How many miles on the suspension? There is a break in period for springs, shock seals, and bushings. Subtle but still a factor. Another factor is personal perception, what are you used to driving or what are you comparing it too?
How many miles on the suspension? There is a break in period for springs, shock seals, and bushings. Subtle but still a factor. Another factor is personal perception, what are you used to driving or what are you comparing it too?
Fair questions. Perhaps 200 miles on the suspension.
I'm comparing it to '68 Camaro with 550lb./in. front springs and 200 lb./in. composite rear leaf springs
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Mike - '68 Camaro with some stuff done to it
I would guess that it is more shock than spring related. If you start to drop rates you might end up with a car that wallows a bit and bottoms out over dips in the highway. I've upped rates 100-150 lbs all around on my DSE suspension, and upgraded shocks. It rides better than with softer springs and the original non adjustable Koni/Afco shocks.
My first suggestion would be to gas up the rear shocks in case the rear is getting rattled around over bumps, without much shock control.
If that doesn't fix things, you may want to swap shocks. Trust me, in the long run you will have less headaches. My Afcos always leaked down and the verishocks seem to blow seals, and, in my opinion, they don't ride amazingly well, either. Please don't take this as an agressive sales pitch, or attempt, (I have a small fortune worth of JRi shocks and work with JJ all the time) but the fastest way to get your car driving down the road with the ride you are looking for would be to call RideTech up and get a set of their shocks. Their Ride Quality and Handling Quality series of shocks (hope I got those names right) flat out work the way they should. The cars I've driven with them ride so well I don't even think about the suspension. The ride is smooth, solid and pretty composed without clunking over bumps.
Bret/Rod please don't ever let that end up as a testimonial on your website, accompanied by that picture of my car under the Fox awning at Laguna Seca. I will get in trouble.
I've got a nitrogen fill setup on the way. When it gets here, I'll get a bottle from the welding gas store and gas up the rear shocks.
I also heard from David Pozzi who's tuned Bad Penny, which has the same front and rear suspensions I'm using, as well as the One Lap Camaro, which uses the same rear suspension.
David's suggesting I leave the rear spring rates alone for now and drop the front springs to 350 lb./in. He noted that 350 lb./in. springs in the 21st Century Street Machine subframe would be equivalent to a 600 lb./in. spring in a stock subframe, which suggests that the 450 lb./in. springs in there now are the equivalent of a 770 lb./in. spring in a stock subframe. In any event, I'll swap out the front springs, leave the rear alone (other than gassing up the shocks) and see where I am.
I'll consider shocks if I can't get it where I want it any other way, but springs are about $70 a set, and gas charged shocks (which I need because they're mounted upside down) are going to be $400-$1,000 plus a set.
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Mike - '68 Camaro with some stuff done to it
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