Ride quality - shocks

[andrewb70]

thanks Andrew. Any noticeable reduction in sidewall stiffness with the lower weight?

Not that I can notice. The reason for the weight reduction is that I went from a 40 series rear tire to a 35 series.

Andrew

[CFster]

I went from an American 15 (at least the brand is American) to a Japanese 18 and surprisingly the ride quality improved considerably. Just curious why no Japanese tires?

Personal preference. I just don't think they belong on an American icon.

I'm a gadget freak, with an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, HDTV, computers etc and I drive a Nissan daily. All made or designed in Japan or China. The '67 Pontiac though? That's sacred.

I understand the Conti's I'm running now are German, and the Bridgestone's I tried first are Japanese, but not obviously so - at least they don't have blatently Japanese names like Toyo, Yokohama or Nitto.

[Smoker03]

Was Marc able to give you some advice on settings when you called him? Just curious if his recommendations helped at all.

[CFster]

Haven't talked to him yet. Probably this week.

[XTRMEASURES]

Great thread, i was reading about shocks and came across this thread and lots of info guys. This should help anybody looking for new shocks and it should became a sticky.

[djfxall]

I'm no expert but I know your goal of suspension is to keep that tire following the road with a constant patch. I have found that properly set up it feels smoother properly adjusted with performance setup set to your car. It is all in tuning and understanding what you are tuning for your wheel to do. I am reading this carefully as I have not planned out completely my suspension setup yet but feel it will deal with 2 way or 3 way anjustable coilovers with remote reserviors and a NOTEBOOK for settings to tune it in. I am from a race bike background on this so I am no expert but understand the fundamentals at play. I am sure you will figure it out and believe you will get it tuned right but it's true you can't beet that ease of adjustment.

[SSLance]

I'm going to be really forward and cut to the chase here so forgive me....

Is it really possible to have a shock that rides super smooth on the street and can get turned up to outperform the competition on the track? It seems like too much win. Like its too good to be true.

It is absolutely true... Last October I installed a set of ridetech TQ Triple Adjustable shocks on my car and tuned them for the last autocross event of the year. I was helped though the tuning process for handling by Ron Sutton and we ended up with what I would call a very aggressive setup that was frankly flat out uncomfortable to drive on the street, but handled the autocross course crazy good. The compression and rebound settings would let the car fully compress on the front entering a corner and hold it there through mid turn and then let the weight transfer to the rear for corner exit traction. I took an autocross veteran that had never ridden in my car on a run that day and he made the comment that "it just feels like an autocross car". I finished 31st out of 124 cars that day driving a completely new setup to me on just 4 runs...not too bad for an old Monte Carlo competing against, Miatas, Minis, Beemers, and other autocross specific types of cars.

After the event I started driving the car on the street and adjusting the compression and rebound settings per ridetech's instruction sheet. I stopped 3 or 4 times during one 15 mile trip to town to adjust the very easy to reach knobs on all 4 shocks and by the time I got to town I had a compliant yet still firm ride that actually had a better feel than Edelbrock IAS shocks I took off of the car. Over the next few days I tweaked on it a bit further and I now have them set where I like them for a near perfect street ride. It is compliant over bumps small and large, yet at the same time doesn't wallow and still corners better than it ever has before. The wife acceptance factor has been great as well. She was skeptical while I was doing all of the suspension work that she wouldn't enjoy riding in the car after but on her first ride she commented that "it feels better than it did before".

I can't comment on the other brands of shocks or even the other Ridetech shocks as I have no experience with them, but I can say for a fact that with the Ridetech Triple Adjustable TQs...yes you can have the best of both worlds and easily adjust between the two of them.

I do believe that the whole suspension package plays a part in this. Having the correct spring rates, non-binding bushings, proper travel to keep from topping or bottoming out the shocks and staying off of the bump stops, and lastly good quality tires with proper air pressures in them all contribute to a good ride on the street, but you need a good shock to be the brains of all of the rest of that for it to really work.

