Riding Close to Bumpstops
 

I noticed the other day that I am riding pretty close or almost on my front bumpstops. I love the lowered look but at the same time want to be safe. I am currently on stock subframe, etc with Hotchkis 2" lowering springs (almost a full coil cut) and matching Bilstein shocks.

I am about to swap in an LS3 so I want to take care of this soon if I need to. Im thinking the LS3 will raise the front slightly (from GM crate 350) but will that really help much?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psdce1d8ae.jpg

It may raise it some. Maybe enough. Just to be sure don't make any changes till after the engine swap.

Bc you think it will fix the problem? Typically what is a good distance to shoot for between them? Thanks!

Just so you don't over compensate a fix.

Distance is depending on usage. We have a track car that has 1" to stop.


If you want to check you can put an oring high up on your shock staft. Drive it around hard then see how far the oring travelled down on the shaft. That will give you a pretty good base on much room you will need. There is a calculation for wheel travel but this down and dirty method should get you close.

Have you thought about using half height body bushings? Lowers it a bit without losing travel.

I had an old International Travelall that I had lowered, a bit too much. It rode on the bump stops in the front. My dad rode with me and let me know that it wasn't good and I should raise it back up. I thought, meh whatever old man. About a week later I went over a speed bump real slow and the steering wheel spun in my hand!
I had been bouncing through Seattle streets on that stop and it had stressed and eventually ripped the lower control arm mount from the crossmember.

I think it would've been fine if I had a shorter bump stop. The way it was set up clearly wasn't right. Not trying to scare anyone just letting you know what I experienced.

:cheers:
Dan

One guy I had talked to mentioned 2" drop spindles... but I thought I had heard those werent the best idea?

Hey Matt, your car does look pretty low. How much space do you have between the bump stop and control arm? Remember that the wheel travels twice as far as the control arm to the bump stop. So if you have 1" of room at the bump stop, you will have 2" of travel at the tire.

I would put a dab of grease on the bump stop or control arm and take it out for a drive, and when you get back check the dab of grease to see if you squished it (bottomed out).

Obviously bottoming out is not good for the suspension, but it does come with the territory of a lowered vehicle.

Drop spindles are considered a "No No" on first gen Camaros and third gen Novas since they can cause wheel-to-tie-rod problems.

Let us know what you find.

As I understand it, drop spindles are actually ok as long as you get the accompanying pieces like what comes with the Ridetech TruTurn setup. That should correct for what would be undesirable geometry if you only do the drop spindle.

Maybe the Ridetech guys will jump in here.

What i done was Cut the bump stop down to about 1" tall.... Problem fixed!!! LoL!! Now got the spindle and tru turn kit, just not installed yet.