https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ld-thread.html

My son and I are thinking about going with this.

https://www.ridetech.com/product/wil...1979-corvette/
https://www.ridetech.com/product/coi...8-79-corvette/
https://www.borgeson.com/Corvette-P-...-Steering.html

Any opinions, advice, critiques, alternatives?

 

My ridetech setup is great! I only did the rear, but it was a massive improvement in handling and comfort as well as much easier to work on than the stock setup.

That said, if money is no object - Detroit Speed's decalink and speedray kits improves on the system geometry, adds CV joints and a much stouter differential than anything short of one of the very rare IRS 12-bolt setups can make. I think it's worth considering as an option.

 

I love the Ridetech stuff. I have the rear system as well. I am using their coilovers in front as well as the front sway bar. Not using the front spindle or a arms. I don’t like that their spindle uses a smaller front wheel bearing than stock. Went for the Global West upper and lower Coilover arms and adapted the Ridetech Coilover and sway bar to them.

 

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear from those that are actually using the Ridetech setup. We saw the Detroit Speed stuff while doing our research. Looks really good. We’re already pushing it cash wise with the Ridetech though. I agree that’s it’s worth considering.

 

I ran the ride tech rear and vansteele front I like it very much .

 

I am also using the Ridetech. Track 1 with a Ford 9” in the rear and a custom true coilover in the front. Like Bill, stock C3 big bearing spindles and GW tubular control arms.



Global West with a custom Ridetech true coilover up front.

Ford 9” with Ridetech Track 1 components in the rear.

Everything is beefier to handle the torque.

 

Thanks, good info. Weird that they use smaller bearings. How much adaptation did it require?

 

I think this is more of a product that the ‘vette uses Impala components, as opposed to the Camaro/Nova components that 1G Ridetech uses.

 

I plan on going with the Ridetech rear w/C7 hubs minus the rear end and Vansteel front tubular A-Arms w/QA1 double adj shocks front and rear. However, this requires custom order shocks to fit the Ridetech rear suspension.

I like this set up because it replaces all bushings on the suspension with solid mounts except for the delrin bushings on the A-arms.

Ridetech - $3,900
Vansteel - 3,000
QA1 Rear Coilovers - $670

Total - $7,570

If you go single adjustable, it will save you $500.

 

Ridetech used to make a quality product anymore,not so much. I had a set of Shockwave airbags on a 63 Nova years ago that were absolute garbage. After replacing them 3 times I finally went with h a set of coil overs,for the money I'd look at DSE before I'd even think about Ridetech.

 

Not much. Mark (Factoid) from the post above steered me right on this one. He did his before me and really steered me in the right direction. It only took a couple of measurements and then he put me in touch with a great guy at Ridetech named Darren, who sold me what I needed to make it work. I really think the stock spindles are the best out there for our cars. The Global West arms have probably the best bushings as well with their Del al um. The Ridetech stuff is great as well and was a very easy install. Hit Mark up with any questions as well as he really helped me and knows his stuff.😀👍

 

Well, thanks, Bill!😎

Here is the lowdown in Ridetech. They design all of their street components to be bolt ons. No welding, grinding, etc. This way you can return it to stock if desired. Not so in their race products like the Track 1 rear setup I posted above. I had to cut off the stock snubber bracket and weld two brackets to the frame as you can see in the picture.

In order to have a bolt on solution for the front that uses a true coilover, they had to design a lower control arm that allowed a longer shock body while maintaining the proper geometry. Recall that you cannot use a true coilover in the front on a C2/3 with stock arms or most of the other aftermarket arms because the stock upper spring mount has a very small hole designed for a standard shock, not a shock body with an upper coilover mount. It simply will not fit through the oem shock hole in the upper spring mount. This is why almost every after market company only offers a “semi coilover” meaning the lower spring mount is a conventional coilover mount, while the upper spring perch is the oem frame mount. Ridetech designed a lower control arm allowing a longed coilover body. Notice on their true coilover, the shock tower is quite a bit longer than others with the upper coilover spring mount lower than most coilovers. This longer shock tower can clear the oem frame upper spring mount with the coilover upper spring mount now safely below the oem frame upper spring mount.

