I've just put Spohn's rear coil over kit with the single adjustable shocks on my camaro. After looking at the front pro-tour kit I noticed you have to buy separate shocks.. So what kind should I go with?
The car is going to be used for auto-x and road racing. I've heard the double adjustable shocks would be best to go with for the front. But how much of a difference would it make?

Thanks.

 

koni red i'd suggest

 

everyone here will tell you koni red or bilstein hd's, so they must be nice shocks if everyone swears by them... but i don't think the bilstein's work with spohns front coilover kit, so your looking at koni red's probably.

i know alot of guys off the board that swear by KYB's, but i don't think they're all that great performance wise IMO... the quality doesn't seem too great either, seems like they're always broken or worn after a couple years.

koni's have lifetime guarantee's i think.

 

QA1

 

Are the Koni reds adjustable or just the yellows?

QA1? I didn't think they made shocks for the front. Wouldn't Spohn have them in his kit if they did?

 

Rage, the reds are too soft for autoX, heck, they are too soft for me for daily street use on my truck (I can only get reds for it). Definately buy the Koni Yellows or go to ground control and have some custom built and valved.

 

I agree with Dean...
Ive got Koni Yellows. Love 'em. The car is a little stiff with them and the 800 Lb springs I got but definitely worth it.

Oh yea, deifinitely not an optimal drag racing setup.

 

The only reason I said QA1 is that they can make anything you want and can have a ton of adjustment. But if you are not talking about anything custom, I'd agree with the rest, Koni Yellow or Bilstein.

 

I am considering the same upgrades as Rage 13 and have a question about the spring rates. For the rears, would the variables be better than the preset one? My car is my daily driver, but I like to road race fromt time to time. Will the difference between the front spring rate of 350 and the rear of 250 make the car feel funny?

Oh, btw, Bilsteins won't work with the Spohn stuff, as far as I know.

 

Thanks for the help guys, ordered the Koni yellows with #325 springs for the front, and have #170 in the rear. Kinda woundering how different its going to feel after just having the stock stuff under there.

 

I am eventually going to set my car up for auto-X as well is the coil over the best choice for this or tubular a-arm with spring boxes????


hasnt there been some issuse with the coil overs distorting at the mounting points???

 

I knew that too. Shame on Spohn for that!

I'll forgive him though as soon as he actually comes out with a K-member though.

 

whats the budget you are working with? how much can you spend on just shocks?

if you are on a tight budget.. you might look into Tokico's line, i have only read good things about them so far.

 

it doesn’t take much to make these cars work at the dragstrip. I’ve run mid 1.5’s with koni yellows on a 3rd gen…

 

Lets see the proof, again its hearsay.

Many times I see you post you state to someone else something you've done but I never see any proof or pictures of your driving or the cars you build- yet you always have superior advice for others without stepping up to the plate and leading with examples.

Heck, I've run 1.4xx's on Koni Reds (I have, but now I sound like you without proof- you believe it? My proof would help my validity now won't it)

You look to argue with anyone instead of simply agreeing that there would be a better chioce. Cali states the obvious becauseKoni's high damper reduces needed weight transfer- You then click off a commemt out of thin air that you pulled off a 1.5 60' with them like his statement is now wrong- ever think its obvious you could pull even faster with some drag shock valving instead of throwing out your smurk commment?

 

Bilstiens are a glorified street performance shock. You want real performance in an over-the-counter strut you will need to buy some Koni yellows and thats it. Spohn made them to fit Konis mainly for this reason- they work for performance applications and his coilover is designed to do the same. Get rid of the Bilsteins if you want to compete in autox or roadracing. The valving and weight is much more favorable.

 

Someone mentioned earlier about deformation around the shock/strut mount with coil-over kits. Is there any danger in this?I don't want to spend upwards of a grand on mods and have things bending or braking on me when I start to put the car through its paces.

 

after some reading and searching......I found that it has happend on one car so far......maybe there is more out there and there just not speaking up.....However I have also read that the weight savings with a coil over is minimal at best and is not ideal for auto-x.....

Im sure however RTFC will disagree with me due to his strong stance on this issue from previous post it looks as if he swears by them.....to each their own.....I just dont believe Im 100% sold on the idea yet.....it seems to get optimal benifit from a coil over there is some bracing and fab work that has to be done....

 

I expected there to be some work having to be done to get the desired durability, I was just hoping that they would be good enough to break within a few hundred miles. Does anyone know of a strut brace for a TBI car? That would help with the front stiffness as well. Thanks, ToppleZZ candy.

 

I can totally respect what you are saying about safety.

It is always a crap shoot to thoroughly put a new product through its paces. I in fact have paid good maony on my HMS strutmounts + having the polished sparkly at and additional cost to have them go to sh*t on me over time. With any "hot rodding" modifications to a car there is always a trial and error stage. The reason why I am so agaisnt PA is because this info I thought was well known about their products yet everyone was still buying them, and sadly, still will.

