single ajustable shocks
01-31-2014, 10:16 AM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
single ajustable shocks
I have a 01 with active handling and a bad magetic control on one shock. the car is new to me witch I got to autocross and street drive. I was going to get pfadt inverted shock but they dont make them any more. Does any one have feed back on the ridetech single ajustable shocks. I want to stay in the stock class and maybe in a year or two move up to coil overs.
01-31-2014, 04:51 PM
#3
I've never heard of ridetech for a Corvette. I've never seen anyone with them, that is a negative sign to me. What about some of the other options from Pfadt, Penske, or LG. You could buy a coil over set, and take off the springs for now.
The extra compression that the coilover may have because of the stiffer springs isn't a bad thing for autocross. The rebound you will be able to compensate for with the adjuster.
The extra compression that the coilover may have because of the stiffer springs isn't a bad thing for autocross. The rebound you will be able to compensate for with the adjuster.
01-31-2014, 05:33 PM
#4
Safety Car
I don't think he wants to spend a lot of money. That makes sense to me. Koni? Bilstein? Make sure you talk to the shock company about what you're doing. Here's a recent article I did on shocks.
Richard Newton
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Richard Newton
My Facebook Page
02-01-2014, 10:02 AM
#7
Those of you who have experience of different traditional shocks (coilovers are too much for my wallet) in C5, please advice:
I had C6Z shocks in my C5 but I wasn't satisfied with them on the track. They were good on the street, no problems there. I was especially unhappy with the rear end being loose on high speed.
I also had 'bushing walk' in front A-arms so i decided to do something. I installed grease zerks and Prothane poly bushings (I made some passages for the grease to go to the center of the bushing). I replaced both leaf springs with Z06 springs. I already had C6Z51 sway bars.
Now I'm in the middle of choosing the right shock for me.
Bilstein B8's are inexpensive choice but do I gain anything with them when compared to C6Z06 shocks? QA1's are on the cheap end of adjustables but I haven't heard any comments of those in track use. Pfadt has those JOC shocks about double the price of Bilsteins but still cheaper than Koni's.
What should I do?
I had C6Z shocks in my C5 but I wasn't satisfied with them on the track. They were good on the street, no problems there. I was especially unhappy with the rear end being loose on high speed.
I also had 'bushing walk' in front A-arms so i decided to do something. I installed grease zerks and Prothane poly bushings (I made some passages for the grease to go to the center of the bushing). I replaced both leaf springs with Z06 springs. I already had C6Z51 sway bars.
Now I'm in the middle of choosing the right shock for me.
Bilstein B8's are inexpensive choice but do I gain anything with them when compared to C6Z06 shocks? QA1's are on the cheap end of adjustables but I haven't heard any comments of those in track use. Pfadt has those JOC shocks about double the price of Bilsteins but still cheaper than Koni's.
What should I do?
02-01-2014, 10:50 AM
#8
Le Mans Master
off the shelf Koni Sports ( yellows ) . You can get them for under $1400 new and they work great.
all depends really what you're looking to do with them and how much you want to spend . How they are adjusted might matter to you if you plan on changing them often.
Rears can be changed on the ground, but fronts need to be up to get to them.
if you want to autocross & have street use, there's not as many running the pfadt shocks, so there's not as much info around. Back when they had their "SS" shocks ( for super stock class SCCA autocross ) I know people asked about where to set them and no one really had concrete info because most were using them for track days. That was a few years ago though, so maybe it's changed.
all depends really what you're looking to do with them and how much you want to spend . How they are adjusted might matter to you if you plan on changing them often.
Rears can be changed on the ground, but fronts need to be up to get to them.
if you want to autocross & have street use, there's not as many running the pfadt shocks, so there's not as much info around. Back when they had their "SS" shocks ( for super stock class SCCA autocross ) I know people asked about where to set them and no one really had concrete info because most were using them for track days. That was a few years ago though, so maybe it's changed.
