Ridetech suspension durability question

[Brian_P]

Hey all - been following camaros.net a good while but as I get to the suspension portion of my '67 Camaro build, I figured this might be a better forum for advice. I'm facing the same question as most people - how to build a car that will handle like a dream, ride well enough not to make my wife hate it on longer trips, and stay within a tight budget. I was initially debating lowering coils/leafs with new shocks and some form of geometry correction vs. biting the bullet and buying an expensive full-on kit, but the Ridetech Stage 2 system caught my eye as a potential compromise. The price is certainly fair, the content is impressive, and the mostly bolt-in installation saves me hiring someone to do the welding for me (I PCS for the military frequently, so buying a welder probably isn't a great option).

My worry is this: it looks like the front coilover bolts into the upper shock mount. Unless I missed something, on the Gen 1 Camaro, that was just a shock mount, with the spring pocket taking the majority of the load. The shock mount probably wasn't engineered for that kind of loading at all. I know some of you have a lot of hard miles on these kits - does this mount hold up or are there issues with stress cracks? Would it be preferable to budget for something like the Speedtech Chicane mount with the rest of the Ridetech kit for durability? I was always taught to be a little OCD about details and I cringe at the thought of being stuck at the side of the road with a broken upper shock mount… In the same vein, is the rear 4-link pretty durable even if you don't weld it in, or is that pretty much a requirement?

Alternatives I'm considering include the DSE Speed 1 kit with lowering leafs in rear (great parts and easy install with no fabrication costs although nowhere near as much content included as Ridetech), the full Speedtech kit (great stuff, but a bit more welding I'd have to farm out), or pretty much anything else I can beg/borrow/plead down below $4-5K (sadly, all the amazing subframes I see on here are probably out of reach). Thanks for the help!

[MonzaRacer]

Give them a call at 812.481.4787 for more particulars. I can honestly say to you that fears of improper design or quality are completely unfounded. You WON'T find better engineering or design around and those guys are top notch in explaining how and why things work.
As for ride quality AND parts quality, I don't really think you will find any better.
IF you want better ride over better handling lean towards air ride. You wont give a nickels worth of performance and I can guarantee you the ride and performance of ShockWaves or air springs ARE NOT over rated.
Lowering leafs work, no question, BUT the Ridetech springs and shocks, which ever version used will serve you well and faithfully.

[Rod]

no one beats there cars harder than we do......everything is breakable...I race my car some times 3 times a month and it pulls double duty..because if I'm running it, you know the girlfriend is running it also...and on top of that its a daily..just last weekend I snapped a grade 8 bolt that mounts the rear(Helwig) sway bar to the car that doesn't make the Helwig swaybar bad....even our shocks have a million mile warranty...and could still fail....though i have never even had one leak it could happen

if you're worried about the upper shock mounting reinforce it for your own piece of mind

[Brian_P]

Appreciate the input. I've been wrenching on cars for a while but I'm new to modifying them from OEM (not an originality stickler, just didn't have the $ to consider buying decent aftermarket parts when I was a little younger!). I assume there are engineering compromises needed to bolt a suspension into a car with pre-existing space constraints. Unfortunately, I don't know quite know how to judge which ones are problems and which ones aren't. The parts quality looks great, so I suspect failures within the Ridetech components is unlikely, and the GM parts (as sloppy as some of the OEM welds are on them) seem to have been doing just fine for 45+ years. I figured the interface between the two was the potential failure point. However, I doubt I'll ever use my car as hard as some of you guys. If you guys with lots of experience, and a lot of hard miles on the parts aren't having problems, I'm probably unlikely to. Thanks!

[bret]

Appreciate the input. I've been wrenching on cars for a while but I'm new to modifying them from OEM (not an originality stickler, just didn't have the $ to consider buying decent aftermarket parts when I was a little younger!). I assume there are engineering compromises needed to bolt a suspension into a car with pre-existing space constraints. Unfortunately, I don't know quite know how to judge which ones are problems and which ones aren't. The parts quality looks great, so I suspect failures within the Ridetech components is unlikely, and the GM parts (as sloppy as some of the OEM welds are on them) seem to have been doing just fine for 45+ years. I figured the interface between the two was the potential failure point. However, I doubt I'll ever use my car as hard as some of you guys. If you guys with lots of experience, and a lot of hard miles on the parts aren't having problems, I'm probably unlikely to. Thanks!

I understand your concerns...and shared them initially. One thing to consider about that upper mount is that it is got a lot of shape to it. It this were a flat piece of metal the strength would not be sufficient to hold the car up, but with the 3dimensional shape it works fine. Another item to consider is the Delrin swivel ball mount system we use to both spread the load and to eliminate side load and bind...it puts less stress on the mount surface and the shock rod. As Rodney said...we beat our cars line rented red headed mules...no failures in over 15 years. I have seen 2 failures with customer cars in 15 years. One was due to previous accident damage, one due to rust.
As an alternative, speedtech makes a nice upper mount that welds in and uses an eye mount instead of the stud mount. I used this style of upper mount on the Goodguys Camaro just to validate the fitment and it works fine. We have the correct coilover/shockwave fitment info for that application as well.

These are great questions...it shows you guys are paying attention to the right things!

[bret]

Forgot to address the bolt in 4 link question...
When we built velocity a few years ago, we bolted that rear airbar in there and placed a couple of TIG tacks just to see it there was any movement...no movement at all. BUT...our cars are faster now and hand have stickier tires. We welded the cradle on the 48 hr Camaro because the frame rails on that car were thin and we knew what amount of abuse that car would see. I'd rather see a good bolt in installation than a bad weld in installation, but if you have the ability to weld it in properly...weld away!

[Brian_P]

Thanks for the info; that's reassuring!