Jus wondering what is the best or most popular shocks everyone is using? Im in the process of redoing everything under my T/A and was jus wondering what brands are more prefered over the others? im also going with an aftermarket K-member, is spohn K-members really as bad as ive read they are? Im going to get panhard bar, LCA's, torque arm, k-member, all new bushings and joints, shocks and struts. Any advice or help would be great, thanks.


U.S. Navy
Godspeed

 

Are you looking for the best or just something that is good. Pretty much everyone on here that has Koni's will say they are fantastic. The best part is they are rebuildable. You will pretty much have these for as long as the car lasts. However, they are not cheap. Personally I am still waiting to install mine so I cannot comment on just how good they are.

 

Well, the searching ive had time to do, everyone has nothing but good things to say about those so ill be ordering them soon. What brand is the best when it comes to after market parts like, panhard bar, LCA's, Torque arm, and maybe K-member? I try to search as much as possible but being in the service u jus dont have all the time you you use to have. Thanks for anyones help.

U.S. Navy
Godspeed

 

For the rearend parts, they are all just about the same. Founders makes some really inexpensive stuff and people have been happy with them. BMR, UMI, and Sphon are going to have cosmetic differences, the main question to ask is what do you want? There are solid LCAs, solid mount with hiem on the other end, hiem on both, adjustabuility in the middle, adjustability on both ends, etc. I personally went with hiem on both ends for the adjustability and I really like them. I really do not get much road noise at all, although the goal my car is not to be built to be quiet.

 

Yep. Koni Yellows here. Great for daily driving and for having fun. Adjustable. Lifetime warranty. Can take any lowering spring or stock height spring. You just can't go wrong with them. They're expensive, but once you put them on, they're worth every penny.

 

Would you happen to remember the part number for your koni's? thanks

 

Front 8741-1030Sport
Rear 30-1265Sport

Those are for the adjustable ones.

 

get koni yellows and never look back...

 

I've put koni shocks and struts on 3 thirdgens now. It is the single best mod you can do to the suspension, period. I just put a set on my GTA this afternoon, completely transforms the car.

 

Founders is a cheap rip-off of J&M and others. Solid rear lower control arms with poly bushings are only good for straight line performance, and frankly I wouldn't waste a set of Konis on on parts like that.

 

You make a very good point. I don't own any Founders stuff myself, nor do I have solid mount suspension components. I was just making a suggestion.

 

I suggest you research Founders before calling their items "a cheap rip-off.

Not here trying to "defend" Founders, just saying that just because their prices are cheaper, it does not mean their items are rip-offs. Maybe the other companies are simply overpriced?

I've been trying to stay out of this, but a little research by people would be good before making such statements such as that one.

 

i think blackenedbird has a point.... i think your paying partly for the name and reputation of the product like spohn umi or bmr..some of the stuff you can make yourself for half the price if your good at fab work.. founders isnt as big as the other big name people... im running founders lower control arm relocation brackets just because they were alot cheaper than the others.... i had them on for a year and they have done me well..

 

The part that gave Founders a black eye for me are the camber plates. They are obviously a direct ripoff of J&M units with cheaper upper spherical bearings. I spoke directly with a J&M distributor about this. This does not make Founders crooks, simply, you get what you pay for. It's a free market out there and people can buy whatever they want, I agree that people should do the research.

 

I've got my koni's on order but as far camber plates are umi the best because from the seaching ive done everyone has nothing but good things to say about their products? thanks

U.S. Navy

 

I don't have any experience with the UMI ones. The J&M ones I've used are absolutely top notch, and they have a lifetime warranty on the spherical bearing. I'm not sure if UMI offers that or not.

 

unless things have changed, the JM ones have a lifetime warranty on the entire part. If you manage to bend the mount itself or trash the bearing, they will replace it.

 

I did my research and umi doesnt have any warrenty that im aware of, so i guess ill be ordering the J&M ones. Has anyone used any of their other products?

 

AST now makes a set of shocks/struts for our cars...

 

So does that mean that UMI has a black eye as well? UMI was FIRST to blatantly copy our camber plates. Last I heard they are useing QA1 bearings which are imported from China. We are the only company that I'm aware of the offers a lifetime warranty on all the parts along with the only one that uses "made in USA" heat treated 4130 chrome-moly Teflon lined bearing.

 

Maybe hotpart would care to explain why they replied to a remark about Founders. Oh wait...I already know the answer!

It is because hotparts.com/J&M & Founders.com is the SAME company! Yep. Same company, 2 different names & 2 different prices for the SAME items! So is hotpart is talking down on his own company?

LCARBs
$47 from Founders Performance.
$80 from J&M/hotparts.com.
Why a $33 price difference for the same item?

Strut mount
$170 from Founders vs $218 from hotpart/J&M. Why a $47 difference? Different bearings?

