Redefined

PFADT/LG - so I'm new to the vette world and when searching for coilovers it seems there 'was' 2 big players in the mid-level world, LGM and PFADT. Now everything I read about PFADT is old, before they 'went out of business'. It now appears they are back and purchased by aFe with the Johnny O'connel suspension setups now. I can't seem to find much information on them since their return. I spent some time on the phone with LG yesterday but it looks like the goto forum person, Anthony, is no longer with them. I wasn't terribly impressed with the answers to my questions and felt like maybe the salesman was new - no fault of his own in that case. I'd love to talk with Lou. I had been looking to get used but after reading that the g2 are specced to you when you order (race car, street, car etc) I've decided not to buy those used unless the owner knows exactly what they are (a few used ones are second hand already and they don't know how they were built). I've also gotten mixed answers on the gt2 as far as spring rates, spring sizes etc in case I wanted to change out springs down the road.

So, thoughts on coilovers? Anyone running any of the aFe Johnny (PFADT reborn) coilovers/sways? Go with LG? Other options I should be looking at? I've noticed a few Penske 3 way shocks for sale on the forums without springs but assume they can be converted with just a little bit of hardware.

Car is a weekend/nice weather car that will see 3-5 DE's a year for fun when I'm not racing.

Ok enough of a brain dump - what'cha think? Thanks!

ByByBMW

This isn't going to help answer your question, sorry. But I was amazed when I read your post about Pfadt going out of business. I left the Corvette family for about 5 years starting in 2012 but up until then, Pfadt was THE coilover of choice. Every report I ever read about their product was glowing.
That being said, do you know what happened, IE why they went out of business?
If aFe bought Pfadts quality and technology, they should be a good bet.
Good luck.

Redefined

I don’t know for sure and everything I read is before they went under. Looked like their customer service went downhill and they had a lot of part failures that they didn’t help the customers. Seemed to be a lot of ticked off people at them. Having a super hard time finding information on the parts that they are selling now.

Turbo6TA

You can still buy PFADT coilovers, headers, etc from aFe Power

https://afepower.com/vehicle-platfor...e?limit=36&p=2

Redefined

Yes I’m aware, hence my post. Hah. I can’t find any reviews or feedback on the “new” things since back in business.

Turbo6TA

Sorry, I can't help you there.

I do have a set of PFADT headers on my GS that were purchased prior to PFADT going out of business, and they are great! ... Build quality second to none.

Good luck finding out more about the coilovers.
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I would think that Johnny O'Connell would not put his name on a product that was inferior.



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CrvtBB

I heard it was a capital/cash-on-hand problem. They didn't have sufficient capital stream to fund all of the orders they were getting and the delays and subsequent cancelled orders basically sunk them. Happened shortly after they started producing their headers if I recall. Looks like AFE came in with the capital injection to get them back up and running. I have the Johnny O'Connell sway bars and they are an excellent product.

davidfarmer

Pfadt was being squeezed between investors trying to maximize profits and Aaron trying to maintain quality and develop new products, as I understand it.

So the good news is I really like the Pfadt design. They offer great performance, and maintain nice ride quality. The LG's are stiffer and more track oriented, so keep that in mind based on your driving needs.

The bad news is I had a ton of customers have nearly brand new coil-overs leak right away from Pfadt as they were shutting down. This left people scrambling for repairs, and many people ended up tossing the Pfadt products and going to other suppliers. As far as I know AFE is servicing both old and new Pfadt products now, but I'd certainly check the ongoing serviceability before doing any further business with them.

I'd also stay away from their multi-piece sway bars, I've had several break and the joints are never solid. The design has been refined, but I'd prefer a solid bar like T1/G1 or even their own Johnny O bars!

Redefined

Good info! Weekend/nice weather car that will see ~6 de weekends a year. I was leaning towards the Johnny stage 2 setup. I might hit up the drag strip with friends just for kicks so adjusting for that would be nice vs the G2s. Just wasn’t totally sure on the Johnny blacks vs the pfadt track/street lightweights.

Redefined

Well I pulled the trigger and got the Johnny O Black Stage 2 coilover/sways package! Next up, harness bar and HOPEFULLY fitting a Recaro SPG XL seat....... fingers crossed it fits.

LFZ

Don't buy any Pfadt junk. Buy from a company that actually uses their products on race cars. That is LG.

Redefined

Honestly, I tried. I called twice and got the same guy both times. I wasn't impressed with the responses I received which included general questions such as "tell me about gt2 vs g2 coils". Left a bad taste in my mouth. Apparently Anthony, who seemed to be the forum go-to-guy, isn't there anymore. I decided against the g2's as I wanted adjustability to be able to do street/track/drag/half mile with the same suspension and the gt2's I couldn't get any answers out of LG when I was asking questions.

I have no doubt LG is good - for now I'll see how my purchase goes. Wish I could have talked with Lou - I did email him.

Turbo6TA

If PFADT was junk, then why did GM / Pratt & Miller choose to use PFADT suspension components (to include the PFADT coilovers) in the ZO6X concept race car?

You can advance this video to 4:18 minutes if you don't believe me:

LFZ

The "Pfadts" mentioned they used on the Z06X concept were the double adjustable coilovers with separate canisters. If I remember correctly, the shock itself was designed and built by Ohlins while the springs are Eibach. It appears Pfadt just threw on their collars and mounts and called them Pfadts. Those coilovers are a completely separate system than the off the shelf Featherlights or anything that is offered from AFE currently.

Also, the Z06X concept with that suspension was offered way before the fallout of Pfadt. Trust me, I jumped the Pfadt bandwagon and went through 2 sets myself and installed 3 different sets on a friend's Z before having a set that actually worked. My final set of Pfadts, I had to talk to someone higher up and get a set specifically rebuilt sets that actually worked.

I then got into some LG G2s and realized what a track car was supposed to feel like. The Pfadts were absolute junk for the track or any sort of aggressive driving. For full street setup..I suppose they are fine, but after going the trouble I had, they just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Turbo6TA

Okie Dokie ...

Jjagg0125

So how do you like the afe Johnny O'Connell coilovers?

Redefined

Well that's a funny story. 3 weeks after ordering they still had not shipped, no email updates, no updates to my account when logged in, etc. Called a few times, after transfer after transfer they'd say they'd be shipping soon. Since I ordered from AFE they would have to look it up elsewhere, since I guess AFE and PFADT still operate out of different locations. Another 1 goes past and still nothing, no help when I call just the same series of transfers and everyone sounding like they haven't a clue what's going on.

I was sick of waiting at this point, that's a lot of money to sit there with no updates. So I reached out to LG, which also took a while to get answers. The sales guy on the phone didn't seem to know answers to the questions so I pushed to talk with Lou. Once I was finally able to talk with Lou he answered my questions and gave me a good deal. So I ended up cancelling the Johnny coils and got the LG GT2 coils and big sway kit with end links... I installed them last week since I finally had time to work on the car. In 2 weeks I'm testing them for 3 days at Road Atlanta. So far they are great on the street, only driven about 100 miles with them though.

BigKev119

Any more updates as to how they LG's are holding up and performing?

Also were you able to install the Recaro's? If so, which seat rail did you use? Did you have any issues installing the seat?