gun5l1ng3r

First off, I drive on Southern California highways, which are not the best in the country

Anyway, I have had my Koni's on for several months now, with stock springs w/127K mi. It seems like every little freeway divider bump (maybe 1/6" high) or any other harsh, but small bump makes the whole car vibrate.

It almost seems like the rear is bouncing more than once or there is something loose in the rear. It feels like some one rattles the car left/right and up/down. Like someone grabbed the shock with their hands and shook it violently left/right. I would say the rear is almost bouncy over these little bumps.

In the front, it isn't quite as bad, but EVERY little bump is felt. The Koni's are on the 8 in the front and 1(softest) in the back. Could worn out spring not have enough spring tension to keep the suspension under control?

I have 17" 2002 SS wheels w/ BFgoodrich Geforce Sports.

Any help would be appreciated....

Is this just a fact of life with a 17" wheeled, 127K mi, fbody?



Oh yeah 800 posts!!!

HotLS1

I have a '99 WS6 and have the same problem. I tried to put cheap AutoZone shocks on and it didn't fix the problem. I am also trying to find out if it is just junk shocks, bad springs, or if the bushings are shot on the car. I have 130k on the car.

camaroextra

iTrader: (10)

Lol why do you have your shocks set to that?

Try 4/4

SS101

iTrader: (2)

gun5: the springs probably aren't helping any, but you'd be surprised at how much worn out bushings can affect the ride quality. another thing that's probably contributing is the very soft shock setting in the rear - good for drag strip traction, but it won't help stabilize the rear over bumps very much.

hotls1: it's porbably a bit of all three.

to the both of you: replace whatever is factory or super cheapo AZone stuff with some quality aftermarket pieces. it may cost more, but it'll last you longer with fewer problems. just remember, you get what you pay for...and stock GM stuff might be okay for the first few thousand miles, but i think once you pass the 100k mark just about everything gives up the ghost.

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

FWIW I also thaught my Koni/stock spring combo was harsh, and blamed the 17s.

I just put on my Strano Springs and it is a whole new car! The ride is firmer, but the harshness is gone! I feel like maybe the stockers just didn't have enough rate. I couldn't be happier w my current combo!

I was actually hesitant to lose the stock springs, because ride was important to me. But more rate w good shocks (konis) was a BIG improvement!

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

What tire pressures are you running? If you want a good ride you shouldn't be over 32 front or rear.

The way your shocks are dialed in results in an unbalanced suspension. Start by softening up your fronts to near full soft, and then tweak f/r from there. A stiff front and soft rear will cause wonky behavior.

gun5l1ng3r

These settings are the Koni SA (Gen 4 fron Gen 3 back)setting that most PPL including Sam recommend. He told me that w/ STOCK springs, the lowest setting in the back is the best and he told me that in the front to go either 4 or 5 turns from full hard (which is around 7-8 turns from full soft).

The car is GREAT on slower rolling bumps, but anything like a freeway divider or pothole (sudden jolt) absolutly makes the whole car vibrate/shake. The rear is worse than the front....

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

You should only have like 9 turns or so on the front shocks, not 12-13 right? I'm pretty sure mine only have 9 or so. In either case, go right in the middle, that'll be a good setting for stock, and you can tweak back and forth from there. In the rear, with stock springs, I'm pretty happy with a little less than 1/2 turn from full soft. Full soft made the rear feel loose, but 1 full turn made the car feel jouncy.

FWIW, I just put my Strano springs on and set my konis to right in the middle for the front and the rears will be set to 1/2 turn from soft. As soon as I bleed my brakes, I'll take it out for a drive and see how it feels and tweak them from there.

JD_AMG

Like the above poster said, I think there are only 9 or 9 & 1/2 turns in the front. Go all the way to full hard, then back them out 4 turns. And make sure your rears are on 0 (goes from 0 to 3) and not full hard by mistake.
My car w/ the koni's rides better than stock on 99% of the roads.

Greggy

From what you are describing the rear shock need to be stiffened to at least 1/2 turn stiffer. Make sure you are running no more than 32psi front and 30psi rear pressure at 70 degrees.

Also check or replace rear lca bushings if you have not yet...Moogs are best. Check/ replace endlinks and sway bar u-bushing with poly if you have not already. All this shoud address the issues.

Ow and make sure you don't have a broken shock. You can do this by making sure the adjuster still work and the bounce test.

DuronClocker

iTrader: (25)

I just want to second this opinion now that I can say I've experienced this. I just drove the car once last night with the new springs (Strano), and the car feels MUCH smoother, its amazing. I had my buddy come over and help bleed the brakes and go for a ride with me afterwards to break-in the brakes and such, and the first thing he said about the car was how much smoother it felt from last time he was in it a week ago or so. He doesn't know much about cars and is used to driving a Mazda 626 and a minivan, so he's not used to harsh ride at all

gun5l1ng3r

Hey Greggy,

I have the 3rd Gen Konis in the rear, so it is 0 or 1 for me for the softest and I can only go in incriments of one...

EDIT: How do I check the LCA bushings? Just look for cracked rubber? And the Moog bushings have to be pressed into the stock LCAs...

Could loose LCA bolts(91 ft-lbs) or shock bolts also cause this problem. When I put the Konis on, I didn't want to tighten them too much and I didn't have the torque spec handy(66 ftlbs)...