Before I get flamed for this, I did search and I did read through a dozen different threads on this, but my question remains unsolved. There seems to be a huge controversy about which spring set is better for performance driving, people have had both kits in both orders and there seems to be no consistency with the recommendation.

I have an 84 sport coupe with a 305 going in. the stock springs are sh*t, and I figured I'd use the need to replace the front springs due to the new engine's weight difference as an excuse to upgrade and balance my suspension all-around. What I'd like to get from this post is for people that have had at least one of the sets, preferably both, and give me a recommendation on which would be right for *me.* I don't care so much for straight-line performance as all-around handling and cornering ability, because I consider the 3rd gen F-body more or less a sports car and drive mine as such. The visual effects gained from lowering are not a priority. I just want the set that will let me carve corners the best. Ground clearance is not a problem as long as it's still streetable, and I'm no stranger to driving around potholes. Ride quality isn't a huge priority either.

Thanks for any help, guys.

 

I'm gonna say Pro-Kit. The rears on the Sportline are softer than some stock springs and not really a performance set. Also, being lower than the Pro-Kit without being stiffer, they'll increase the tendency to bottom out.
If I had it to again (which I plan to) I'd get a set of weight jacks and springs from Ground-Control-Store.com. That way you can select both the ride height and spring rates yourself and you can have 3-4 inches of height adjustment after installation. They'll be a bit more than just the Pro-Kit.
Oh, and get GOOD shocks!!! More important that springs.

 

I have the Pro kit on my car right now and it's not low enough for me so thats why I grabbed a set of Sportlines. What are the spring rates for each set on the rear? I wasn't aware the Sportline rears were soft? Anyone else have this problem?

 

The Pro-Kit:
714 lb/in linear front
109-177 lb/in progressive rear

SportLines:
700ish lb/in linear front
130ish rear.

The problems comes from the combination of the ride height and spring rate. Eibach admits to designing the Sportlines to designing the SportLines to rely on the bump stops as a suplement for the springs.

 

Would using Sportline front springs and Pro kit rears be useful or just a headache?

 

I would think it would make the car have too much a lean towards the front....be too high in the rear in relation to the front.
Also, you'd still have the softer springs in front at a lower ride height. Not sure if you could tell a significant difference in handling if you swapped out just fronts, but you would be more prone to bottoming out.

 

I have used a 2" drop Intrax kit and the 1" drop Pro-Kit. When I had the 2" drop, it was really low and looked pretty good. But the ground clearance was horrible... which wasn't acceptable for me as a street car. I switched to the Pro-kit shortly after for unrelated reasons (rubbing noise couldn't locate - turned out to be posi clutches of all things).

Anyway... the pro-kit provides a decent drop and fills the gap without giving it the totally lowered look. And I don't bottom out nearly as much as I did with the 2" drop. I highly reccomend the Pro-kit for use on a street car and just to make the car looks better. But if you are going for the lowered look, then go ahead and get the Sportlines.

 

i got the prokit, no complaints here....i love them....

 

ProKit here too. Sometimes I wish it were lower just for the looks. But clearance keeps me from swapping them. The ride is aggressive. yet forgiving with the ProKit. I love the way it handles

 

Is there any other problems with the Sportlines other then the fact that the rear spring is a little soft? I love the look of the Sportline drop so that's why I got them. I like the way my car handles now but if it will handle a tad better with the Sportlines or handle the same, I could care less.

 

What do those jack things run? I saw them in another post but didn't look at the product page.

Also, what shocks would you recommend without spending a fortune?

 

I think they are $460 a set. Kinda pricey, but in my opinion, they are worth it.
How much do you mean by 'fortune'...lol

I wouldn't be able to compare the handling between the two because I've only had the one. I personally wouldn't run the SportLines if I were trying to handle well. Even the Pro-Kit isn't really stiff enough to be considered a performance set. With the money you have tin the Pro-Kit and the SportLines, you could have had weight jacks....and with the money I have in my Pro-Kit and WS6 springs, I could have too...hehe.

 

Well, I was thinking the best springs I could get for ~$300. I'm a recent grad starting a small business, therefore the budget is tight. Especially when I'm also building a motor up from the block.

What is everyone running for shocks? I have Monroe Sensa-Tracs in the rear and was going to replace the struts with a pair so they'd match, but I doubt those would let me exploit my handling ability as much as I could. What are some less-expensive but good shocks I should pair the Pro-Kit with?

 

I have KONI Yellows, but they aren't cheap. About $750 shipped. You can get the Reds for less than the Yellows. Bilsteins are a good shock, but they are more than the KONIs and not adjustable. I've heard KYB is a decent shock as are the Tokicos. The KYBs and the Tokicos are adjustable, but as good a shock as the KONIs. My best advice on shocks is to spend as much as you can and get the best you can afford. It took me 10 months to get mine (got the rears then the fronts with new J&M mounts), but I'm glad I did it.

