Thoughts about leaf vs 4 link. Hotchkis/ridetech

[Carlsson]

@josh

Oh, one other thing, i bought a Wilwood brake kit with 6 Piston in front and 12'19" rotors. Its are ordered to fit stock spindle. How is this working with your spindle?
After spending some more couple of hours of research I'm getting more and more into change everything to ridetech.

[Tinker]

Hi Carlsson,

Just thought I would pop in on this thread to tell you the wildwood brake kit should fit the Ridetech spindles. In fact if you look on Wilwoods website it should list compatibility with the Ridetech spindle.

BTW, keep up the nice work. car looks great and enjoy the process of "getting it where you want it"

[Carlsson]

Ok, is there any more with experience out there that have something to say here before I make up my mind?

Done a lot of research and also spoke to ridetech. Super nice company...
Hotchkis have not replied on any of my questions, that's not so good customer support...

[David Pozzi]

I have experience with both. Hotchkis makes a great setup for a simple bolt on kit. The tuning is where they shine and the parts are well made. Hotchkis does not address suspension geometry flaws other than increasing caster settings which helps a lot.

Ride Tech goes a couple of steps further in fixing not only caster but offering tall spindles for improved camber gain. The tall spindles increase the already bad bump steer but they have a Tru-Turn kit for that. Fixing bump steer and using a firm feel steering box will vastly improve steering response & makes the car less twitchy/more precise, - more like a modern car. These fixes will really make your Camaro feel good to drive, it won't be pulled to one side when you hit a bump. It makes the car go exactly where you steer it.

In the rear suspension, the 4 link Ride Tech suspension reduces rear unsprung weight. You can feel the improvement in ride, even at low speeds. There is a handling improvement but it's not as large as the ride improvement in my opinion. Hotchkis makes a rear leaf that I like a lot but it's heavy so it isn't going to ride as well. It has a built in traction bar so wheel hop is usually not a problem, no extra traction devices are required. The advantage here is simple installation/factory appearance. A guy with a stock look Z/28 would want this combo.

Another option is the Ride Tech Street Grip package. It's more like a Hotchkis bolt on kit with lighter weight better riding fiberglass rear leaf springs. It's better riding than the Hotchkis kit, I think not as stiff.

[Carlsson]

Thank you for your answer! That was a kind of answer I was looking for!

[Josh@Ridetech]

Originally Posted by Carlsson

Done a lot of research and also spoke to ridetech. Super nice company...

Thanks for the good words, it was good talking to you! Let me know if you have any more questions.

[simon455]

Just by checking out the classified section, Looks Like lot of guys eventually are upgrading to a 4 link set up from the leafs.

[MCB Matt]

Yes, many are running 4 links or panhard bars. Either is a world of difference in ride quality and adjustability. The cost is not much more than good leafs and shocks either.

Matt

[Carlsson]

I haven't been able to DRIVE the ridetech system yet. But I have been looking at it irl on two cars(rear), underneath, and it looks good! And seems like it's not that of a big deal to install it either.

I think the price is wery good. As I wrote in the beginning I Have the hotckis leafs now and they are good quality and all that... But if I had done my research a little better before I started buy stuff I should go with ridetech right away! No doubt!
But as soon as I is on the right side of the budget again it will be ridetech...

For example, if you care about stance... Seems soooo much better to be able to adjust it with a coilover system, Ridetech or not..
Instead of cutting springs, use lowering blocks etc..