Hello all. New to the board and new (or back to) owner of an F-body. I just bought an 89 Iroc 5.7 off Ebay. The car seems very good for its condition, except for the rear end. The car handles ok through corners, but seems very loose under straight line. Dont know how to explain it, but in the driveway with the brake on...if you bump the gas, it seems like it jumps and drops awful quick and easy. On the road, bumps jar pretty hard and pretty "rattley". I know the cars 16 years old, but I would like to be able to drive it without being embarrassed by the noise and ride. I bought the car as a daily driver since work pays mileage. Point is, I would like to bring it back closer to original without spending a ton on uneccessary parts or without buying a $1000 aftermarket kit from SLP. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Bob

 

Replace your Shocks. You never know how old shocks are on older cars are. (Bilstein, Koni, KYB) - all adjustable. I have the Koni Yellows/set to 25%. Great improvement over normal shocks.

Check your Sway Bar Bushings & Endlink Grouments.
Check your Panhard Bar Bushings.

And welcome.

 

Sleeper,

Thanks. Shocks and sway bar was my first choice. Im not sure if its because Im intelligent or just because that was the cheapest! The Panhard...is that the one that I see attached to the rearend?

 

You basically want to overhaul your suspension. You should start with the afore mentioned shocks and struts and then replace evey bushing. It may also be a good time to replace your coil springs.

 

Shifty, thanks for the comments. I knew that shocks and bushings were coming. I guess I was looking to see if the coils could possibly be bad. Ive never heard of it happening, but it appears they do wear out. Ive been trying to get the rear end of my kids Fiero together and shocks didnt help there. Guess I might be looking for two sets!

Anyone have any good ideas on where and what to get. My idea is to keep it as stock as possible and not brake the bank.

Many thanks to all

 

Yes coils do wear out. Well they sag at least, usually driver's side lower than passenger's side - there's ALWAYS a driver in the car when it's being used!
Coils can snap, but I would say that's a very rare event.

I'm talking about cars in general here, not just F-bodies. Still learning about those!

Mark.

 

You can get Moog stock replacement springs that will retain the stock ride height of your car. They actually may raise your car because old springs sag giving your car a lowered appearance. Complete suspension bushing kits are available for our cars as well. Jegs and Summit both sell them. Shocks and struts are up to you. You can spend $100 and up to $1000 for them. You may want to use the search function a bit and search for comments on KYB, Bilstiens, Koni and stock shocks/struts.

 

Many thanks all. I am heading out for 2 weeks to Florida, but plan on getting on this as soon as I return. I'll post on how it all turned out. Thanks again.