Hello all,
I know this question has been asked a lot but after reading for a few hours I still have some more direct questions that I can't seem to find the answers to. I have a 99 corvette with ~145k miles on it. I already put a new set of Z06 Shocks on the car and it rides fine if the road is straight and freshly paved, but handling in corners is not as great as I imagine it should be in a vette, and bumps are absolutely terrible. Even small bumps are brutal in this car. Lots of bump steer, thunking, and clunking. I even have some rear end hop going on in some situations. Hitting a bump in a corner is the worse. The entire platform just doesn't feel stable.

So, I figured I'd rebuild the suspension. I don't know if anything has been replaced from stock except the Z06 shocks that I put on there. So I'm going to do bushings and ball joints all around and tie rod ends on the front. While I'm doing that I figured I'd consider coil overs. This car is 90% a weekend fun drive car. I'll take it to the track occasionally when I get done with things but we are talking 6 times a year max probably. But when I am driving it on the street, I drive pretty spiritedly and love curvy roads. So, even off the track I'd like to retain some enhanced handling. If I had coilovers I'd ideally be able to change the damper to be softer when I'm just casually driving and stiffer when I'm going to the track or doing a bout of aggressive driving.

With that said, I had thought I settled on a set of Silver Neomax because they looked like a good cost to performance balance. But then, I saw how the absolutely atrocious rear extenders to be able to adjust the rear dampers. Hard pass lol. I'm not drilling a hole in my trunk and having some little rod just poking up in the middle of the trunk like that. I'd be more likely to cut an access hole and make a lid for it than have that stupid extender just sitting their in the middle of the trunk haha. That might be acceptable on a mostly track car, but not on mine. What other options are there that are good on cost to performance and have damper adjustments that can be reached from outside the car? Worse case if I have to take wheels off to get to might be acceptable, but it would be nice if I could just lay on the ground and reach it or something.

I've also question whether coil overs are even the right move. And I think they are but am open to other suggestions. I just think part of the handling problems I'm feeling is because either the leafs are worn out, or it's just the car is lowered too much with the lowering bolts. It's probably about 1.5 inch below stock right now. I had it lower, but I lifted it back up some simply because getting a jack under it was a pita hehe.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

I had the same harsh bumpy ride when I lowered the '98, the base soft springs and lowering was a bad combination that hammered the shocks. Some Pfadt coil overs were installed resulting in a firm ride due to the stiffer springs, there has to be a really bad road defect to bottom out the suspension now that remains lowered. Holes were drilled in the trunk floor for adjustments and covered with some aluminum tape, the car isn't tracked so the adjustments are never changed. Years ago when the coil overs were installed the suspension parts were changed as you are planning, I wish I had installed grease fittings for the bushings then because after a few years the grease thinned out and the parts started to wear. To add grease fittings, all the suspension parts with bushings had to be taken off the car and the car had to be aligned after. Grease fittings allow you to give the suspension a quick shot of silicone grease every year or two.

 

I’ve had the pfadt double adjustable and now I have LG G2. The LGs are great for the price and the ride is greatly improved. I’d look at them, ridetech, or Vikings.

 

So, I have looked at these other brands as well. Vikings looks really appealing, however, it looks like I could be waiting up to 2 months to get those in. They seem to be only making them to order and have a 6+ week lead time based on where I can find them for sale. I don't want to wait that long to start this suspension rebuild.

Ridetech has a similar problems to the Silvers, accept on the front lol. The adjustment **** is in a stupid location for this car. It's at the very top which on the corvette means it's under the fluid tanks. And based on how hard it is to even get the shock off the car without removing those tanks, I don't think you'd be able to adjust them without considerable effort / removing the tanks.

The pfadt, and LG G2s are both just in a much higher price bracket. LG also has the GT2 which are a little cheaper, but they have the same stupid rear adjustment with an extender (I don't know who the heck thought putting a hole in the trunk and having extenders just dangling out in the middle of the truck was a good solution lol). The LG also seems like it's just a lot more performance oriented, like track oriented. I'm also concerned with how long it would take to get them since they don't have a simple kit with a stated spring rate and instead you have to actually talk with them after ordering and talk to them about the spring rate and valving and such. This means they are not simply ready to ship and would be delayed waiting on them to get them together and ship them out. No where lists what the lead time is on that though. EDIT: oof, I found one thing from last year referencing a 4 month lead time on LGs!... if that is still accurate definitely not waiting that long on them lol.

