Coilover Recommendations

[Bryshere355]

Building a 68 Chevelle that has it's front and rear chassis/suspension modified to use coilovers.

Front suspension needs a 15.5 long shock at ride height, .56 motion ratio, 15* angle
Rear suspension needs a 14.0 long shock at ride height, 5* angle

I have looked at many different coilover manufacturers but I not sure which one to choose. Can anyone give me any input on which shocks they chose and why?

QA1 / Viking
Strange Engineering
VariShock
Afco / Pro Shocks
JRi

[NorCal-SS]

I went with Viking Warriors on my 67 Chevelle. Really happy with the fit and finish and their tech support is very helpful. Unfortunately I don’t have any road time on them yet, but I’ve only heard good things from those that do. The double adjustable shock is a nice feature at their price point.

[StevieBB54]

I bought the QA1 for my 68 Camaro, Tech support is awesome, quality is all there. But Im waiting until winter to install along with control arms

[dontlifttoshift]

The first 3 are all twin tubes. I'm not a fan.

Afco makes a lot of stuff and their Pro Touring elite are okay. Maybe pro shocks are a lot better than they were but it doesn't look they operate in this market.

If you aren't scared by the price of JRIs they are the best shocks on your list. By a lot.

Not sure if ridetech was omitted on purpose or not, hands down best value for your money.

[CSG]

I agree with Donny.
QA1 is known for blowing out
I have had Viking on a street only car and they did fine but no experience pushing them.
Had Strange as well, imo it’s more drag oriented
Afco does well with their circle track stuff haven’t really seen them used much for other stuff
JRI is a good option without costing a ton
Ride tech is really good for the cost
Then there are the expensive options…

[dhutton]

I have had ridetech monotube, Varishocks, Strange and JRI. Like Donny says, JRI were the best by a wide margin in my experience.

Don

[tmcmillan5]

I have a 68 Chevelle as well with all custom shock mounts. I am running Vari single adj. coilovers with uethane Eye ends top & bottom. Front motion ratio is at .667 w/400# springs rear 200#. Both shock have the 5.15" travel with the way I have it set up.
This is a lowered convertible car with an LS2 auto conversion and I drive it hard so I can say I like the firmnees and the way it handles even without any sway bars Though I had hoped it would have been a bit less jaring over rough spots on the road.
This industry has changed alot over the course of my build so now you have more to chose from for less money. Sounds like good advice above.

Tony

[icemanrd19]

Jri tuned by jj at ultimate performance

[cpd004]

I was at a cruise night recently and bumped into a guy who had a Chevelle with everything ridetech front and back. I didn't get specifics. Initially he was happy with the improvement in handling but the thing that he couldn't get rid of was the 'jar' at some road imperfections. On a recommendation, he tried Swift springs in place of the Hyperco but kept the ridetech spec'd single adjustable shocks. He claims the ride was immediately better and jarring gone. He said the way it was explained to him was the more consistent spring rate through its travel allowed the shock more time to do its job.

I have no idea if any of this seems plausible, but these were his observations on his own car. I have Ridetech and I do have the jarring he mentions. I had Viking way back and did not care for them at all.

[dhutton]

I was at a cruise night recently and bumped into a guy who had a Chevelle with everything ridetech front and back. I didn't get specifics. Initially he was happy with the improvement in handling but the thing that he couldn't get rid of was the 'jar' at some road imperfections. On a recommendation, he tried Swift springs in place of the Hyperco but kept the ridetech spec'd single adjustable shocks. He claims the ride was immediately better and jarring gone. He said the way it was explained to him was the more consistent spring rate through its travel allowed the shock more time to do its job.

I have no idea if any of this seems plausible, but these were his observations on his own car. I have Ridetech and I do have the jarring he mentions. I had Viking way back and did not care for them at all.

Interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed springs would solve the Ridetech jarring. Especially in light of how proud Ridetech is of their Hyperco springs.

Don

[cpd004]

Interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed springs would solve the ridetech jarring.

Don

I thought the very same. I'm hoping I can make the upcoming cruise night next Wednesday. Although I have no idea if he'd show. It was the first time I'd seen that car.

I did a google search back then and there really isn't much info out there regarding this company. There was a forum that brought this exact thing up with the spring swap. If I remember correctly, it was a BMW forum.

Maybe someone here has experience with them and will hopefully chime in.

[dontlifttoshift]

It's plausible that a given spring could have a higher rate at say 3" of compression vs 1" in fact that is what happens here. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...gs-dynoed.html

However, it's not like Hyperco are junk springs...... I would expect that difference between Hyperco and one of the Minnesota brands but not between Hyperco and another upper tier spring manufacturer.

[marolf101x]

It's possible the Swift springs he installed were progressive rate.
https://www.vividracing.com/swift-sp...151454899.html

Progressive rate springs will provide a better ride quality, but at the cost of increased body roll, and the suspension could bottom out more frequently if there's not adequate rate for the available travel.

[cpd004]

Could very well have been. The stance was very nice. Not high at all if I remember correctly.

[SPG]

I am interested in picking up ridetech shocks, if you figure out the spring problem I would love to know what it was

[marolf101x]

For clarity, as the former Director of Engineering for ridetech, I was responsible for managing nearly everything regarding the release of the Fox coil overs.
So my opinion is extremely biased, even though I no longer work for ridetech.