02-01-2014, 11:02 AM
#9
Drifting
Sent you a PM. I have a set of Pfadts I just pulled off in favor of coilovers. Have new bushings and bump stops for them. I auto crossed and tracked them so I've got good info on them (currently labeled on the shock bodies).
02-03-2014, 01:29 AM
#10
Burning Brakes
Yes, good, but the Koni 3013 is a hidden secret. We dynoed a Koni 3013 and test compared it to a double adjustable Penske and found the curve was better on the Koni. If you want to go a bit more in price over the Sports, 3013's are they way to go. Talk to Sam Stano. A great guy and can be fast. When I was running in SS, I had an adjustment freeze up on me, and we had El Toro Pro Solo the next week. Sam had it to me two days before the event. Koni gave me a new one for free.
I have a race buddy with a broken Pfadt and can't get a rebuild or new one quickly to replace and lost a race event. Don't get me wrong, I love Pfadt products and have some on my ST2 Corvette, and Pfadts are great people to work with.
I have a race buddy with a broken Pfadt and can't get a rebuild or new one quickly to replace and lost a race event. Don't get me wrong, I love Pfadt products and have some on my ST2 Corvette, and Pfadts are great people to work with.
02-03-2014, 03:03 PM
#11
Le Mans Master
Yes, the 3013's are what I have on mine, as does most Corvette guys in SS these days. For the $ you can't beat them.
Sam's the man who's set up most of these cars as well, especially us east coast folks and will help any way he can.
Sam's the man who's set up most of these cars as well, especially us east coast folks and will help any way he can.
02-23-2014, 02:19 AM
#14
Supporting Vendor
I deal in a few different shocks, but the easy button answer is Koni Sport. The last 3 years @ Nationals I've personally been on them, been 2nd, 3rd and 3rd. Two of those 3 years the fastest Corvette in Super Stock, the other year I was too wrapped up in trying to make up .7 for the win, not caring about 2nd.
I have a few customers here who are running stuff from me. Lane Borg has been on Koni's and MCS's. I'm trying MCS's now too, but they are a LOT more than Koni's. And I think that both Lane and I would tell that you the Koni's will do 95% or more for a lot less money. Lane won AS in 2012 on Koni's, Tony Savini was a very close 2nd. And this year Tony won with Lane a very close 2nd.
I do make a different lower shock mount for the Koni's which most of the
National guys are running which makes things easier to adjust but also helps with the bottom bushing wanting to twist out of the shock eye. I make a custom spherical bearing mount that just screws onto the Koni in place of the stock bushing setup.
And here's one for ya. I can't really change my website pricing until 3/1 or so, but the Koni's are back on sale, and they are about $300 off the normal price (which is like getting the upgraded lower mounts for free, or you can skip those and just save the money).
I've made a number of custom sway bars for the cars (4 in fact). What a C6 Z06 wants for a front bar is VERY different than what a C6 GS wants. C5 Z's and FRC's I tend to use a different one yet.
I have a few customers here who are running stuff from me. Lane Borg has been on Koni's and MCS's. I'm trying MCS's now too, but they are a LOT more than Koni's. And I think that both Lane and I would tell that you the Koni's will do 95% or more for a lot less money. Lane won AS in 2012 on Koni's, Tony Savini was a very close 2nd. And this year Tony won with Lane a very close 2nd.
I do make a different lower shock mount for the Koni's which most of the
National guys are running which makes things easier to adjust but also helps with the bottom bushing wanting to twist out of the shock eye. I make a custom spherical bearing mount that just screws onto the Koni in place of the stock bushing setup.
And here's one for ya. I can't really change my website pricing until 3/1 or so, but the Koni's are back on sale, and they are about $300 off the normal price (which is like getting the upgraded lower mounts for free, or you can skip those and just save the money).
I've made a number of custom sway bars for the cars (4 in fact). What a C6 Z06 wants for a front bar is VERY different than what a C6 GS wants. C5 Z's and FRC's I tend to use a different one yet.