 

The Prokit was already on the car when I bought it and I had the Sportlines laying around from when I had my GTA. In regards to shocks/struts, why not get some KYB AGX's? Right now I have the GR-2's and I think they're decent enough with the Prokit?! My car is a street car before anything. Yes it might see the track a couple times but for the most part, it's for the street so it doesn't have to carve the hell out of the pavement. It handles awesome right now so I figured I'd throw on the Sportlines and make it look a little better

 

Yeah, I actually just went on an archaeological dig through old threads and the AGX seems to be pretty well-respected for it's price. I think I'll go with a Pro-Kit and AGX's all-around. Thanks for all the help, guys.

 

The pro-kit is for performance, sportline kit is for looks.

I had the sportline kit on my 89 T/A w/ bilsteins, HD's in front sports in the rear and almost a full spohn suspension. The rear sportline springs are soft. With the soft rear springs and the sport shocks(which are softer than the HD's)the car bottomed out all the time. It also caused a very dangerous "snap oversteer" that all most made me total my car. I had to cut the rear bump stops down to help prevent that. The rear springs sit so low and are so soft it makes the car "sit" down on the rear bump stops on hard cornering. This basically "locks" the rear end straight and the car slides over the pavement. It also prevents the sway bars from working like they are suppose to.

I rebuilt the whole suspension and took it out to carve some corners and was really disappointed. I just had spent all this money on these parts and it handled like crap.

I got rid of the sportline kit and am putting the pro kit on with bistein HD shocks all the way around. This is what Sam Strano recommend.

I also have a set of sportline's on my 2000 Firehawk. They were on there when I bought the car. They also hit the bump stops. I am getting rid of those and going with a set of Strano springs and Koni SA struts/shocks.

One of the most important things to remember is the parts of the suspension should be designed to work together. Strano gives the example of putting a really big cam in a stock engine w/o changing the valve springs, leaving the stock two barrel intake on it and exhaust manifolds. It's not going to work very well. As I just stated my setup didn't work.

For some reason people hate to spend money on suspension parts. A friend of mine put 2 inch drop springs on his 94 Formula and stock Gaberial shocks and he says it handles good. No it doesn't. There's no possible way it does.

Struts/Shocks are probably the most important thing to buy. Stock is marginal at best. If you are going to get a set of springs for performance not looks, you should either look into a set of revalved Bilsteins or Koni SA struts/shocks. The shock controls the spring. When you put on a spring with a lower rate, you need that much better shock to help control it. If you don't you will get a rough ride and the car will not be stable in a hard corner.

Most companies that make "lowering" springs are not perfomance springs. When they make the spring shorter they also make them softer which is counter productive.

As far as KYB shocks I have read, they wear out quickly and do have good dampening properties. Again this is what I have read and have no personal experience.

I am sorry if this post was long and I know I repeated myself. I have learned a lot about suspension's in the past six months. By no means do I know a lot.

When I re-did my suspension and went with the sportlines/bilsteins I thought I had made a good choice. I had read a lot of threads on this board and thought I knew what was going on. Well turns out I didn't. I just want to help someone from making the same mistakes I did.

my .02

 

Good post. I'm just glad I don't have to spend money on shocks twice, just spirngs.
It's like LilJayV10....you want a corner carver, you have to spend money. Not saying that the other combos don't work, just that the car isn't as good as it could be.

 

I had drop zone lowering springs on my 1991 Rs Convertible, right around a 2" drop. i thought it handled just fine with my 20" wheels i had at the time.

I've always been about looks on my cars. my two 4th gen SS's have sportlines, and they both handle excellent. I ride on the bump stops most of the time, but it hasnt changed the way "my" car drives, cant say the same for others.

I just bought jays sportlines for my 1992 Z28 convertible. it is going to sit low and bottom out a lot, but thats what im use to.

 

I have the pro kit and I am very happy with them.
The roads here in Hampton, VA suck, the sportlines would be to low.

 

can we get some pics in this thread for the help of comparison

 

Since we've already covered them on a performance standpoint (Pro-Kit > SportLines), I'll show some of mine. I still want the car lower, but I'm not willing to sacrice handling or smacking the bumpstops all the time.




I really need some better shots of my car.

 

Yeah, aesthetically that looks fine in terms of the gap. I'd rather my car performs better than it looks instead of looking better than it performs (3rd gen's are not allowed to be rice).

As I said though, I'm most concerned with cornering and handling. Ride quality is not important at all. I'm 18 and have a good back. Ground clearance is only as important as it needs to be. I don't go many places that have speed bumps and the potholes in this town are bad enough you have to drive around 'em anyways. My main standpoint though, is that to have high-performing ****, sacrifices must be made. I've accepted that and am okay with the idea. The damn thing's a Camaro, not a Caddy.