Looking up the URL registrations you will find:
FoundersPerformance.com is registered to
CROUTCHER, BRIAN sales@foundersperformance.com
Founders Performance LLC

hotpart,com is registered to,
Croutcher, Brian brian@hotpart.com
J&M Products

Anybody can verify this for themselves by looking up the URL registration.

 

Those look like threaded bodies for coil overs. Coil overs on the front of a thirdgen are a fail unless you want to run skinny tires.


I would love an explanation from Mr. Croucher on this. I have been wondering this for a LONG time now, ever since Founders started selling parts. The guy I talked to is a hotpart dealer and must have been lied to or something. Here is his direct quote when I sent him a PM. "I made some phone calls and it appears that Founders have copied the Hotpart stuff. They are NOT buying them from hotpart. They are also likely using a cheaper rod end for the shock mount."

Ultimately I don't think what Brian has seemingly done is a problem, it would be nice if he came forward and said so though. Maybe starting an offshoot company with the same products to undercut his competition? Its his business, but not knowing kinda leaves a sour taste. When left to our own imagination we always draw the worst conclusion. It would be cool if the story could be set straight here.

 

I've actually known all that I posted above for MONTHS.

I was going to say something months ago, but I decided it was his business to do as he pleased. If he wanted to "undercut" himself? Fine. I just figured that once Founders had a good reputation & the J&M sales dropped off, J&M might fold. Win-win for everybody. He still makes sales & we get them at a lower price.

But once I saw the hotparts negative comment towards Founders? That just didn't seem right. Like saying one hand is worse than the other hand...So I felt it was my obligation to share the info with the TGO world.

I've always known the STB/Strut Mounts/LCAs/whatever were all overpriced (IMHO in regards to production cost vs profit margin) but we had no choice except to buy them or not. I've bought a few parts myself because I needed them.

 

Very interesting. I looked up on both websites and the camber plates have the same part number. This is kinda messed up IMO and that big of a price gap is BS.

 

Hello,

Just to help out a little. Founders is J&M and J&M is Hotpart. Its all the same product and company just being sold under different names.... why? I have no idea. I assume its so they can sell their products cheaper with out making their original name look cheap? Ask Hotpart since they are posting in this thread, maybe they can explain all this?


Actually we are using FK Bearings on the camber plates, made in the USA.

I have noticed your relocation brackets are a direct copy of BMR?

I won't get into a posting war on a forum, its not profesional and not needed... members don't need to see it.

Thank you,
Ryan

 

please.

JamesC

 

Are the bearing bushings offered by umi worth the extra $? They say their for daily driving but seems to me they might wear out faster then normal bushings. Thanks for any info.

 

were did you find these?

 

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...ID=0&ModelID=9


found it lol

 

Would i benfit from aftermarket swaybars on my GTA or are they worth the money? Trying to get everything together for this winter to put on when i come in for leave. Thanks


Godspeed
U.S. Navy

 

You may very well have a great combo, the 36mm hollow and the 24 solid. I'd double check before I went forward.

JamesC

 

Well.... since we're talking a little about lower control arms...

I have a set of poly/poly tubular aftermarket LCA's. I got em for pocketchange, figured they'd improve my straight line stuff no problem, but I've always had caveats about how they will most likely bind in the twisties and that's mainly what my car is for. My stock LCA's had such rotted out bushings it was an improvement regardless..

But I would like another set of LCA's, but I'm skeptical of using rod-ends for daily driving, is my skepticism unwarranted? It seems the best I can find is a roto-joint on one end, and poly on the other when I was hoping to get a double roto-joint LCA from someone. I checked Spohn, UMI, and founders and no one offers a rotojoint-rotojoint LCA... must be some kind of reason for that?

Anyway, I figure I will just get the poly/rotojoint setup, but I still have my doubts. As the rear end rotates, the rotojoint will allow the LCA's to twist and let the poly joints move without binding, but the geometry is still changing. Do the rotojoint style bushings move in 3 dimensions and not just two, so as to compensate for all the shifting around of mounting points? Because that's the only way I could see the poly bushings not binding.

 

As far as I can tell, UMI's roto-joint is the same as Spohn's delsphere setup.

I know Spohn sells a delsphere on both end setup LCA. $239

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...-Control-Arms/

 

So, do you think i should jus stick with the factory sway bars? Thanks

Godspeed

 

I don't think you can even buy a larger set of sway bars than your GTA came with from the factory. If you've got the 36/24mm combo, you've already got as good as it gets.

 

36/24 is heavier than most anything Sam sells or to my knowledge uses, and he has 3 National championship jackets to show for his efforts in his ESP Camaro.

There is a point where more bar becomes too much bar, at least relative to the spring stiffness and probably the car weight. If nothing else, it forces a greater compromise in the shocks/struts and their settings. Just because the big bar soft spring approach seems to work in some forms of racing (primarily NASCAR) does not mean that BBSS is a good approach for all situations.


Norm