02-23-2014, 11:01 AM
#15
Instructor
I deal in a few different shocks, but the easy button answer is Koni Sport. The last 3 years @ Nationals I've personally been on them, been 2nd, 3rd and 3rd. Two of those 3 years the fastest Corvette in Super Stock, the other year I was too wrapped up in trying to make up .7 for the win, not caring about 2nd.
I have a few customers here who are running stuff from me. Lane Borg has been on Koni's and MCS's. I'm trying MCS's now too, but they are a LOT more than Koni's. And I think that both Lane and I would tell that you the Koni's will do 95% or more for a lot less money. Lane won AS in 2012 on Koni's, Tony Savini was a very close 2nd. And this year Tony won with Lane a very close 2nd.
I do make a different lower shock mount for the Koni's which most of the
National guys are running which makes things easier to adjust but also helps with the bottom bushing wanting to twist out of the shock eye. I make a custom spherical bearing mount that just screws onto the Koni in place of the stock bushing setup.
And here's one for ya. I can't really change my website pricing until 3/1 or so, but the Koni's are back on sale, and they are about $300 off the normal price (which is like getting the upgraded lower mounts for free, or you can skip those and just save the money).
I've made a number of custom sway bars for the cars (4 in fact). What a C6 Z06 wants for a front bar is VERY different than what a C6 GS wants. C5 Z's and FRC's I tend to use a different one yet.
I have a few customers here who are running stuff from me. Lane Borg has been on Koni's and MCS's. I'm trying MCS's now too, but they are a LOT more than Koni's. And I think that both Lane and I would tell that you the Koni's will do 95% or more for a lot less money. Lane won AS in 2012 on Koni's, Tony Savini was a very close 2nd. And this year Tony won with Lane a very close 2nd.
I do make a different lower shock mount for the Koni's which most of the
National guys are running which makes things easier to adjust but also helps with the bottom bushing wanting to twist out of the shock eye. I make a custom spherical bearing mount that just screws onto the Koni in place of the stock bushing setup.
And here's one for ya. I can't really change my website pricing until 3/1 or so, but the Koni's are back on sale, and they are about $300 off the normal price (which is like getting the upgraded lower mounts for free, or you can skip those and just save the money).
I've made a number of custom sway bars for the cars (4 in fact). What a C6 Z06 wants for a front bar is VERY different than what a C6 GS wants. C5 Z's and FRC's I tend to use a different one yet.
I run Ridetech C/O on the ST3/TT3 #44 Corvette in the Midwest/Great Lakes with NASA.
We worked on the valving for a long time.
Bret now has the shock bodies to fit stock mounts.
I would be interested in what you think of them if you get a chance to try them with the valving we settled with.
Thanks Jim McKamey
02-25-2014, 12:13 AM
#16
Supporting Vendor
Hey Jim, good info. Wouldn't hate having the chance to try 'em at some point. I just know what's been working pretty well for us. A couple of us (Lane and myself) are playing with Motion Control Suspension doubles on our cars), so far we've been pretty happy.
Nice to know there is another option. I can do Ridetech through a few vendors but I only see the coil-overs listed which of course isn't legal for SS or STU or SSP so I've not looked hard at them. Also been happy with the inverted Koni's and their nice progressive bumpstops vs. the urethane some others use (which spike spring rate and tend crack). GM stops don't crack but give you a nice spike when you get there.
If you have further information, I'm all ears. Seriously, ping me you know where to find me.
Nice to know there is another option. I can do Ridetech through a few vendors but I only see the coil-overs listed which of course isn't legal for SS or STU or SSP so I've not looked hard at them. Also been happy with the inverted Koni's and their nice progressive bumpstops vs. the urethane some others use (which spike spring rate and tend crack). GM stops don't crack but give you a nice spike when you get there.
If you have further information, I'm all ears. Seriously, ping me you know where to find me.