Kruegmeister

My 1964 Convertible is a little rough on the Michigan Roads.
It has a New Rear Leaf Spring I put on.
The Shocks are KYB and I'm not sure on the Age.
Most of the Suspension Components like the Bushings etc look pretty good.
On my 68 I did Rebuild Kits from Willcox + Bilstein Sport Shocks + Front Springs and Rear Leaf, that car rides beautiful now.

My Question is:
If all the Bushings look fairly good, do you think just doing the Same Shocks will get me riding like my 68

Nowhere Man

what about your tires

Kruegmeister

They are Brand New Michelin Premier A/S
I believe they are 17" on the New Rims I put on. I stored my Originals with the Hub Caps

Nowhere Man

Ridding on rubber bands doesn't help at all. These suspensions was designed for side wall flex to give a better ride.

Kruegmeister

So you're saying those Tires may not be helping?
I've read several Threads on KYB vs Bilstein so I am imagining these are going to help, especially not knowing the age of my KYBs...
I have them on my C3 as stated and that ride is superior, just wondering if I should do the Front Springs too...
When I drove the C2 Last it felt Bouncy in the Back while still riding rough, that is why I was thinking shocks since the Leaf Spring is already new.

Nowhere Man

On a completely stock suspension yes. If you can correctly re engineer it then your results may differ

cv67

kyb is great if you want a cheap firm riding shock
maybe look into bilstein edelbrock etc

J.Moore

That's what he is saying. These Mid-Years rode rough when new, I remember driving them back in the 70's before todays low profile tires. Just the design of the suspension. They never rode like an Impala.

My 65 with Radial P205-75R tires rides ok. Mostly I think it's the rear leaf spring. I can drive over bumps in the road and feel a big difference in the front suspension absorbing the bump and a split second later the rear leaf suspension over the same bump and it is twice as firm.

My shocks are the KYB as well. When I replace them soon it will be regular duty type probably from NAPA.

Nowhere Man

I beg to differ. For a short wheel base car they ride great. Yes they don't ride like a Impala or even a Chevelle but in stock form they ride great for what they are

J.Moore

Your beg to differ has been declined.. J/K,, Now you got me thinking on pulling these KYB's off the car and installing a set of regular replacement shocks.

Kruegmeister

With my Leaf Spring being new and Identical to the one on my C3 which rides smoother, I thought that was pointing to the KYB's being Stiffer as some say and the Bounce being they are Worn out (Not Knowing the Age)

Bluestripe67

Something is out of spec on your suspension. It looks like your car is riding higher than stock by 2-3 inches. Springs are the main source of that. You didn't mention anything about your front springs. Did you or someone else do all this suspension work? The tire series profile, (is it 50, 55, 60?) is a definite player in the ride issue. The shocks control the jounch and rebound of the shocks. Dennis

Kruegmeister

Everything else is as I bought the Car Last Year. I installed the Leaf Spring myself.
I thought I measured it to the Specs I looked up for Ride Height.
I'll double Check. I have ordered Bilstein Sport Shocks same as on my C3, so I'll double check my Ride Height this weekend.

irwiny

If your post about rough ride, why Bilstein Sport? I have the Bilstein non sport model and fiberglass leaf spring currently. My brother had KYB and stock leaf and he told me my car rides smoother. Also his KYB leaked and was defective after a short time. That could be one of the problems your having.

Duck916

What do you mean by "rough"? Too firm? Too bouncy? If it's too firm, that can be because the spring-rates are too high, or the shocks are overmatched for the suspension. If it's too bouncy/jittery, new shocks will probably help.

The larger wheels and lower aspect-ratio tires are surely a factor. In addition to the firmness added by the tires, if the tire/wheel assembly is heavier than stock, that will cause issues as well. Unsprung weight is a huge factor in suspension performance.

don lemelin

smaller/shorter sidewalls certainly won't help. What tire pressure are you running? Lower pressure will soften things up a bit.. BTW just put new 9-leaf spring and bilstein HD's on mine last weekend, will let you know the verdict once I get a few more miles on it.
Handsome '64 btw.
Here's mine, quite a difference in sidewall..

DansYellow66

The bilstein HD shocks are supposed to be far superior to the bilstein sports shocks for a street driver. I have the HD shocks on my car and
​​they are fine. I understand the Sports version are very stiff riding..

Crunch527

First - the ride of a C2 as being "rough" is a very subjective assessment no matter how the car is setup...stock or otherwise.

Here is my experience:

1. I did the same 17 inch TTII wheels and gforce sport tires on my 73...had 550lb front coils with a 360lb rear mono spring and bilstein sport shocks...it rode like a log truck...absolutely awful...would skip across the road it was so stiff...front and rear springs were 1 inch lower and the car still looked high...

2. On my 67 I went with 450lb coils and a 320lb rear mono spring, stock red line radial tires and single adjustable KYB shocks on all four corners with +8 clicks and it rode and handled like a dream...1000% better than my 73 which technically had a "higher performance" suspension setup.

There are ways to adapt the suspension, make it better than stock and keep the ride nice.

Its not cheap, but a new set of single adjustable KYBs would help.

Your ride height looks about right with the 17" wheels.

Kruegmeister

Tire Pressure... I think this might be part of it. I don't remember it being harsh last year. But over the winter I thought the tires possibly looked low and I filled them to 36 psi so that maybe the rough rattlling I feel. That along with the decrease in sidewall I introduced with my new wheels... but it wasn't as bad from how I remember it last year. I think my shocks may still be due for replacement as there seem to be some loose bouncyness feeling from the rear. I'll report back as I'm hoping to get the new shocks going before the Woodward Dream Cruise. Will be my 1st one that I take a car to. Gonna be in with the NCRS group.

Frankie the Fink

36 is too high IMO. I run Tiger Paw AWP-II tires on stock rims with about 30lbs in them and that makes for a nice ride and uniform wear. Unless a tire is flat or nearly so I wouldn't trust my eyeballs to determine if they're under-inflated or not...

Monroe Gas-AdJust shocks or suitable AC/Delco modern replacements are all you need. You can jazz things up with $400/pair superhero shocks and then wonder why your nice riding midyear turned into a truck, or not...