When we first decided to get into the coil over market we had to determine our priorities. . .ride quality, performance, etc.
We drove a lot of cars, new, old, anything we could get our hands on or purchase so we could feel what each car did well and not so well.
We hired a company to build a custom "ride quality monitor" that sat under the driver seat and provided a score. The lower the score the more "comfy" the ride quality. The guys who developed that for us used a lot of math NASA developed when they started putting humans atop rockets. Turns out there's a lot of frequencies the body really doesn't care for, and forces the average person would not appreciate.

Anyway, we decided our market was Pro-Touring and performance oriented vehicles, so we wanted a more firm ride without being overly harsh. The BMW M3 was one of the benchmarks. It just feels "sporty".

Unfortunately, what I consider sporty, someone else feels is too harsh. That's cool, we knew you cannot please all the people all the time.

Luckily there's a lot you can do to change the ride quality in a vehicle. . . springs being a big factor.
Think it's too harsh, get as little compression damping as you can from the shock and go down in spring rate. Lower spring rate will require more preload, but that's ok so long as you don't coil bind the spring or bottom out the suspension travel.
Fortunately the threads on the shocks are matched to the suggested spring lengths, so you even at full preload the spring will not surpass 80% compression (the point at which the metal in the spring begins to "break down", resulting in spring sag or "taking a set".)
If the vehicle bottoms out the suspension you can raise the height to provide the required suspension travel for your chosen spring rate.

Progressive springs are cool, and I really like them in ride quality first, performance second applications (which is why they are used in the Street Grip kits), but availability in 2.5" coil over rates/lengths are limited.

Just remember, these are all tuning tools (springs, shocks, bushings, etc). To dial in exactly what you desire may require a bit of time and testing, but it is absolutely achievable (within reason, of course).

[dhutton]

For clarity, as the former Director of Engineering for ridetech, I was responsible for managing nearly everything regarding the release of the Fox coil overs.
So my opinion is extremely biased, even though I no longer work for ridetech.

When we first decided to get into the coil over market we had to determine our priorities. . .ride quality, performance, etc.
We drove a lot of cars, new, old, anything we could get our hands on or purchase so we could feel what each car did well and not so well.
We hired a company to build a custom "ride quality monitor" that sat under the driver seat and provided a score. The lower the score the more "comfy" the ride quality. The guys who developed that for us used a lot of math NASA developed when they started putting humans atop rockets. Turns out there's a lot of frequencies the body really doesn't care for, and forces the average person would not appreciate.

Anyway, we decided our market was Pro-Touring and performance oriented vehicles, so we wanted a more firm ride without being overly harsh. The BMW M3 was one of the benchmarks. It just feels "sporty".

Unfortunately, what I consider sporty, someone else feels is too harsh. That's cool, we knew you cannot please all the people all the time.

Luckily there's a lot you can do to change the ride quality in a vehicle. . . springs being a big factor.
Think it's too harsh, get as little compression damping as you can from the shock and go down in spring rate. Lower spring rate will require more preload, but that's ok so long as you don't coil bind the spring or bottom out the suspension travel.
Fortunately the threads on the shocks are matched to the suggested spring lengths, so you even at full preload the spring will not surpass 80% compression (the point at which the metal in the spring begins to "break down", resulting in spring sag or "taking a set".)
If the vehicle bottoms out the suspension you can raise the height to provide the required suspension travel for your chosen spring rate.

Progressive springs are cool, and I really like them in ride quality first, performance second applications (which is why they are used in the Street Grip kits), but availability in 2.5" coil over rates/lengths are limited.

Just remember, these are all tuning tools (springs, shocks, bushings, etc). To dial in exactly what you desire may require a bit of time and testing, but it is absolutely achievable (within reason, of course).

Can you comment on the harsh bang that occurs when driving over an abrupt drop in the road? This is the jarring that a lot of folks complain about with Ridetech four link setups. I was never able to eliminate it with shock adjustments.

Don

[marolf101x]

Don,

did your 4-link have rubber bushings or R-joints?

And just so I understand your situation completely, you state "the harsh bang that occurs when driving over an abrupt drop in the road".

So lets explain this in extremes so we both know what we are describing, I can then explain what was happening in the real world.

So, in extremes:
-the road was smooth
-then the road had a crack and dropped 4 inches


---OR---

-the road was smooth
-there was an "indentation" in the road that dropped 2" below road surface
-stayed at that indentation for 5 feet
-then raised back to the previous road surface height

Scenario #1's ride quality is handled initially by the extension of the suspension.
Scenario #2's ride quality is handled mostly by the compression.

[dhutton]

Don,

did your 4-link have rubber bushings or R-joints?

And just so I understand your situation completely, you state "the harsh bang that occurs when driving over an abrupt drop in the road".

So lets explain this in extremes so we both know what we are describing, I can then explain what was happening in the real world.

So, in extremes:
-the road was smooth
-then the road had a crack and dropped 4 inches


---OR---

-the road was smooth
-there was an "indentation" in the road that dropped 2" below road surface
-stayed at that indentation for 5 feet
-then raised back to the previous road surface height

Scenario #1's ride quality is handled initially by the extension of the suspension.
Scenario #2's ride quality is handled mostly by the compression.

I had the rubber bushings. I would say it was scenario number 2. So a step response type scenario. I had a long discussion with Brett about the car. He gave me a list of items to check which I did. He even drove it but unfortunately we did not replicate the issue. He verified my shock settings also. He gave me a set of new springs with a different rate but the change was not significant. He also showed me the R joints which were new at that time. At that point I was pretty much done. I have seen quite a few others complaining of the same issue.

I have since wondered if some progressive rate bump stops would have helped.

Thanks,
Don

[marolf101x]

Bumpstops would only help if the rear bottomed out.
Do you feel it bottomed out?