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Has anyone replaced their rear leafspring with a coilover setup similar to the Sharkbite? They claim true independent suspension handling improvements. Other considerations:
1. How is the ride?
2. Were you able to lower the car 2" as advertised?
3. If you lowered it, how was the ride after lowering?
From: I tend to be leery of any guy who doesn't own a chainsaw or a handgun.
Originally Posted by Redheat
Has anyone replaced their rear leafspring with a coilover setup similar to the Sharkbite? They claim true independent suspension handling improvements. Other considerations:
1. How is the ride?
2. Were you able to lower the car 2" as advertised?
3. If you lowered it, how was the ride after lowering?
Thanks for your input!
Suspension design/geometry determines the level of independence between the wheels, not the choice of spring design.
Ride quality is determined by vehicle weight, spring rate, shock stiffness, and tire sidewall stiffness. Nothing new under the sun here.
I have the front and rear kit, the car rides much better. Mostly because I can dial in the shocks to my liking, then fine tune the rebound and compression for the roads here.
I still keep the half shafts adjusted correctly 1/2" higher with the inner and outer u-joint with 1/2 tank of gas.
I also used the VPB heim joint smart struts with lowering bracket.
I think it handles great but I have no clue what it would do at the limit.
I've been doing some research on this topic as well. There are several good threads already on this forum and it sounds like most who have installed front and rear coil overs are happy with the results. From what I've read Vette Brake Products and Van Steel seem to be very popular. It seems that for a street car its more popular to improve on the original design with better components and swapping to a composite rear spring. I'm still doing my research and I am no authority, this is just my observations so far.
Last edited by OldCarBum; Feb 3, 2017 at 11:54 AM.
I have the front and rear kit, the car rides much better. Mostly because I can dial in the shocks to my liking, then fine tune the rebound and compression for the roads here.
I still keep the half shafts adjusted correctly 1/2" higher with the inner and outer u-joint with 1/2 tank of gas.
I also used the VPB heim joint smart struts with lowering bracket.
I think it handles great but I have no clue what it would do at the limit.
Dan,
Your ride height is impressive. I too have a roadster. My point was that I didn't want to sacrifice ride for being lowered. What tire dimensions do you have? What are VPB heim joint smart struts with lowering bracket?
Thanks for your response,
Russell
Last edited by Redheat; Feb 3, 2017 at 09:43 PM.
Reason: Added info
I've been doing some research on this topic as well. There are several good threads already on this forum and it sounds like most who have installed front and rear coil overs are happy with the results. From what I've read Vette Brake Products and Van Steel seem to be very popular. It seems that for a street car its more popular to improve on the original design with better components and swapping to a composite rear spring. I'm still doing my research and I am no authority, this is just my observations so far.
Thanks for your response. I don't think that any leaf spring technology will do the trick, but neither am I an authority. The ability to lower the car seems limited. I have searched the threads but not found much info.
From: I tend to be leery of any guy who doesn't own a chainsaw or a handgun.
Originally Posted by Redheat
Thanks for your response. I don't think that any leaf spring technology will do the trick, but neither am I an authority. The ability to lower the car seems limited. I have searched the threads but not found much info.
A leaf spring will do anything that a coil spring will do. The upside of coils is that there is generally more selection of rates available. The downside is that the coilover shock is generally a lot more pricey than a regular body shock.
You can raise or lower the ride height with either setup (coil or leaf). Nothing magical about that.
Dan,
Your ride height is impressive. I too have a roadster. My point was that I didn't want to sacrifice ride for being lowered. What tire dimensions do you have? What are VPB heim joint smart struts with lowering bracket?
Though not as fancy as DD's killer ride with the front and rear coils, I posted this question a few years ago. I wanted to lower the front and not go through again with task of pulling springs cutting and reinstalling.
DD suggested the Shark Bite Coilovers and after doing some research settled on them for the front. I have a VBP fiberglass spring in the rear. They do cost more but after the suspension was all done, alignment done it was worlds better and drove out very nicely.
I have not tracked the car but I'm sure it would do very well
Coilover rear and front replacement
