corvettedave383

whats peoples thoughts about the QA1 Dual-Adj. Front Shocks and Coilover Springs?

good and bad please?

cheers

dave

7T1vette

Why would you need coil-over shocks on a car that already has 'firm' coil springs? Save your money and put a set of Bilstein Heavy-duty shocks all-around.

aussiejohn

Dave,

Bearing in mind the above answer, what if you don't have "'firm'" coil springs? What if they have done a few hundred thousand miles and are sagging, or one has sagged more than another and the car droops on one side? Well, new coil springs might well fix things, but how many miles have been travelled by the dampers?

It will cost quite a few hundred Euros/Pounds to replace the springs and dampers, especially if you use Bilsteins, so the cost difference between doing that and replacing the stock set-up with coilovers might not be that different.

Then you will have the ability to "balance" the ride height from one side to the other so that it sits evenly, as well as being able to change the front ride height to achieve the "stance" that you want your car to have. That I hope answers your original question.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

Ray Y

Another consideration if you are going to go for the QA-1s are tube A-Arms. I used tube upper & lower A-Arms with the QA-1s up front and I love the adjustability they offer. I pulled off a pair of Bilsteens with less than 3000 miles on them that I had installed with the stock suspension components (all of which are now gone).

I'm also using the QA-1 coilovers in the rear with leaf spring removed. Entire suspension was also lowered about 3"

Even my wife can tell the handling & performance difference for the better.

MyRed69

With the body still off I haven't had a chance to get a comparison yet...

Solid LT1

Think a little more about this my friend, this design also places the ENTIRE weight of your Vette onto a part of the lower control ARM that Chevy originally intended to only transmit dampening forces. If you do this conversion, I would highly recommend that you reinforce the lower shock mount area of the lower control arm.

aussiejohn

Solid,

What you say makes a heck of a lot of sense. Of course the weight of the car, transmitted through the coil springs, is spread over several square inches of the lower control arm, while the damper uses two 5/16" bolts to attach it to the lower arm. To use that small area to support the weight of the front of the car would put a lot of strain on that area.

Perhaps Ray Ys suggestion of fabricated control arms is the correct one for the OP if he wishes to go to coilovers. The overall cost would then be a lot more than just replacing worn factory springs.

Good thing about this Forum, it allows many knowledgable people to help us to learn more about our cars, and to modify them safely.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

corvettedave383

that is a very important point, can you buy a arms that have been modified?

MyRed69 - vette looking good

I dont think I could use the rear coilovers because of my bigger halfshafts, might be wrong

cheers

dave

Bob Heine

I made a simple bridge to reinforce the lower mount for the coilovers. The stock holes for the lower shock mount have to be enlarged for the QA-1 bolts.


I used a 1" square tube and made a couple of cuts. Drilled two holes to match up with the lower control arm holes.


To check clearance, I just bolted it in place.


Last step was to use a couple of old nuts and bolts to hold the bridge in place. A little welding, grinding and paint and the arm was done.

corvettedave383

that looks like a great a little solution to the problem, well done mate

dave

gkull

Adjustability Your stock spring is.................. I bought the 550# an inch shorter and i was adding or removing shims depending on the front tire diameter I was running.

My QA-1 with Speed direct 600 and 700 pounds springs is so nice. I can adjust front ride height and the compression or rebound in a number of minuts.

I can't imagine going back to some hard to change out front spring.

My next step is a rear coil over

Bob Heine

I'm with you. I am going with Van Steel's setup. If you are starting from a stock setup and you want to upgrade rear springs and shocks -- along with offset trailing arms -- you will spend almost as much just upgrading the stock rear suspension. You'll spend more if you want two different setups for street and track. Since the QA-1s are available in single- as well as double-adjustable, I'm quoting both.

Upgrade Stock Setup
$336 QA-1 Single Adjustable Shocks
$320 Fiberglass Rear Spring
$320 Extra Fiberglass rear spring in a different rate
$440 Offset Trailing Arms
$ 32 Long Bolts & Cushions
------
$1,448
$ 324 Double Adjustable Upgrade
-------
$1,772

Coilover Setup
$1,336 Van Steel rear coilover setup
$ 76 Extra pair of coilover springs
-------
$1,412
$ 306 Double Adjustable Upgrade
-------
$1,718

While this might not be a show-stopper, when you upgrade your stock suspension with leaf springs and offset trailing arms, you may have a problem with wider wheels and tires. When you use a longer bolt on the stock length leaf spring setup, you have to be careful adjusting the long bolt. You may run into a problem with the leaf rubbing on your expensive fat tires. This is what my stock trailing arm setup looks like with a 17x8 rim with a 255/50-17 tire:


Imagine a wider rim and tire with that same spring and long bolt -- remembering that as the spring flattens out under weight and cornering load, the spring end moves outward and the tire may roll inward (I did buy a shorter main leaf from Guldstrand).

Kevin68

Me too. Sent off my stock TAs and bearings to Van Steel yesterday.

I didn't think about ordering an extra spring, but then again I don't really see myself swapping springs very often. I got a 600# for cruising and occasional autoX. VS said they would give me one spring switch if I didn't like the ride but I prefer a stiff ride so I think I'll be OK.