The only one right now that I've found that doesn't seem to have any of these problems is the Aldan, it's priced similar to the Silver's I was originally looking at. But, it's a little weird how it has adjustable compression in the front and rebound in the rear. I could go with the double adjustable in them I suppose. I haven't really been able to find a ton of reviews for these though to see if they are actually any good or not.

 

So, was doing some more research for a bit tonight.

I also didn't even realize the LG G2 was not adjustable. I didn't put that together when I read the part of having to call them for valving lol. So, definitely rules those out for me since I want the adjustability between street and track.

However, I also actually read (instead of just looking at the pictures) and saw the GT2s were designed specifically with a small gap in the mounting plate for the rear so that the remote adjustment can hangout in the wheel well rather than drilling a hole into the trunk!! This is excellent news and immediately makes the GT2s my top contender. I just have to figure out how long of a lead time it is for shipping now.

I'm really hoping since their website says they are In Stock that means they can ship fairly quickly. Cause as long as they ship within a week (maybe 2 at the very most), I'll probably order a set tomorrow.

 

The LG GT2's seems like a really decent setup. I have a very old set of original PFADT's on my 2000, they are fine, but the adjusters are on the top of front and rear, and they are a pain to get at, like you have mentioned. Also, I think mine are probably due to be gone though, PFADT doesn't rebuild their original model coil overs since AFE bought them out, so I would have to find a shop to do it, then there is lead time and at the end of it I have 15 year old tech, but rebuilt. So, the GT2's are looking good to me. Let me know how LG handles your spring rate selection, my car is a street queen these days, sounds like your use case is similar.

 

I'm running some Aldans and trying to get them lined out, but you're right, there's not much here on the Forum about them. There's a car for sale here that has them and he loves them. Here's also a long thread about another guy using them to Autocross with and loves them as well, but also a few users with problems. Majority in the thread are happy with them.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...coilovers.html
Coilovers aren't a bolt on part so expect to drive, raise car up, adjust *****, drive, raise car up, adjust, and drive until you get the ride quality you like. Also with the Aldans I have to remove the wheels to adjust *****. It's not terrible just a little work to get them where you are happy with the ride. If I was buying some new ones, I'd probably go with some Vikings.

 

Viking Performance

 

The Silver's rear adjusters don't get in the way of much in the cargo area and they sit fine under the targa when being stored, but I get it. You could always them down so they sit closer to flush with the carpet or maybe even under the carpet.

With that being said, there are better options out there, it just depends on your budget and intended use.

I was shopping for something on the lower-mid end for street and ended up settling on Silver's 12k/10k. Didn't like Aldans after looking into the differences, saw reported bushing/mount failure issues with BC's more than once (even though plenty of other guys here haven't had issues), and buying used was out of the question. If I had to do it again, I'd probably give the Silver's double adjustable a second look for a few hundred more. Being able to reach through the spokes up front and just open the hatch in the rear to adjust damping is worth not having to take off wheels and such, even though adjustments are rarely made once you dial it in if you're only doing street driving.

Oh and like Smitty recommended, I'd really consider Vikings as well. Haven't heard a bad thing about them yet and a guy on one of the FB groups made a post about how his Viking replacements outshined his Silver's double adjustable setup instantly in terms of getting his high power car to hook.

 

I have the aldan coilovers. I wish they had made the double adjustable when I bought mine I would have gone that way instead of the single adjustable one. But they have been a decent setup. One thing to note though is that I went with a custom spring rate since I drag race the car. But it sees a lot of driving off the track as well. I have the longer shock option as well and my car is pretty low. I'll take a pic and post it on here in a bit. it also easy to adjust them as well and having the **** on the bottom is much better but downside is if you go as low as me then you have to jack the rear up to reach them.

 

Who are the go to dealers for the Vikings ?