Spohn has what I believe to be a great reputation. I strongly do believe that he has "common sense" in his fabricationg and that is something I poersonally feel you can not learn from a book in college like most engineers. Spohn has worked with fabricating products, He has a strong general knowledge at to what will work and what will not do to his years of actually working with metal and knowing its bending and breaking limits in real world touching it, not paper skills with mathimatics- its just something you learn and I trust someone with the common sense he has.

Ask yourself this- Why do you think Spohn has not com up with a k-member yet for our cars? Could it be he has built several ideas and just doesn't feel comfortable with what hes sees onthe market already or whayt room he has to work with. He's also I guarantee sitting back and taking notes as to what problems anyone and everyone else has had in this area trying to produce a safe all around k-member. He has common sense and only deals with what he feels is safe and tested.

I am the first and only person we know that has had any problems to date with a solid aluminum strut mount (not failing, but indeed developing slop from the weaker aluminum under heavy cycling) I beat the crap out of my car when I drive it. Hence, Spohn has resondered without hesitation to upgrade his aluminum Struts to a steel version even though he has yet to ever have a problem with the ones Alloy (Dan) had made for him.

He is wise and has common sense to go the absolute best quality and safety route regardless of cost- It is made for what it cost to make something of the best and most costly reasonable material, and then priced for nominal profit- regardless of what any coompetitors are selling something of simular looks for.

Now to Coilovers having a benefit? You can not contest the sole fact that a coilover setup is absolutely less unsprung weight that the conventional setup on our cars. It also has cornerweight adjustability which you can get from a GroundControl weightjacker setup on a conventional spring, yet the GC setup will weight even much more than the convetional sping setup stock- even greater unsprung weight.

Does unsprung weight matter? hell yes! Don't believe it? take a look at what my car has done to several local guys here in So. Cal at the latest autox event. I have less power, yet my car is is setup with as optimum of a street suspension that you will ever see including being much better unsprung weight EVEN THOUGH I AM LIGHTERSPRUNG WEIGHT UP FRONT (I only highlight that because it is a very important notation.) My car is heavily sprung but it rides and handles well under normal AND racing conditions because it does have a lower unsprung to usprung weight ratio evven with a V6 and 800lb front coils. You can not hold cornering g's over bumpy surfaces with a high unsprung to sprung ratio, the car will unsettle and loose grip from the heavier unsprung weight pushing it upward in a corner bump.

 

Are you running his COs yet? I'm trying to figure out if a 17x9 with a 275/40/17 Toyo RA1 will fit and not rub on the spring.

 

No, But I truely intend to someday with this car when it becomes more of my toy rather than the wifes car. I have always wanted to go coilovers on this car so I can set the cornerweights exact on it.

It may appear different, but I only really screw around modifiying this car when something is in need. I have built it realible for the wife to drive daily and I have only taken it out a handfull of times testing it for fun since it does handle so well as is. Nothing technically wrong with it right now so I can not justify spending money on coilovers for the wife to use. I have my own toys. But I tell ya I would love to the day I can get away with it- hopefully soon. I need to really buy her another car so I can have a third toy- I have obviously become addicted to this car and it is my favorite to drive.

 

front and rear coil overs are in. but i'm having a little trouble with one of the koni shocks.. the guy who installed them (yes i had some one else do it because i'm chicken about flying springs) used an impact gun on the nut on top of the shock, and after getting home and seeing this is a no no on koni's instruction page i'm woundering if it could be the cause of my trouble.. problem is the little adjustment nipple is stuck. i had turned them both down to full soft last night, both got the same impact treatment going in, but only the one don't work. i tryed puting a little force on it with a small crescent wrench and it just spins the shock shaft. also the nipple looks as though it poped up a little bit (i'll grab a pic later to explain)

but other then that everything works well, had a little creaking from the back till i guess it all settled in and not a peep from the front. after i get the shock issue settled i'll go tear up the town and report how it all faired

 

Driver side - little close to the MC but no troubles here

Passenger side - this is the trouble side, you can see what i mean by "poped up"... little scratched up from messing with it too

 

I'm not a fan of coilovers, but my opinion dont mean much since I've never tried em.

To tighten those top nuts he should have used 2 wrenches, one on the top to hold the stud steady, one on the bottom to tighten the nut. Only problem here is you cant torque it to spec with the usual socket style torque wrenches. I think the torque rating on those top strut nuts is 75 ft/lbs and all the nuts that hold the mount to the tower are 20 ft/lbs.

He should be slapped for ruining the nice polished finish that bad. I cant really say anything though, I spent about 12 hours polishing my mounts to perfect and then scratched them once or twice while tightening those top strut nuts (doh!).

 

their black powder coated (hard to tell by the pic), and the pic looks 2x as bad as it really is for what ever reason. those scratches will buff out with little trouble.
any idea what i should do about the adjustment nipple not turning?

 

If I were in your situation I would call Koni and ask them what they think. Be sure to have all your serial numbers from the box in hand.

 

You simply can't go wrong going either Koni route. I always base the Koni selelction on the spring rate you're intending to use. Yes, the price can be daunting but I have gotten great pricing on them for all my past cars from here.