Ride Comfort of Ridetech Coilovers

[Rod]

Fun thread! digging the meat and potato's

[Bryce]

I just order my ridetech coilovers for the rear of the falcon

[Rod]

I just order my ridetech coilovers for the rear of the falcon

HELL yea!!! Bryce is going to go even faster!....

[Bryce]

HELL yea!!! Bryce is going to go even faster!....

I crossed over to the dark side, and by dark side I mean awesomeness. I cant wait to get them. I wonder how my car would have run this past weekend with good shocks or any rear shocks. LOL.

Maybe there is a way for me to do a comparison? August 4th is the next race.

[Rod]

I crossed over to the dark side, and by dark side I mean awesomeness. I cant wait to get them. I wonder how my car would have run this past weekend with good shocks or any rear shocks. LOL.

Maybe there is a way for me to do a comparison? August 4th is the next race.

if those busted Afco's were Ridtechs they would have fixed them for FREE!!!!! maybe afco will repair them and then you could put them up for sale to help offset the ridetech purchase

[Bryce]

if those busted Afco's were Ridtechs they would have fixed them for FREE!!!!! maybe afco will repair them and then you could put them up for sale to help offset the ridetech purchase

The rears were a TCI shock and they switched to ridetech............ my fronts are still Afco double adjustable and I will make an upgrade next season to a ridetech TQ.

[David LaBuda]

Wow this got a lot more technical than I expected! I'm convinced that the ridetech coilovers are the way to go. Since I will have a high amount of travel in the front and rear the stiffness of the shocks shouldn't be as big of a deal.

[MCB Matt]

We sell ridetech shocks to hundreds....never a complaint. The lower arms align the coil in the pocked properly and provide the correct amout of travel.

Bret makes sure his products are RIGHT before they are released and i have to say i think his shocks have been one of Ridetechs biggest success' i have seen in this business after 13yrs!

Matt

[James OLC]

Ride quality has to do with a lot of things. The tire size, type and condition, wheel size, width, and offset, bushing materials, camber, caster, and toe settings, installed height of the coil spring, spring rate relative to motion ratio (also known as wheel frequency), suspension bushing material, motor and transmission mount material, aerodynamic propertys. That said the ridetech has a ton of the properties that a good street street shock would have, they are definitely not a performance oriented shock, but should out perform the vast majority of the people on here.

Good grief... pull the stick out of your butt and take the chip off your shoulder for just a minute and try to learn something from this site and these people rather than continuing to make blanket statements that you seem so fond of. We get it, you don't think you poop stinks but dude... it does... it's poop. Just because you personally don't like something doesn't make it wrong - whether it's an event, a product, a color, or a darn idea.

...and what properties would make it "not a performance oriented shock"?

I'm sure Mary Pozzi, James Shipka, Rob Mcgreagor, Kevin Miller, Jimi Day, Roger Burman, Josh Leisinger, Brett Cambell, Sal Solorzano, Blake Foster, Troy Trepanier, Alan Johnson, Trent Summers and a few thousand others might be interested in that evaluation.

We switched over to ridetech shocks (from brand P shocks) two and a half years ago after suffering from several failures and getting tired of trying to make a competition shock work on the track AND on the street. In that two and half years we have had zero failures and have had the opportunity to revalve the shocks two or three times - once doing it a couple of times a day, at the race track, in the back of a van. We are FASTER on the RideTech shocks than we were on the brand P shocks - we have the times to prove it. There is nothing about the RideTech shocks that are "cheap" or generic - they are as tunable, adjustable, and serviceable as any similar offering from a competitor. What does differentiate them from many others is what you see in this post - they are involved in our community and they are responsive to our questions and needs.

Full disclaimer - I am not a RideTech dealer but I am a very satisfied customer who just bought three (four?) sets of shocks for just about every car I own or am working on right now. I have enjoyed a working/development relationship with RideTech and will continue to offer my feedback on their products and help test new ideas to make their products better. So yeah... I'm biased but I'm also very happy.

With respect to the OP's questions...

I have no complaints with the ride quality of the coil overs (I've used both single and triple adjustables as well as smoothbores) but you have to ensure that everything is balanced - shock settings, spring rates and spring lengths and shock lengths. One of the more common issues that I have seen are installations where too long a spring (i.e. a 10") is attempted to be compressed to fit and is causing coil bind under hard or abrupt compression. Nothing that the shock can do if it doesn't have the room to move. In many cases I have found it better to use an 8" spring rather than a 10" because it allows a better range of motion. Likewise, it's easy with a lowered car to find yourself with a shock that is near bottoming out if your not paying attention. Overall though make sure to consult with RideTech (or whomever you choose to purchase shocks from) on their recommendation for springs with their shocks. Different manufacturers subscribe to different philosophies (ie. firm springs and soft shocks or visa versa) so mixing and matching advice rarely yields the results you are looking for.

[mpozzi]

And instead of doing the "cut and paste" thing, I'll just agree 100% with what he said ^^^ ... all of it, too!

