wrencher60

Is anybody running the Ride-Tech coil-over suspension in there C-3. Looks like a pretty good true independent rear suspension that does away with the leaf spring and gives you easy ride-height and handling tenability. A little pricey, but was wondering how well it worked, if anyone has any experience with it.

Shark Racer

I have it on mine. There's a bit of noise added, but it rides well and handles better than stock. I also like not having the liability of a fiberglass leaf spring hanging over the rear exhaust.

69427

Can you explain why you think the factory setup is not "true" independent suspension?

wrencher60

You have a single leaf spring tying the two trailing arms together, but it is bolted in the middle, so it kind of is still independent. That was more of a quote from Ride-Tech.

wrencher60

I hear you on the fiberglass spring, and the one I've had on there for about 10 years rides kind of harsh, and it takes about a 10" bolt to get the ***-end down where it needs to be.

69427

Here's a little experiment for you. Take a stock C3 Corvette and pretty much any modified C3 Corvette (with coilovers or leaf spring). Drive over a 2x4 with the right rear tire. What happens? Do the cars do two different things?

69427

You have a spring with an incorrect arc. The arc should be shallow for a stiff spring, and noticeably shaped into an arc if the spring rate is low. A properly made leaf spring won't require excessively long hanger bolts.

wrencher60

Maybe so on the arc, but I don't want to buy another spring, don't really like the set up, can't really put a tire any wider than a 255 on there. I figured if I'm going to get some offset trailing arms, might as well look into the Ride-Tech, looks to be a well built set-up, and has plenty of adjustment for handling and ride height.

lvrpool32

if you are running wheels bigger than 15" (17" ,18" )offset trailing arms aren't necessary to fit wheels with greater than 4" backspace. You will need to move the e-brake mount. You can squeeze a 10" wide wheel with 5.5" backspace on most of these cars, after that the chassis rail gets in the way.
Also if your determined to do the coil overs on the rear, check out Van Steel's offering. Maybe a little less "bling" than Ridetech but works very well.

wrencher60

Thanks for the info on the other choices out there. What was happening on my tires, (255-15's) was the end of the leaf spring was rubbing on the inside of the tire during hard cornering. Only has about 1/2" clearance at rest. Since I am in the middle of a frame-off I am exploring my options.
.

Crimson Thunder

Where is the added noise coming from?

73racevette

I am in the middle of installing the ridetech level 2 system on mine. It is quality stuff and a pretty easy install especially during a frame off. Will be a while until I get to see how it rides.

0Smitty@ridetech

Well I have a ton of experience with it. It flat out is a awesome kit and the ride quality is second to none. The 48Hr car even rides well on full race setup.

NewbVetteGuy

Hmm... I'm confused; I thought by-definition a rear leaf spring meant that you don't have an independent rear suspension... No?

69427

No.

bmans vette

I picked up Van Steel's offset rear trailing arms with the perch for the coil overs and the heim front bearing.
They sold them to me bare because I already had the QA-1 setup for the springs that I wanted.
Great looking setup and very inexpensive compared to a full set up from someone else.
Have not installed them yet but sure matches my plans.

Bman

bmans vette

wrencher60

Does that set-up use the stock location for the upper shock mount, I wasn't able to find a good picture of that set-up on the car. The picture of the kit showed some little reinforcement brackets, but I wasn't sure where those were installed. The Ride-Tech set-up looks like it moves the shock mount pretty much where the leaf spring would be. Not sure which location is optimal, cause I don't know squat about suspension, but I think with a coil-over set up you need pretty strong mounting points. I think that is why I'm kind of leaning toward the Ride-Tech set-up.

SH-60B

I saw it autocross last year at the Eastern States Goodguys summernats. That car is a brutal competitor.

69ttop502

I am doing the Ridetech rear on my car. I think the big advantages of the rear system is that the spring and shock are behind the axles so it is more responsive to adjustments. The trailing arms are a work of art also, although Tracdogg is modifying mine to work with my 1480 spindles. I think I am going to love the system!

I also believe Van Steel will be coming out with a newer system according to a couple of posts I have seen. Also Detroit Speed. Can't go wrong with Ridetech though.