indecision time is finally over. after agonizing over the decision of QA1's vs Koni Sports, i decided to go with the HALs. i autocross often, and i know there will eventually come a time when i want to adjust the rears quickly.

thanks to all of you who helped me make my decision.

i placed the order at Summit yesterday morning & today they are already here!
a great start for the weekend!

before i install it tomorrow, i'd like to know if i will need a spacer/washer in the rear as rumoured. if so, any suggestions on what to use and the size? (ordinary stainless washer? bubble gum?)

 

I used a "sandwich" of a thicker nylon washer surrounded by 2 thin ss washers & it was perfect. Put some good lube on it that won't wash away. Good time to get a good assortment of quality nylon & ss washers for your parts bin.

For front I fabbed a bump stop of a couple of bushings that Naake was nice enough to send me. If you run 1 or 2 clicks in the front you probably won't need it, but I just wanted to be sure.

You might be able to use the stop out of some old oem Bilsteins but I'm not sure on the dia. of the hole.

 

thanks froggy.

did you use the mounting hardware that came with the shock? each shock included two 1/8" washers, two rubber donuts, jam nuts, and for the rears a metal sleeve for the bottom mount.

everything except for the metal sleeve looks like it is intended to be used at the top mount.

 

When you take your OEM units off, pay attention to what hardware is used and in what order. You should be able to replace those pieces one-for-one with what is included with the shocks.

Also, are you lowered at all? If not, I would advise against it because the QA1s which are meant for the stock application do not have enough travel when the front is lowered. Mine is lowered 1-1.5" (didn't do a before/after) and I had to return mine for a shorter body. Naake was kind enough trade me even after I found out the hard way after a couple miles.

As for the rear, I just tack welded up three washers into a spacer... Worked just fine.

 

When I had my QA1s I ended up reusing the stock bushings because the ones they supplied were too small.

As for the rears I went to Home Depot and bought some 1/2" washers and opened up the ID a little bit using a Dremel tool. The problem is that the outside diameter of the washer (spacer) can't be much bigger than 1.25" from what I remember so measure carefully.

 

I reused the stock bushings in the front because they fit better, and used the bushings they sent with the kit for the rear.

 

I ordered new stock bushings & used a combination of HW from the orig. Bil's , some Koni's I did not use & stuff I bought at HW stores.

The QA1's are not a simple out of the box install, but I still prefer the adj. on the bottom & the extra work was not much. Kinda like when you build a race car, you end up fabbing a lot

I have no squeaks, rattles etc. & (as already stated) I adj them all the time for conditions as required.

www.naake.com are really nice to deal with.

 

got em in. install took a leisurely 5 hours - should've been 4 if i didn't go to the hardware store twice, install the rears in backwards, and chase away some stray dog that came in the garage and decide to sleep under the car while i was working on it.

the OD of the rear mounting studs were just over 0.61, so i got some 5/8" steel washers (couldn't find stainless at that size).

i installed the rears with the ***** facing forward first, thinking it looked cool. then the idot alarm kicked in. why face the **** towards rocks and gravel heading at it at 70MPH?

i re-used all the bushings and harware (except the jam nuts) on the fronts. i used all the hardware supplied with the shock for the rears, per shotchkiss' suggestion.

first tried 3 clicks from full soft all around. firm yet soft enough for daily driving (at least for me). added another 3 clicks to see what happens. i could feel every surface imperfection of the road. excellent.

at the harder setting, however, i get a squeak just behind me on large, gentle bumps. i think its the chassis (since it's probably twisting around a lot more) rather than the shocks. i'll probably grease the bushings anyway just in case in addition to a bolt check.

again, thanks for all the input.

 

I am thinking about putting the QA1s on this summer could you elaborate more on the front bump stop. I know this is probably a dumb question but I really didn't see a bump stop in the front. (I've never really closely examined it though). Does any one have any pics of this and the rear spacer you all had to fab up. Also what kind of QA1 do you need if the car is lowered? Thanks

 

The QA1's, are those single adjustables or double adjustables? If they are double adjustable, what is the part number?

I did a search on previous discussions on shocks and someone mentioned that QA1 had double adjustable shocks for a C4. I have only found one place that has double adjustables for a C4 for $325 a pop . Probably the same shock since Carrera makes it but want to make sure.

 

The shocks everyone is using are the single adjustable ones, I don't know if the double adjustable one are available for sale yet. Part #s are on page 57 of http://www.qa1.net/qa1_ms2005.pdf

Theyt have no front bump stops, for mine, I just modified one of the mounting grommets they send to slide over the front shaft so that the C clip wouldn't act as a stop.

For the rears, I just used 3 thick washers on the lower mounting stud after I enlarged the holes in them slightly to fit. If the holes are too big, the washers will slide off to the inside.

 

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having it facing to the rear certainly more difficult than if it was facing forward, but not impossible.

call me paranoid, but here in MI we have a lot of gravel trucks, so i'm not taking any chances.

by the way, did you read that i already damaged the rears?
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1144749