My car is WS6. I just bought a wonderbar and subframe connectors. What's the next step? STB? or something else?

 

STB is good, braces the front end like subframes brace front to rear. Shocks and struts will help also. If the car is lowered or you want to be able to launch hard, then lca relocation brackets make a huge difference.

 

I'm looking for mods that will improve my street/autocross handling. Launching hard isn't necessarily a priority. What kind of shocks and struts should I consider? Adjustable?

 

I like bilsteins the best for handling and street driving. They aren't adjustable, so if you want adjustable, go with koni yellows. If you lower the car then get the relocation brackets, they help by correcting the rear control arm angle on lowered cars.

 

Unfortunately, lowering is not an option for me. I can't make it up many driveways with my car at stock height. Every time I hit a pothole, I worry my car is going to grind over something. Freaking New Jersey roads! The only time I'll lower it is when I'll go to bigger wheels. Then, I'll just make up the difference for the "lift."

Are there any disadvantages to adjustable shocks vs. non adjustable? I've heard of problems with the QA1's leaking.

Thanks,
Bill

 

I feel ya on not wanting to lower. Mine has 2" drop spindles in front and 1 1/2" drop springs in the back and I have to watch everything on the road. The exhaust will hit a coke can laying on its side. Needless to say I have a dented up exhaust system. I don't really like adjustable shocks, the bilsteins are a good ride on the street and handle excellent, so with a setup like that you don't need to have adjustables. I guess adjustables would be good if you went and autocrossed the car and set it to the stiffest setting and then when you wanted to drive home set it softer. But I like it all in one like the bilsteins, and they supposedly maintain 98% of their effectiveness after 50,000 miles, and you can get them rebuilt when they wear out for $75 each.

 

Do adjustables wear out faster? Where's the best place to buy the blisteins you're speaking about?

What about springs? My car has 50K on her. I guess it's time to replace?

 

another question, do the shock and strut come together, or do they need to be purchased seperately or are they the same thing?

 

Adjustable and non adjustable should wear out at about the same rate. I think shox.com is the cheapest place for bilsteins. I got my rear shocks from carparts.com when they had a 33% off coupon, so it's possible to get a good deal if you look. For stock height springs, o'reillys has moog springs that work very well. I only run them on the front because I needed a stock height spring for use with the drop spindles, they are stiffer than stock but not too stiff for the street. They rate them at 700 lbs. Plus they're only like $50 for the pair. For rear springs, I've heard that the moogs are pretty stiff, but I don't know. They have the spring rates listed at the store so you can check them out. You want the rear of the car to be pretty soft for good handling, so you'll want a spring rate of about 140#'s to 175#'s.

 

Struts and shocks are different but they might offer a kit, 2 front struts/ 2 rear shocks. With 50,000 miles on the springs, I wouldn't worry too much about replacing them unless they are sagging and really soft, or you don't want to do the work twice to put new springs in later.

 

I'd like some springs that give me some better handling... just ones that dont lower. So are the Koni and Blistien items struts or shocks? Do I need both struts and shocks for good performance?

Thanks,
Bill

 

Koni and Bilstein offer both struts and shocks. Struts and shocks are basically the same thing, they both dampen the springs movement, but struts are slightly different in that they also act as the upper mounting point on the front suspension. The front of these cars uses struts and the back uses shocks. For springs, the moog springs are perfect for what you are wanting. They do not lower, but are stiffer than stock, so the car will roll less in cornering for better handling. You want to match the springs to the swaybars and in my opinion the front moog springs match very well to the stock GTA 36mm front swaybar.

 

Where's the cheapest place to buy all this jazz? I'm still debating the Koni yellows vs. the Blisteins. With the struts, shocks, and springs, is my car gonna feel like crap as a daily driver?

Thanks,
Bill

 

Since your car is a WS6 I would stop with the shocks/struts. You already have 748# front springs you could use some slightly stiffer rear springs but not more than 150#. The current rears are 107# if I remember right. The springs are really going to be pretty good for what you want. Shocks and good tires will give you the most improvement of anything. After that a rod ended PHB is nice, STB okay. If you want to maximize the amount of power you can apply at corner exit get a Torsen T2R diff and pick some gears up while your at it. Caster camber plates from Hotpart.com would be a help as well.

 

The only way you're car would be lifted with bigger wheels is if you choose too large of tires..you can go 17", 18", 19", and in extreme cases 20" on these cars and it won't be lifted at all. It's all about tire choice.

Just thought I'd clear that up.

 

My car is a daily driver and the bilsteins make it ride pretty nice. I've heard the konis are a little more harsh. You can get the springs from o'reillys and the struts/shocks from shox.com. As for the hotpart caster/camber plates, the DO NOT work with bilsteins. I was the person to let hotpart know this and what do they do, take them back telling me they will give me a full refund and end up only giving me a partial refund, so now I'm out about $70 because they didn't know their bull**** plates wouldn't work. The spohn steel camber plates on the other hand are very nice pieces that work with no problems.