I've run RideTechs on my Camaro for over two years now and have NEVER had a failure, the ride quality is just fine for a street car, and I love the tuneability and adjustability that these shocks offer. My first set were the SA's coupled with the Hotchkis front coils and from there, we upgraded to TA's with coilovers on all four corners. The cool thing about coilovers is once the shock package is removed from the chassis, you can change out springs in about ten minutes (per shock). I can also say 100% that these shocks have been an instrumental part of my success behind the wheel of both my car and James Shipka's One Lap car. ridetech stepped up shock technology big time when they brought the triple-adjustables out ...

It's more than just a shock, however. The support provided by ridetech is the best ever and I'll never forget that day at Willow Springs where we tested, then adjusted, then revalved the shocks, then tested some more, changed the valving yet again ... ad nauseum. I stood by Brit and the shock guru's who can revalve like no other and watched how they could look at a car's motion and know exactly how much compression and rebound should be changed. They'd ask the driver what they felt and then would make changes, and then send us out again.

What was funny is they wanted to "over adjust" to see how far was too far and I told them "NO!!!" before trying to hide the car so they couldn't get at it. I like what I like and didn't want to change a thing. That same valving we ended up with in the One Lap Camaro was also put into my Camaro's shocks and resulted in an immediate improvement in road "feel." The car was bound to the pavement so much better than before and it was pretty good before ...

For the 2013 One Lap of America, the OLC has never handled better. We left the shocks alone for the most part and didn't stray much from the settings we had at the Willow Springs test day. A predictable outcome all the way around.

That, to me, is bringing on the tech as we tested and made changes so the RideTech customers that come to the party after us benefit with better valved shocks. It's a win-win for all.

And James (not you, Shipka ... the other one), just because your idols don't run RideTechs doesn't make them junk or in your words "not a performance oriented shock." RideTech shocks are in good company with other top shock absorber manufacturers out there.

Mary Pozzi

[gordonr1973]

Great thread guys.

A lot of info here, especially for a guy like me that comes from the truck world, but there is something else I've noticed....you have one company that is taking the time to respond to a lot of comments and questions that lots of company presidents and senior company techs wouldn't spend their time on.

I posted a thread a while ago questioning suspension options for my Firebird and hadn't made up my mind totally at that point...after reading this thread a full ridetech kit will be going on my car.

[6994lt1]

I just left ridetech hrs ago, great tour of the place. Smart fellers! I'm also goin with the single adj coil overs, true turn and 4-link.

[Rod]

Smart fellers

yep and they listen also....

OK just my input on this......

I have spent 27,000 miles in the last 3 years trying different shocks and suspensions and nothing compares to the performance that I got when I switched to ridetech shocks, I was so impressed I added their full line up of product to my program and the car is faster then ever

[Nicks67GTO]

We sell ridetech shocks to hundreds....never a complaint. The lower arms align the coil in the pocked properly and provide the correct amout of travel.

Bret makes sure his products are RIGHT before they are released and i have to say i think his shocks have been one of Ridetechs biggest success' i have seen in this business after 13yrs!

Matt

How is ride height adjusted with the ridetech coilover setup assuming you use their lower A-arm?

[MCB Matt]

Its the same as any coilover, just use the spanner wrench to turn the nut.

[Nicks67GTO]

Its the same as any coilover, just use the spanner wrench to turn the nut.

Now its my understanding that by doing this, you're limiting suspension travel and messing up the pre-load on the spring, thus negatively affecting ride quality and performance. Is that the case? I'm trying to sort this stuff all out and decide between coil/shock and coilover. Sorry if i'm hijacking, but i think this is relevant to the conversation started by the OP.

[MCB Matt]

Now its my understanding that by doing this, you're limiting suspension travel and messing up the pre-load on the spring, thus negatively affecting ride quality and performance. Is that the case? I'm trying to sort this stuff all out and decide between coil/shock and coilover. Sorry if i'm hijacking, but i think this is relevant to the conversation started by the OP.

You are not changing spring rate as you are just compressing or decompressing the shock portion. You are moving the coil position between the upper spring pocket and lower nut on shock body to the lower control arm....thus lowering or raising the car.

In a "true" ideal coilover system the upper coil mount is part of the shock itself. In that case you are still changing the compression of the shock only as the upper mount is fixed to the car and the lower still raises or lowers as you adjust them. This of course is assuming you know the rate that works for your setup or ask for help on spring rates...coil bind in a fixed rate spring is not good...then you start to get a crappy ride, bottom out, ect because the spring is too "soft" for the weight of the car.

Yes, anytime you lower other than with drop spindles you will loose travel. We don't recommend many drop spindles, really just ones that are designed in a system designed to work together...

Matt

[marolf101x]

If you put a coil over on stock arms you will have issues as there just is not enough room.

By using our coil overs and control arms as a system we drop the lower coil over mount, providing the proper suspension travel.
We design to have at lease 5" wheel travel in anything we build, so if you are reading Ron's posts this is enough for the modern high travel setup.

[Bryce]

FWIW, I just recieved and installed my ridetech SAs and I am really happy with the ride and on SUnday I will find out about the handling characteristics and tunability.

[drmatera]

I just purchased some ridetech upper & lower A-arms, HQ coil overs and ridetech spindles from Matt's Classic Bowties for my '69 442. After reading this and many other threads I feel comfortable in my decision that RideTech has it figured out. I look forward to getting them installed