is in a mid to high piston speed range. To keep the car "up" when it lands from a wheelstand, etc. You need a lot of low-speed force. And, FWIW, shocks don't keep the nose high all the time, they are dampers. Springs effect how much the car pitches and so on, shock only effect the speed at which is happens.

 

What I meant was if you adjust the shock to let the front rise quickly to transfer the weight to the rear tires but have it come back to normal a bit slower wouldnt it leave more weight towards the rear of the car planting the tires. I also not talking about the front comming down after a wheelstand. I am just wanting the car to put as much weight as possible transfered to the back tires and keep it there as long as possible. When I get done with the car I want it to hook really well at the track but also be streetable as it will be used for both.

 

And I was talking about the same. The nose coming up fast happens because of little or no rebound control. Not what you want on the street. But something like a Koni would allow you to run the rebound way down, and turn it back up for proper street handling/ride. And compression is what "props the car up" when the nose comes back down, and you need a lot of low-speed damping for that to work, which drives like crap.

 

Well I have what I believe to be a sportline kit on the car now with the stock shocks so anything would be an improvement over this.

I guess thats what you get when you buy a used car lol. I will fix that in due time.

You never responded if you about the umi products. Do you actually sell them or is the line in the sig sarcasm.

 

I sell UMI product. I'm not a web-based business, most of what we carry is NOT on the website. I am 40 miles from UMI, and I'm actually running up there today. It's not sarcasm at all.

 

Just checking you didnt respond to that question in my first post so I just wondered. What hours our you open for business during the week and what hours if any are you open on the weekends. Also what part of PA are you in ie ne se sw nw.

 

I have a shock dyno sheet for the SA QA1's if you would like to see them Sam, if you don't already have one. My friend Lazerlemon ta and I put a set of there coil overs on his car. It made a real good improve over the stock decarbon's for the average type do-it all street car. I don't think I would be happy with the SA's but maybe the DA's.

 

I'm in western PA. While I have a shop, I don't have much stock here... If you want to stop by, that's ok--folks do from time to time but I'm not near anything and it's not exactly a sight to behold.

HioSSilver. Sure, fire those curves off. I had some but haven't for a while. And didn't really care as I was less them impressed all the times I've driven on them (and folks who have them and then followed with Revalves or Koni's see big improvements too). Comparing to stock shocks means nothing to me. Something less bad is better than those, and we don't know if his stock ones weren't just dead to begin with. Also, I don't know what a "real good improve" means.

Bottom line, shocks are where it's at. The most important part of making these cars work right (more than springs or bars, things I actually have made to my specs), the shocks are the key.

 

 

Buy the way Sam how big of a range do the Koni's have and do they came in coilover style?

 

In the first gen community, QA1's are regarded as equals to Koni's. From what I understand they are close in price too, in that application. However i've heard over and over again from both 1st gen and 4th gen guys that QA1's are no good for 4th gen cars. So i'll have to second sam's opinion there (not that it needed any help, but hey I do what I can). After doing much research, my brother chose QA1's for his '69. I've experienced the ride first hand...they are, in my opinion, a better choice than the Koni's because handling is just as impressive and they are easier to adjust on the car. His car as he has it set up will run with C5's on the track. I've never experienced QA1's on a 4th gen cause i've never come across a 4th gen with them.

 

I have qa1s in the front and they ride great !! You just have to play with the settings to find out what kind of ride you want for the street and for the track . I have some friends also that have konis that didnt last 5k before needing rebuit but that is like everything not everyone is gonna get the same results everytime !

 

Koni's have a huge range of rebound adjustment. Full stiff is double the rate of full soft. And Koni's, unlike these and others only adjust rebound. You don't get cross-talk over the to compression side. And you don't want that--just because you want or need more rebound damping doesn't mean you want or need more compression damping (which from a handling standpoint is what deals most with unsprung mass).

Honestly, those are some pretty sad damping curves, and are pretty much inline with what I remember. One thing I can't be sure of (and this can vary) is which side is rebound and which is compression. Often the rebound is the negative scale, but Koni has their Roehrig dyno setup so the positive number is the rebound instead. And normally I could very easily tell you, because for most any handling situation you want about 2-3 times the amount of rebound force over compression force. Here the QA1's aren't like that (which is just another nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned). Further the cuvres are strange. You have one that's progressive and offers basically no change in force until over 2 in/sec, an the other that's just hugely sudden and has no digression @ higher piston speeds for tire compliance. Having driven QA1's, and now looking at the curves I'm pretty confident that the negative nubmer on these dyno's are rebound. Which clearly shows me why I don't like the shocks and completely jives with what many find. You need to turn them up to get some decent rebound control (not great, there isn't enough force to handle high-rate springs anyway). But then you drag the compression way up too. The result is a car that gets a very flinty harsh ride if you want much control. If you turn 'em down, the control suffers even more.

Koni's are normal shocks in that they are not coil-overs. But there are kits to convert them over to coil-over in the front.