Car rides rough - like a lumber wagon. Please help me!

[rp0029]

Here is my setup:

2" lowering hotchkiss front springs
1" GW lowering rear multi leafs
SPC upper control arms
del-a-lum lower control arm bushings
solid body mounts
hotchkiss front sway bar
global west solid body mounts
red edelbrock shocks
tires are I think 35 series on 17" TT2s.

Car handles great, but my god does it rattle your teeth out! I feel every bump on the road. I know it isn't supposed to be like my girlfriend's lexus, but come on! It is literally scary hearing every bump and road noise out there.

[exwestracer]

"del-a-lum lower control arm bushings
solid body mounts
global west solid body mounts"

You made a race car out of it...

[rp0029]

"del-a-lum lower control arm bushings
solid body mounts
global west solid body mounts"

You made a race car out of it...

I just didn't ever want to replace the body mounts and lower bushings again. That was a pain in the ass!

[rp0029]

Shouldn't the suspension provide the cushion?

[TheJDMan]

What car do you have?

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Could be the shocks too...

[rp0029]

1968 Camaro. Any suggestions?

[Smoker03]

Edelbreak shocks.....enough said. Go to a set of adjustable QA1's or a set of bilsteins from hotchkis

[musclecarmatt]

shocks play a good role in the ride of the car......could be them edelbrock shocks are not setup for them springs...get adjustables so you can dial her in!....

[Rod]

Many have touched on the problem and its the shocks, get some QA1, or Ride tech shocks, if the budget is tight right now just get some cheapo KYB's the GR2 ones, if you get the Gas-a-just there just like the ones you have (the dampening is to heavy, designed for soft stock suspension)

my car has just about the same setup as yours and it drives great on the track and street

[rp0029]

Hmmm. So the edelbrock shocks are designed to tighten up a loose suspension? That is probably the problem. I'm going to look in to these QA1 shocks.

[rp0029]

There are about 45 different QA1 shocks for the car. Which ones do you recommend? Any part numbers you can suggest?

Many have touched on the problem and its the shocks, get some QA1, or Ride tech shocks, if the budget is tight right now just get some cheapo KYB's the GR2 ones, if you get the Gas-a-just there just like the ones you have (the dampening is to heavy, designed for soft stock suspension)

my car has just about the same setup as yours and it drives great on the track and street

[dhutton]

Hotchkis valved Bilstein shocks are another option.

[Rod]

QA1
TS505 for the fronts
TS703 for the rear

my cars current set up is
The Hotchkis TVS Stage 2 kit
QA1 shocks
Global west solid bushings
Proforged Tall upper ball joints
17x8 front rims with 255/40/17 tires
17x9.5 rear rims with 275/40/17
urethane engine and trans mounts

[bret]

Some things to look at before you spend money...

Tire pressure...make sure its not like at 50 psi.
Make sure the control arm pivot bolts are not jackhammer tight and binding the suspension.
Make sure the shocks are not bottoming out.
Make sure the bushings are greased [if they're supposed to be]
Make sure the balljoints are greased.
Make sure the swaybar is not hitting on something or binding up in the bushings.
Take the shocks off the car [or disconnect one end] and take it for a drive. See if there is any difference. If there is no or not much difference the problem is elsewhere.
Make sure the springs are not way off the scale for stiffness. With the shocks on, you should be able to push down on the fender fairly hard and compress the car an inch or two. If not...it may have way too much spring.
See if there is a significant difference with the shock on and off the car. This may tell you if the shocks are the problem.

Spend your money once...don't just start changing parts.

Let us know how you come out. I'm sure you're not the only one with this problem, at least to some extent.

[rustomatic]

Another thing to add to the above is this: From what end of your car does the hardest hit come? Years ago, I found that rear shocks must be far looser (softer) than fronts--this applies to your average pickup truck as well. If nothing else, this will help to keep your better-handling car from skipping through turns under compression. Aside from this, if you want to handle, you don't get to ride like a (1970s) Cadillac...

Spend fifteen bucks on Autozone's crappiest rear shocks for your car, and see what happens.

[Hotchkis]

I would definitely recommend starting with a set of our custom Bilstein shocks. These shocks are custom valved to complement the spring rates of our drop springs. This should make a significant difference in your ride quality. That being said, the aluminum bushings and solid body mounts are still going to make the ride slightly on the harsh side, even when you change to a better valved shock. If you were to change out to Urethane bushings instead of your solid ones you would gain a little bit of compliance back and take rest of the harshness out of your ride.

[JRouche]

Ok, Ill chime in. I have a nova so its a lil diff. But one similar part is a solid frame to body mount, nova doesnt have a frame or body mounts. But I do have a pretty solid art morrison rear 4-link clip and sub frame connectors fully welded so its basically like your setup.

Next is I have the 4-link in the rear with QA-1 rod ends on all the links. 16 rod ends total. So it should provide for some harshness.

The front? SPC adjustable upper arms, modified TCI lower arms. Metal bushings for upper and lower arms. Basically all metal. Rack and pinion mounted with aluminum bushings to replace the rubber bushings.

Both front and rear sway bars are three piece units with metal bushings.

So you see I have a car that should ride like a radio flyer wagon on a cobble stone street right? It doesnt. It handles very well, with a lil tuning I think it could keep up with some of the cars on the tight circuits. But its NOT a race car and I cant afford to take it to the circuits. Street only.

So why all the metal? I DO want a car that feels stable on the streets. But I dont want all the harsh bumps, rattles (and rattles are easy to fix, find the loose items LOL) or any unpredictable jarring of the suspension while in a turn and there happens to be some road "conditions". Like some road repair, a sudden change in surfaces or a rise or drop in the road. Its a street car, you have to expect varying road conditions. Like the terrible RR track crossing we have. My car just glides right over them and doesnt bottom out or knock my MANY fillings (teeth) out.

So whats the key? Three things I think. Rubber and shocks. Just like many said, get some different shocks. Yer on that already so I cant help other than to say adjustable shocks REALLY helped me to tune the ride in.

And rubber, not much in my suspension. I didnt talk about my springs though cause I wanted to save that for last. Yup, air tech shockwaves. Im a fan of air springs (rubber and air). And not cause they gave me anything for free or they have some beautiful women in bikinis. Plain and simple, the darn air springs work great!!!!

I could care less about the additional feature of changing the stance of the car aired down. Thats NOT a reason to use air springs IMO. Just like any spring they have a certain ride height. You cant change the height of yer car for diff driving conditions. It has to be set. But it is an added benny to be able to drop it in the weeds for a parked look. But for street driving the progressive nature of air springs is spot on.

The other issue I have with rubber is the 35 side wall (surprised no one else commented on the short sidewall). With any 35 series tire the sidewall will be short. That WILL increase the rough ride you are talking about. Not to mention wrecking wheels if you happen to hit some road construction like a carved out piece of road. Where the rubber meet the road is the first part of the suspension activity, YES, tires are part of the suspension, the first part. JR

[andrewb70]

I have nothing to add except that I would not get the cheap KYB shocks. I had them on the GTO years ago and they were definitely a contributing factor to the harsh ride.

Andrew