 

What exactly is a caster camber plate? Looks like I need to choose between the knoi yellows and the blisteins. Any advice?

I was looking at swapping out my rear diff. I've heard of problems with the Torsen's wearing out during autocross. Is this a problem? How do they hold up to drag racing? (Even tho i'm looking at more of an auto x car, I'd like to hit the strip occasionally.)

What's a good rod ended pan hard bar?

Oh, do I need umm.. special fittings for the koni's or blisteins? Like QA1's or something that'll be extra durable?

Thanks!
Bill

P.S. How do the Konis on their softest setting measure up to the blisteins? Still stiffer?

 

Caster camber plates are used to increase the amount of negative camber and also to increase the caster which improves camber gain. I did not know that the hotparts one does not work with the bilstiens mine are from ground control. I know the hotpart one works with the Konis's though. The Koni's are only adjustable for rebound so alot of the harshness is there to stay. They are a high performance shock and there are trade offs. The torsen T2R is the primeir rear diff for autocross. I am not sure what or where you heard negative info but search around frrax and look at the testimonials. Maybe what your hearing about is the stock one that GM used which is not the same thing. For drag racing the weak point will be that you have a 10 bolt not that you have a T2R. For the PHB the bars are usually similar in strength. What you are shopping for is good rod ends. You want the QA1's. If you do some searching you could build your own from an online parts list for cheap. My bar is made by Adcco (bought from Strano Performance Parts) but spohn and others are good as well.

As far as Bilstien or Koni search for that question and you will find that the best for performance is Koni but Bilstiens are a better ride. If you know for sure what springs you will use long term call Sam Strano and have him build you some revalved Bilstiens. Kind of a best of both worlds thing.

 

I read on artlice on this thread that said the torsen unit didn't stand up well to abuse, and gave up after 1-2 seasons of Auto X. Unfortunately, I can't find the tread right now. Maybe it was a different unit, not the T2R? But it definately was a torsen. The thread also mentioned it had to do with the limited amount of space available in the stock diff. The parts had to be smaller, and therefore not a strong. They also mentioned that drag racers got varying times using it, because it required some rotation before locking up? Or something like that.

What are the disadvantages of the T2R vs. Other posi's? How much will it cost me? I'm really in the market for one right now. I was also considering the detriot electitrac which claims to behave like a posi. But, at the push of a button, it's a locker.

Would increasing my caster/camber decrease the amount of tire patch on the pavement? Because my car is a daily driver, I want to make tire wear as even as possible.

Also, can I get QA1 ends for the Konis or Blisteins?

 

Shox.com only has the koni sports and koni reds. Are the sports the same as yellows?

They have blistein sports and blisten heavy duty. Which is the prefered model?

Finally, =p Energy Suspension Bushings are available. Are these for the shocks? If so, what's the best bushing to get?

 

The T2R does require some resistance before it will spread the power to both wheels. Never thought about this in terms of drag racing but I suppose it may be a disadvantage there. When autocrossing it will give up to an 80/20 power split which is better than any other diff I know of. Also there are no wearing parts in it. They pretty much last forever if not over powered. They are around 500.

Yes negative camber will decrase tire life unless you rotate but with our goofy wheels that gets expensive too. Trade offs....

I do belive that with the Koni's yellow's, SA's, and Sports are all refering to the same shock. You do not change ends on the shocks. If you change to a caster camber plate you end up changing to a solid upper bushing (at least with the Ground Control ones).

 

Bilstein only offers one type of strut for the front. For the rear shock, the only difference between the sports and the heavy duty is the sports are one inch shorter for use with drop springs, so if you're running stock height springs go with the heavy duty.

Aftermarket caster/camber plates are usually only different than the stock ones because they use a spherical bearing instead of the stock rubber bushing to hold the top of the strut. What this does is positively locates the top of the strut so the camber/caster doesn't change in hard cornering. I also noticed a slight increase in steering feedback with the spohn plates. You can check them out at Spohn Performance, Inc..

 

You can increase caster and camber with the stock caster/camber plates about the same as with aftermarket pieces. For a daily driver you can run the caster as far back as it will go and run the camber at about -.5 degrees and it should wear the tires even. Running the caster all the way back will help with negative camber gain on the outside tire to make the car stick as Souseless mentioned.

There are no rod ends on struts or shocks but the aftermarket caster/camber plates have rod ends. I'm pretty sure the spohn units use QA1 bearings. After springs and shocks, the most noticable upgrade to my suspension was the caster/camber plates, and then the strut tower brace.

As for a panhard bar with rod ends, I really like any of spohn's products, not cheap, but you don't have to worry about them because they are, in my opinion, overbuilt. For a street car that is perfect though and I think they come with nice QA1 rod ends.