Soft Ride
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 20,393
Likes: 431
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
NCM Member '09
i have had my 86 for 11 years.
I have tried and tried to improve the ride in many ways. Here are a few tips I can offer:
1. The KYB shocks are way stiffer than the bilsteins. I sold my KYB shocks and put the bilsteins back on.
2. The tire pressure in the rear is where you need to adjust.
You are pretty much sitting on the rear tires in a C4. If you leave the front tire pressures at 32 PSI , let the rear tires down to 30 PSI.
3. The front shocks are hampered by the rubber bushings that you have installed. The result is the bushings take up some shock, but then stop dampening when they compress, and the shocks have no road feel. Most modern day shocks have some sort of piston in them that "self adjusts" to control ride using some sort of adjustable orifice to port fluid through-out the shock. using rubber bushings negates the dampening that is built into the shock.
I had a spring shop make some duplicate polyeurethane bushings for the top of the shocks from the originals, and replaced the lower bushings with off the shelf polyeurethane bushings I got from a 4x4 off road store.
BIG DIFFERENCE.
I installed the polyeurethane bushings in the back that fit an 89 suburban 4x4 front shocks, (4 shocks in front option).
4. Sway bars, you can go to a large sway bar in the front, and go to the smallest sway bar in the rear. The sway bar in the rear transmits real time body control in curves, and a smaller bar doesn't transmit jolts as bad.
5. 1986 base springs are the softest in all of the corvette C4 years.
have someone swap out your springs for the early 86 springs.
6. try to keep your gas tank more than half full all the time.
7. switch your seat bottom for hers. usually the driver's seat foam is broken down a little more than the right side, and the firmness just isn't there.
8. I swapped out my cast iron heads for aluminum heads, and the springs don't seem to be so stretched and close to their non linear limits. unfortunately, you already have aluminum heads.
Try some of these little tips, and see what happens.
I have tried and tried to improve the ride in many ways. Here are a few tips I can offer:
1. The KYB shocks are way stiffer than the bilsteins. I sold my KYB shocks and put the bilsteins back on.
2. The tire pressure in the rear is where you need to adjust.
You are pretty much sitting on the rear tires in a C4. If you leave the front tire pressures at 32 PSI , let the rear tires down to 30 PSI.
3. The front shocks are hampered by the rubber bushings that you have installed. The result is the bushings take up some shock, but then stop dampening when they compress, and the shocks have no road feel. Most modern day shocks have some sort of piston in them that "self adjusts" to control ride using some sort of adjustable orifice to port fluid through-out the shock. using rubber bushings negates the dampening that is built into the shock.
I had a spring shop make some duplicate polyeurethane bushings for the top of the shocks from the originals, and replaced the lower bushings with off the shelf polyeurethane bushings I got from a 4x4 off road store.
BIG DIFFERENCE.
I installed the polyeurethane bushings in the back that fit an 89 suburban 4x4 front shocks, (4 shocks in front option).
4. Sway bars, you can go to a large sway bar in the front, and go to the smallest sway bar in the rear. The sway bar in the rear transmits real time body control in curves, and a smaller bar doesn't transmit jolts as bad.
5. 1986 base springs are the softest in all of the corvette C4 years.
have someone swap out your springs for the early 86 springs.
6. try to keep your gas tank more than half full all the time.
7. switch your seat bottom for hers. usually the driver's seat foam is broken down a little more than the right side, and the firmness just isn't there.
8. I swapped out my cast iron heads for aluminum heads, and the springs don't seem to be so stretched and close to their non linear limits. unfortunately, you already have aluminum heads.
Try some of these little tips, and see what happens.
I'm gonna get you McNut....
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 22,267
Likes: 15
From: The light that never warms.
St. Jude Donor '12
TPIS sells a revalved shock that is inexpensive and works really well. I put a set on my old Z51 '85, and liked them a lot. They are just plain black, and used to be carried by MAD. Here they are at the TPIS site, I couldn't find them at MAD anymore.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 53,727
Likes: 5,612
From: Plantation Florida USAF(Retired) 1966-1990
U.S. Air Force
St. Jude Donor '05 thru '26
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Look for better tire, it makes a different. I never thought it would till I replaced with Firehawks. The ride became a sooth ride, and comfortable.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,052
Likes: 1
From: traveling nowhere fast, FL
I softened the ride up on my wife's 93 with the FE1 suspension by swapping in a 96 rear spring. The 96 springs are the softest and it made a huge difference, so much that I will not have to change out the front spring. I wish I would have taken pictures of the springs side by side, because the 96 spring is literally half the thickness of the base 93 spring.
BTW, I am still running the Bilstein Z51 shocks I put on a few years ago and they are fine with the soft 96 rear spring
BTW, I am still running the Bilstein Z51 shocks I put on a few years ago and they are fine with the soft 96 rear spring
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,251
Likes: 2
From: Thomson Georgia
I have the Monroes on one of my 90s. It's a very good shock, no where near as bone jarring as the KYBs that were on there. I'm running a 560 lbs in spring on the front and 450 lbs in on the rear. It doesn't squat on hard launches either.
VB&P does not recommend KYB Gas-Adjust on the vettes ... I know why.
VB&P does not recommend KYB Gas-Adjust on the vettes ... I know why.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,469
Likes: 275
From: Naples FL
I tried the TPIS shocks for a while on my C4. They were great. If you're interested in a quality street shock it's worth looking at. I've tried so many different shocks on my C4 I just forgot about the TPIS units. I remember I really liked them on the street.
Richard Newton
101 Projects for Your Corvette 1984-1996
Autocross Performance Handbook
Richard Newton
101 Projects for Your Corvette 1984-1996
Autocross Performance Handbook
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
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