Has anyone got any experience with how the AGXes wear? I can understand them wearing faster since they are cheaper, but what time period are we talking? I'll eventually get some high-end ones, so they only really need to last for a summer or so.

 

My turd actually rides great (solid and connected without being harsh) on highways and most backroads around here. The back/county roads are better than the secondary roads in town. Get on some rough roads, though, be ready for a hammering. I've heard it's partially due to the Eibachs, though. But, I prefer that to a car that rides great and bounces down the highway like it's on a cloud.

 

Just to let you know. Summit has lowering springs for our cars. I just called them and the rates are, linear front at 714 and rear progressive at 109-170. I'd say they are made by Hotchiks(sp?) or maybe even Eibach. They are about 100 dollars cheaper than the pro kit. Unless I can find a pro kit used I might try these springs. Part # is SUM-720102

 

I'm going with the ProKit which I bought from someone here, and 255/40/18 (26" dia) tires instead of stock diameter 245/40/18s (25.7").

The bigger tires will fill the gap another 0.3" on top of the 1" from the Pro Kit. that way, I only lose 0.7" of ground clearance, but looks like I dropped the car 1.3".

 

Probably Eibach with the Summit name on it. I know they sale some WilWood stuff like that.

Sounds good. But, don't forget struts/shocks.

 

i got the sportlines, and my stock ws6 springs/struts/shocks had 125000 on them. i love them. i think they perform great... alot better than the stocks stuff, i went with gr2's upfront and gas a justs in th rear bc $$ is an issue for me. its all in my sig. i havent hit the bumpstops yet and its a daily driver in NJ. what i think i might do is get a pair of rear QA1 springs with a rate at 175 or 200 and just cut them for height. i want my rears stiffer bc i bottom out rarely and its bc im running true duals with turndowns... thats wat hits.

i measured the stock springs. they are 14" height, the larger diameter top of the spring is 4.25" ID and 5.25" OD..... the smaller side is 2.5" ID....

what springs would i have to get? 2.5" ID coil springs? bc they all seem to be the same as far as same diameter as both sides where as the stock/ebach/hotkins are all small diameter side and larger diameter...

i will eventually do better shocks.. prob KYB aGx's in front and blistens in the rear.

 

You get a set of 175-200lbs springs and go to cutting on them, they are gonna get stiffer and stiffer the more you cut. I would think that with 700 in the front and 200s in the rear that the car might be unbalanced. With that much rear spring, people usually run 750-800s or more up front, at least from what I've seen. Also, 175-200 lb springs are way too much spring for the dampeners you have. And the KONIs are a better shock than the off-the-shelf Bilsteins and cost less.

 

750 up front and around 150 in back is suppose to be really good, especially with the adjustable koni's. I think those spring rates are the second level of the 1LE package. I think 200 in the rear would be to harsh. I think the thing would bounce off the ground. lol

Maybe it's different for 4th gen cars. But Koni SA are more expensive than the Bilsteins. The cheapest place to get bilsteins is from Auto Zone, atleast for a 3rd gen car it is.

 

I was basing that one the ones that are offered by Spohn, but it's been a while since I looked.
It looks like the rear Bilsteins HDs ($92 per) are less than the KONIs ($124 per) but the fronts Bilstein HDs ($285 per) are more than KONIs ($259 per). But, HotPart offers them at $226 per/$105 per. I'm not sure if the Bilsteins offered at Auto Zone are the HDs. I'm not sure if the non-HDs are designed for lowered cars.

 

You can get both the HD's and the sports at Auto Zone. I just ordered the rear HD's a few days ago.

 

Too bad you have to buy all new wheels and tires to get there, but it will look awesome, have plenty of ground clearance and handle well, all in one shot. Hmm. I need to have a look at availability of 18" wheels/tires...

Good post. Good thinking.

TA

 

yea i was thinking that cutting the 175s would be too much, i'll prob get a set of 150lb and hack off a coil or 2. eventually im going to do the front as well, im prob gona do a 750/170 setup.

the prob is idk wat size diameter spring would fit the rear and front. all i have are the stock size rear demensions but u havent found any springs that have diff demensions for the top and bottom part of the spring.

if i were to get a 14" tall spring at 150lb and hack off 2 coils it would increase spring rate and still might not be low enough
but if i were to get a 12" tall spring at 150lb and hack off 1 coil spring rate would only increase so much vs having to cut off 3 coils off the 14" tall spring... so i guess spring height would be most important for me right now... wats the height of the prokits/sportline rear spring?

in my future i see KYB adjustables struts upfront and prob rear as well.