I know those of you WITH the DRM CoilOver's will say it is..but maybe not...What I want to know, is the $2000 really worth it to me. Now, I don't professionally road race my vette, but I do drive it aggressive and go on cruises with other agressive drivers, and I would like to possibly get into autocrossing...but my MAJOR concern is, with the CO's, would it improve RIDE quality? As opposed to riding HARSH, would it ride smoother, while also making the handling better?

 

Not worth it.....

 

Personally I'd do the QA1 coilover option for much less.

 

I was reading about those...hopefully someone with them will step in and give their $0.02...

 

Hey Tim,

I have coil overs from DRM but did not spend $2000 on them.

The coilover improved my ride quality alot from my new KYB shocks and 12 year old FE1 springs. But it was a harsh ride sitting behind the drivers seat comming back from SAC. (My suspension parts are all heim link. execpt the polygraphite on shock mounts and A-arm bushings)

The handling is a slot car.

To smoothen out the ride use lighter springs.

 

Very interested. I hope to do this upgrade soon.

 

I have heard you have to redesign the way the shocks mount in rear (I think, might be front). Anyway, they need to be redesigned for the QA1 coilovers as you risk huge damage if you ever really work the system.

I don't know if DRM's come with a redesign like that or not. But I would say you probably don't need them.

Mind you, do those and for auto-x you will be in SM2 with 100k+$$$ modified cars. Good luck with that!

(P.S. I am in SM2 because of my 383, trust me, I know)

 

I was hoping to stay in SP if possible...or any lower class I can get in to!

 

I have to run in SM2. But until I run anywhere close to A-stock best times, I don't think it makes much difference.

 

coilovers will bump you into a class you probably don't want to run in.

 

I like my DRM, ride on bad roads it going to be bad no matter what you do. Yes, I have to run higher autoX class but I'm just learning & don't feel I'm that far out of the hunt. The quickest guys trailer in or have extra wheels & Dot-R tires. I like the fact that I drive in & also have a nice drive home. To top it off, when I compare my times to what I see some C5 cars I feel VERY good about how I'm doing.

 

This is a good point, and I may be off about the SM2 thing, I thought it pushed you there. But now that I think about it, that may be wrong, either way though it will be a higher class.

One other thing to note though, see what your local club is like. 9 of 11 events I have a shot of placing in SM2, it's just those events when guys come with real SM2 cars that it is all over. We are a small club though.

 

DRM coilovers here. Love them, and they do not cost 2,000. I already had the FX3 shocks and just had them notched to accept the coilovers.

Install is straightforward.

 

Mo Bandys Site if you haven't already seen it:

Clicky on "Mo's Coilovers"

http://www.ndneyes.com/mo/

Be ready for teh groovy music.

 

Thanks Victor...

I install Qa1's about sheesh 4 years ago.... aside from "playing " around with a few spring rates, I have had no issues...

I have the parts listed on the site if you were to get them from Summit.

On my 96 I did not have to modify the towers. I have "heard " that it maybe necessary onthe earlier C4's but canno swear to it.

There is one project that I do want to finish and that is the lower shock mounts on the rears... Tus fr they have hld yup to close to 30,000 miles of driving cross country and daily driving.

I just finished putting a LT4 396 with a V1 Vortech in ... a insanely tire hazing animal....

If anyone has any questions feel free to PM or email me... I'll be happy to share...

Mo

 

Mo,

What spring rates did you finally settle on and why?
What are you doing with your GS these days? Drag racing, AutoX, etc.

 

I saved your well done website for the shock info. Cool tune, I love the blues!

 

wdo-mkr,

I'm pretty much street driven and drag racing..... but nothing "real serious"...with the last update of the engine it will "theoretically" put me in the 10's .. so i need ot get a roll bar setup ...

I'm running 400's in the front and 250's in the rear. Using HAL4558's in the front and HAL 5558's in the rear, so 10 inch springs in the front 12's in the rear... The front should be a bit higher spring rate... I think I need to go back up a bit since the angle of the front coil overs, the 400's equate to about a 255# spring rate. To get 400 at the ball joint you need abbout 625 rate at the front spring. The stock FE1 is about 350 # which would mean you need to be at about 550 to be equal to the stock springs. The rear is about 148 stock. With the shock almost vertical it is almost 1:1 the rate would be virtually the same as the spring itself .

I'm running about 27" height at the front wheel lip and 27 3/4 at the rear.

Corvette Kid NC

Thanks for the kudos.. As posted above, you may want to up the front coil a bit.. especailly if you are droppig the car. The nose valance seems to bottom on dips... I have run up to 600's on the front and it felt good.
As I mentioned I have played with the rates a bit, at 36 dollars a spring it is not a big investment... don't go lower than a 350 (it equates like a 210# in the front. The springs will not support the car...

Hope this helps,

Mo

 

Thanks Mo. I appreciate the feedback as well. I assume you are dropping one or both of the links on the front sway bar when you drag race? Any autocross on this setup? I have a few more pounds with the lt5 as well, so I was curious to see what you were doing in the spring rate area. Would you mind sending me a part # for the 625 you are running now? I am going to assume 10 inch springs here given the shock you are running.

 

Hey wdo-mkr,

The part number from Summit is a HAL-10-650 or you could drop to a 600 the part number works as a 10 is the spring height and the following number is the spring rate.

The luxury is they are only like 30 bucks ea., so you can see what works for you...

Below is a link:

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...h.asp&N=400026

Actually you and I should be fairly close, as I have an additional weight of about 70 pounds with the supercharger mounted in the front. I'm still running a 26 mm / 24mm swaybars, I just haven't gotten around to a larger one. So the car still understeers a bit when you are in it hard...HEH

Hope this helps,

Mo