[Nicks67GTO]

It is absolutely true... Last October I installed a set of ridetech TQ Triple Adjustable shocks on my car and tuned them for the last autocross event of the year. I was helped though the tuning process for handling by Ron Sutton and we ended up with what I would call a very aggressive setup that was frankly flat out uncomfortable to drive on the street, but handled the autocross course crazy good. The compression and rebound settings would let the car fully compress on the front entering a corner and hold it there through mid turn and then let the weight transfer to the rear for corner exit traction. I took an autocross veteran that had never ridden in my car on a run that day and he made the comment that "it just feels like an autocross car". I finished 31st out of 124 cars that day driving a completely new setup to me on just 4 runs...not too bad for an old Monte Carlo competing against, Miatas, Minis, Beemers, and other autocross specific types of cars.

After the event I started driving the car on the street and adjusting the compression and rebound settings per ridetech's instruction sheet. I stopped 3 or 4 times during one 15 mile trip to town to adjust the very easy to reach knobs on all 4 shocks and by the time I got to town I had a compliant yet still firm ride that actually had a better feel than Edelbrock IAS shocks I took off of the car. Over the next few days I tweaked on it a bit further and I now have them set where I like them for a near perfect street ride. It is compliant over bumps small and large, yet at the same time doesn't wallow and still corners better than it ever has before. The wife acceptance factor has been great as well. She was skeptical while I was doing all of the suspension work that she wouldn't enjoy riding in the car after but on her first ride she commented that "it feels better than it did before".

I can't comment on the other brands of shocks or even the other Ridetech shocks as I have no experience with them, but I can say for a fact that with the Ridetech Triple Adjustable TQs...yes you can have the best of both worlds and easily adjust between the two of them.

I do believe that the whole suspension package plays a part in this. Having the correct spring rates, non-binding bushings, proper travel to keep from topping or bottoming out the shocks and staying off of the bump stops, and lastly good quality tires with proper air pressures in them all contribute to a good ride on the street, but you need a good shock to be the brains of all of the rest of that for it to really work.

Nice! I think the TQ's are only sold as a coilover or shockwave right? I wonder if there's any plan for a smooth body triple adjustable shock?

[marolf101x]

If the lengths fit your vehicle the TQ can be used without the springs as a "stand alone" shock package.

[Larry Navarro]

ok.....I don't plan on doing much as far as autoX goes but I do like the fact of the ease of adjustability for road conditions.
Currently starting from square one on my '79 trans am with plans for control arms and shock setup from ridetech. Undecided which way to go as far as shocks go......coil-over or conventional.
Which option would be most cost effective?

[marolf101x]

If you are using OE control arms you'll want our smooth body OE replacement shocks.
These can be had in both RQ (fixed valve) and HQ (rebound adjustable) variations.

If you are going with our control arms you'll need to run coil overs (the lower arm will not accept a "standard" spring).
These can be had in RQ (fixed valve), HQ (rebound adjustable), and TQ (single rebound, dual compression adjustable) variations.

You can see them all for that application here:
http://www.ridetech.com/store/muscle...hash=V265.V328

[Larry Navarro]

Looking at the remote resi's for the "TQ" package.......where would these be typically mounted?

[marolf101x]

Typically in our 4-link kit. We have brackets that fit the shocks correctly.

However, in a stock configuration (leaf springs) the OE shocks have a trunnion at the top and a stud at the bottom.
OE shock dimensions are 12.25 compressed; 20.5 extended; with 8.25" stroke (though the rear only uses around 5" of the available stroke).
If you took our 6.9" TQ and used a short stud top you'd have 13.43 compressed; 20.33 extended.

You'd have to drill the hole out on the leaf spring mount to 3/4" to fit our "ball and socket" mount.
Here's a link to the stud mount, to give you an idea of what it looks like:
http://www.ridetech.com/store/coilov...ock-mount.html

You'd use this trunnion:
http://www.ridetech.com/store/trunni...-90002055.html

All these parts would be included in the overall price of the shocks, so don't add up the "part prices" and expect it to cost that much.

You'll have to measure your car to know for sure if they'll fit. If it's lowered, the shock may be too long, in which case we'd spec a shock that fits your application.

[Larry Navarro]

my bad, guess I should have been more specific.
front suspension, ridetech control arms and shocks, how and where would the resi's mount?

[marolf101x]

anywhere within 31" of the shock.

The resi's come with some nice aluminum clamps. Typically we put them on the inner fenders where they are easily reached when you open the hood.