The next challenge was the spindle. A stock spindle is not tall enough for the newly designed lower arm. Ridetech doesn’t make spindles, so they looked around and found that an F-body spindle was perfect and then designed the upper arm to fit. The chosen spindle is not even close to the strength of the oem 69-up C3 spindle, however the C3 spindle is significantly stronger than most of us will ever use. On my C2, I am running wide flares to accommodate 315/35-18 tires and almost 600hp. I wanted the big bearing C3 spindles and tubular control arms, so as you can see in the picture that’s what I have. What you can’t see is I also wanted a true coilover and was willing to modify the frame as required. I measured ride height and required shock range and Ridetech built me a true coilover for the same price as their stock parts. Darren will tell you they have a whole array of shock lengths and tower spacers, so it was easy. I then ground out the upper frame spring pocket so it would fit. One other caution! The upper shock mount on a C2/3 was never meant to carry the weight of the vehicle, so if you go this way you need to weld up the upper shock mount and reinforce it.

Hope that helps,



Custom made front true coilovers.

I aligned the front end before installing the mount by jacking up the lower control arm to ride height and adjusting caster/camber.

This is the rear Track 1 set up prior to installation.

Comparing old, oem trailing arms to new Ridetech.

 

Ridetech is a really great system but it was over my budget so I went with Van Steel coil over suspension on the front and rear.

 

I looked at the Van Steel stuff. I see some kits use the QA1 coilovers, which a lot of people like.

I didn’t think that the Van Steel kits were cheaper. What all did you go with?

https://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?f...SAAEgJ2J_D_BwE

 

Basically I did everything.
Complete coil over rear suspension with single adjustable QA-1 shocks, smart struts with hiem joints, upper and lower tubular A arms, front coil overs with single adjustable QA-1 shocks, 1 1/8" front sway bar, and all the little things that go with it.
Van Steel was a big help is advising me what was best for my suspension needs.
They didn't try to sell me anything that I didn't need and their customer service was great.

 

Thanks. That was less than Ridetech? I’ll have to look at it again.

Their stuff looks great and everyone seems to like the QA-1 stuff too.

How’s the stance and ride comfort? We want the 2”drop. Did you drop it any?

Would the double adjustable be worth it? We want to lean more towards comfort than high performance handling.

Did you go with a Wilwood brake kit too?

 

I have nothing against the Ridetech stuff, but I went with Van Steel also. My rear hubs needed rebuilding. They are local-ish so I took them my old rear arms. When I picked it all up, my rear arms were complete and ready to bolt on...including new e-brake stuff and rebuilt hubs. The price with the extras was similar to the Ridetech price without the hubs/E brake stuff. I think it rides better, but I don't know that comfortable is a term that I would use. It wanders less and is more easily controlled. It is stiffer riding. I ended up with 13 inch Wilwoods all the way around also. My car sits pretty low. IIRC, it's just under 26 inches at the front fender lip. That's with 285/35r18s.

I will say that I do like Ridetech's rear cross member and the shock location. It probably requires a different spring rate than the Van Steel, but I assume they have all that worked out.

Hope this helps, but it probably just adds more for you to think about.

 

I went through Wilwood for my brakes.
I went to six piston calipers in the front and four piston in the rear and stayed with the OEM diameter rotors.
M C will be Wilwood once my new engine is dyno'd and I know what vacuum It will be pulling.
If you are planning your suspension set up, give Dan a call at Van Steel.
They will want to know your style of driving, your intended use of your car and the ride you want to achieve.
Let them know that you want to drop your car 2" so they can get the proper components to set that up the first time (you know 2" drop on a C3 is really radical and will drastically cut down the under car ground clearance).
They designed and tailored all the components in my suspension to my needs, explained how it all worked together and steered me away from the things I didn't really need although they could have made more money.
For example double adjustable QA-1's.
They said they aren't necessary on street cars or even on cars that may see an occasional track day.
Saved me some $$$.
I haven't installed my suspension yet but will be doing so as part of my restomod project.

 

One major difference from Ridetech to Van Steel is that the Van Steel moves the spring in front of the halfshaft whereas Ridetech system has it where OEM had it, behind the halfshaft. More responsive in the OEM location.
Also, really love the sturdiness and design of the Ridetech trailing arms.

 

I’m going to call Dan. The stock ride height/wheel gap looks huge. We didn’t think a 2” drop would be radical at all. We’ll have to reconsider that notion. My son doesn’t want the big wheel slammed looked, just enough close the huge gap. Old school 15’s with big sidewalls. Similar to below

Also good to know that won’t need to go double adjustable. I have coilovers on my Infiniti Q50 I love the 2 way adjustability. I could get the drop that I wanted but set the ride more towards comfort. Huge improvment in handing. I love my Tein set up.

Like @jimco84x said, along with @69ttop502 and @Factoid set up and other’s configurations, it gives me a lot more to think about.