I really know absolutely nothing about suspension on my 1980 Corvette, but I know that it is the original suspension and from my observations and driving of the car, it feels like it is "old" and need a refresher. I am tight on a budget and am looking for suggestions on order of items that I should change and look to replace.

From reading on the forum, it appears that polyeurthene is the way to go because it is newer technology, but is it that good, if you are on a budget or should I just opt for OEM rubber?

What other items should I look at replacing. The car is off getting body work completed and I would like to know what recommendations everyone thinks as well as the best places to buy parts. Can I get good quality suspension parts from Ebay??

Please offer me some recommendations and advice.

Thanks for help!!!
TTERZ

 

You'll be okay with rubber. There are many guys on CF that prefer the rubber bushings. I have the poly and really like it. Be careful what you buy on E-Bay. Some of the off-shore parts have had quality issues, parts like ball joints and tie rod ends. I would start with Van Steel and see what they have. They can get you what you need and are very knowledgeable from my personal experience.

 

I have an '80 also. My car had the Gymkhana suspension, but I have since replaced everything. IMO, replacing the rear steel spring with a modern composite spring and modern gas shocks will give you noticable improvements. I went thurther and replaced the front springs with a front mono spring (like the rear spring).

Almost ALL of us are on a budget. What is nice about these cars is that you can improve them a step at a time. Check with this Forum for advice on "what next?"

 

Having just went through a total rebuild of my front suspension I will say this. Stay away from kits if you can. The kits may or may not be ALL high quality parts. I used Energy Suspension Poly(and it is fine, do your own research and find out for yourself, some guys here hate anything new) and Moog Ball joints(very high quality and lifetime warranty). You get what you pay for and the suspension is no place to skimp. VB&P has some nice stuff as well. And read read read...Good Luck...

 

There's plenty of discussion stating why poly is NOT the 'way to go' with good solid technical reasons behind it. There is frequently a big difference between 'marketing flash' and a real upgrade.

 

we have many things in common,i knew nothing about suspensions on a corvette,knew it was old and needed an update,didn't know where to put poly or rubber and was on a tight budget.i read a lot,put on the white jumpsuit and went under there many times and only replaced what was bad.you will hear many different suggestions from guy's on the thread about what to use and they know their s#%t.best of luck and enjoy the cruize.i put poly rear strut bushings on and i cannot believe how tight the car became from one small upgrade.no noise either.replace all the u-joints as you cannot always tell they are bad by pulling on them in place.finish off with a 4 wheel alignment and hopefully you'll be good to go.

 

C3 suspension is as old as the 63 C2s. You can google up any number of articles describing it, how it works, and how out of date some people thought it was by the 82 model year.

Listen to Mike. Stick with stock rubber.

Good point about the fiberglass rear spring. Standard suspension 81s and all 82s had them.

 

Ok...Lets hear your opinion/technical reasons.........Rear Trailing arm bushings are another animal...

 

That's what 'search' is for..............

 

I rebuilt the front suspension on my '79 with a kit from Zip corvettes. I bought the poly version because there are a lot of fluids up front and rubber can deteriorate when exposed to things like gasoline, steering fluid, and the like. The kit came witn upper and lower control arm bushings, sway bar bolts and bushings, and upper and lower ball joints. I've been very pleased with the poly up front. The only complaint I have is with the sway bar rebuild portion. The bolts were only threaded about 1/2" - 3/4", which wasn't enough to cinch the bushings down to prevent the metal tube spacer from clanking when I hit certain bumps. I went to ACE and bought some fully threaded 6" bolts and plastic lock nuts. I ran them down until about an inch and a half of thread was exposed, and that seems to have fixed the noise problem. I threw the original bolts away, thinking the ones in the kit would work. I recommend using the original bolt and replacing the bushings.

In the rear, I used rubber because the only fluids are in the differential, which isn't really near anything rubber but the sway bar inner bushing. But that's protected by the sway bar bracket. I didn't but a kit because I didn't know what I was getting into with the rear end. It's a good thing too, because I ended up having to replace the trailing arms, so those bushings would've not been needed. I don't have a press, so I also bought strut rods with the bushings already installed. Since my car is a '79, I had the metal leaf spring and went with the rubber bushing there as well. All said, I'm very pleased with the the results of poly up front and rubber in the back. Good luck.

 

[QUOTE=Mike Ward;1578395528]That's what 'search' is for......

I searched the entire database and found no technical reason to not use Poly that made any real sense, mainly just a lot of opinions. But when I searched the entire internet, I found some real good reading about pros and cons of both and so I went with poly. I suggest the OP do the same and not give himself a narrowed view based only on this forum when rubber vs poly is a hashed out issue on every car forum that exists. So I was only curious as to the technical reasons for not using poly.

 

You couldn't have tried very hard

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...r-or-poly.html

or:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/sear...rchid=25614237

if you feel like reading up and actually being informed.

 

In my opinion, for a street car, poly is generally not the best choice. The noise, vibration and harshness will be worse with poly bushings.
The best bang for the buck, once you know everything is good on the suspension, is the addition of moderately sized swaybars front and rear. I'm running an 1 1/8" front bar, with stock rubber frame mount bushings and poly end link bushings. In the rear, I'm running a 9/16" bar salvaged off of a big block car, with completely stock frame mount bushings and end links. I tried poly on the control arms and such, but I did not like the increased NVH of them. Changed 'em back to rubber.

 

Again. A thread full of opinions on feel and what people liked and didn't like. No technical reasons at just as I said. And I did read them.

 

Is this 'technical' enough for you or 'just opinion'

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1576553177-post29.html

 

If synthetic rubber was good enough for most folks over a 20 year period of C3 production, I have a hard time understanding why it isn't OK now. The OP is not doing anything 'exotic' with the car...just wants to have a decent suspension in it. In fact, either poly or rubber will get the job done. Rubber is more compliant and offers more 'give' than poly. It is also quieter...although I don't know that poly is 'noisy' to any significant degree. Rubber is less expensive...and that's a fact!!

Poly will NOT do well when used for trailing arm bushings (rear suspension) as it will not freely allow camber changes as the suspension moves up and down.

Basically, do what you want. But rubber is less expensive and offers better cushioning.

 

I said that trailing arms are a different animal. And that is because of axis changes. But to answer your question no matter how you spin it that is still opinion. The guy is very well spoken but is only giving the original reason for rubber and then saying since poly does not have the same characteristics it is somehow bad and i completely disagree except on trailing arms. I'n fact the ONLY reason for torquing with them loaded is to let them center so they don't tear from the shell if done before. Poly turns i'n the shell and on the sleeve. The writer stated old data applied it to new Technology i still say i'n any application on a C3 except trailing arms poly IS an upgrade based on the characteristics of poly versus rubber. So unless you have something else better that is still opinion albeit very well written .....

 

OK, let's your technical dissertation on the superiority of poly. No 'opinons'

 

You started all the talk about technical reasons for the superiority of Rubber not me, don't drag me into your nightmare. Frankly since everything I read here on the subject was opinion, I simply read anything else I could find on both and came to my own conclusion, and that is all I ever suggested the OP do, you were the one saying there were ample technical threads on the subject which it turns out was not technically true....but in this day and time a well worded dissertation on a subject can garner followers as you have proven. I am done bantering about on this subject as it has run its course. I am happy with the choice I made and would do it again, but rubber is fine as well, the topic is really not worth the effort either of us have given to it in this thread.

 

Translation:

I got sucked in by the hype like many people but won't admit it.

That's OK, have fun anyway.