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I have GW lower and upper front control arms with their recommended Viking coil overs in the garage waiting to be installed over the winter. Thinking about doing the rear too. Either van steel or shark bite. Would like to hear from you guys that run front and rear coil overs. How much of a difference do they make for everyday driving?
I have GW lower and upper front control arms with their recommended Viking coil overs in the garage waiting to be installed over the winter. Thinking about doing the rear too. Either van steel or shark bite. Would like to hear from you guys that run front and rear coil overs. How much of a difference do they make for everyday driving?
I always scratch my head and laugh when somebody says that I'm scheduled the work for the winter.
And I'm in South Georgia so we don't have many cold days here at all. What I should have said was "to be installed sometime soon". Rain keeps me off the road more than Winter.
BTW: How much difference would a larger diameter sway bar make? Or is it overkill for a street car?
A lot....
Thats what I'm hpoing for. That shark bite rear looks great!
Last edited by Bloodzone; Aug 4, 2017 at 07:26 AM.
I'm 1.5 hours below Macon so I'm not really that close to Summit but I'm close enough to get my parts next day from normal mail. That comes in handy. Feel for you driving in Atl traffic. That place is crazy.
You north Ga people have cars shows seems like every weekend. I would enjoy that.
Nov 4th Wings and wheels show at Warner Robins AFB. Always a good turnout if your interested in that sort of thing.
Last edited by Bloodzone; Aug 4, 2017 at 08:07 AM.
The big advantage to coil overs is the adjustability. For street use ? I personally don't see the need.
gkull- what springs are you running up front with a 520 rear ?? sorry for the hijack.
Last edited by Pop Chevy; Aug 4, 2017 at 10:08 AM.
Thats a big part of what I'm looking for. I want more control over my ride height. At the moment I'm running cut down springs in front to lower it where I like it. I also need more caster after doing a Borg upgrade. My new upper control arms have extra caster and I went with a lower arm that has a 1" or 2" of drop built in. Hoping after install I can align the front with at least +4 caster and have it low where I like it.
Other than adjustability, I can't see how there can be any kind of technical advantage. A spring and a damper is a classic method of keeping the suspension under control. Does co-locating the two dynamic mechanisms make anything better? Does the car truly ride better in some fashion? I don't think so.
you wont see the full benefits from coil overs unless you buy adjustable rear shocks/coil overs also. I have the fronts on my car with 450 lbs springs, the car sits at a tolerable level to match the rear with stock spring bolts. I cant lower it anymore due to the length of the spring it puts the adjustment nuts at the bottom of the coil over so the only way I can go is up. Adjusting the front shocks to your liking without the rear provides different ride and handling characteristics which can result in and unstable car if pushed to hard. I bought mine for the ride height, the 450 lbs springs are a good match to what ever mono spring is on my car.
The lower control arms I have (uninstalled atm) have the shock attachment area lower than normal. They are made for people who plan on dropping the front end. I'm hoping I can go as low as I want with running into other issues.
I'm running a fiberglass spring now. Leaning towards the shark bite.
The big advantage to coil overs is the adjustability. For street use ? I personally don't see the need.
gkull- what springs are you running up front with a 520 rear ?? sorry for the hijack.
I have a really lite front end. I'm at a rear 58% 42% front. Real open wheel road racing winged cars àre as high as 70% rear bias
So for my dual adjustable qa1s up front I have 650 # for street driving. I had 550# vb&p one inch shorter for 20 years before going coil over front
If you need a new set of trailing arms- the Vansteel rear coilover is a no-brainer-
A performance rear suspension kit is around $1300+
The VanSteel WITH NEW trailing arms is about the same ( ask for a 10% Corvette Forum discount) The kit above does come with shims smart struts and sway bar- but that's way less than a pair of NEW trailing arms-
The pictures of the underneath these different setups are great. Can I possibly see the way your cars sit and is it just a matter of getting the desired height by adjusting the coil overs?
Thank you
RVZIO
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How much better are coil overs?
