Suspension Issues, Failures & Upgrades Discussion

[JusticePete]

1. For daily driving, what parts require upgrades to improve performance and your driving experience?

2. For enthusiastic performance driving (twisties, road courses and autocross) what parts require upgrades?

3. To lower your 60' and ETs at the strip, what parts require upgrades?

4. With the current selection of aftermarket performance suspension parts, what do you feel is needed and not available?

5. What is the single most common compnent failure in the OE suspension system?

6. What is the worst attribute of the OE suspension?

Thanks!

[BLACKCHARGER07]

A nice set of coil overs thats readily avaialable and not constantly back ordered would be great to upgrade for folks like myself who like the road course as well as a more beefed up sway bat set up.

[Super T]

Hotchkis sways (and I guess ST and Eibach as well though I haven't used those) make a huge difference around the twisties. Good coilovers (KW V1 or V2, or Eibach, and I think Tien will have a set out soon) will help in the autocross and might help you stick just a little bit better for launches, but they do make the daily drive more... "one with the road" if you know what I'm sayin. I haven't really seen many suspension failures to date. The worst attribute of the OE stuff? Psh, it makes a 4,400 lb car handle better than a lot of stuff I've driven or ridden in, so not much. You won't find anything crazy like anti-dive or anti-squat geometry, but it's pretty well designed.

I gather you're more interested in R&D/sales than modding an LX yourself, which is cool too. I don't see any real holes in the suspension market for our cars that beg for filling though. More options to keep the prices competitive never hurt, so long as they perform :-)

[JusticePete]

We have a couple of dealers who own LXs and they will be heavily modding them. Last year we suspended an LX that was shown as SEMA. I have my own thoughts of what the platform needs based on my driving evaluations and just happen to have had one in the air this morning. In the conversation while working as few questions came up. My answer was we'll ask the guys on the forum -- not that guys in the forum have any strong opinions on anything. LOL So were asking what you really think.

[java]

1. For daily driving, what parts require upgrades to improve performance and your driving experience?

2. For enthusiastic performance driving (twisties, road courses and autocross) what parts require upgrades?

3. To lower your 60' and ETs at the strip, what parts require upgrades?

4. With the current selection of aftermarket performance suspension parts, what do you feel is needed and not available?

5. What is the single most common compnent failure in the OE suspension system?

6. What is the worst attribute of the OE suspension?

Thanks!

1.) body roll & flex

2.) coils & dampers

3.) these cars are not for the drag strip, independent rear suspension and weight over 4,000 lbs. But if I were to make it a drag car capable of sub 11 second pass? Serious weight reduction, power adder, high rpm motor to avoid hard launches. Soft shocks and springs in the rear. Delete the front sway bar. Stiffer bushings.

4.) subframe connectors

5.) no failures in the suspension system I am aware of

6.) same as number 1

[JusticePete]

What we are seeing so far:

The OE dampers weep a bit and they are under damped
There are a number of bushes that could be improved with an upgrade to a mild duro urethane.
The coil rates can be improved
The Nivomat dampers restrict modifications in ride height

Our objective in this thread is to verify what we have seen and tested by the real world experience of a larger number of owners. I appreciate the emails that some of you have sent. I can't believe you would take that kind of time. I'm guessing a couple came from people in the automotive industry with suspension expertise. They sound like our internal R & D people and ask we not make public thier names or comments.

:doh: That is EXACTLY how our R & D people talk. :mrgreen:

[jhs914]

The only common suspension failure, if you want to call it that, is the front tension strut (as Daimler/Chrysler calls it). Mine was replaced because of a loud popping noise when making sharp, low speed left hand turns.

We don't have any where near the problems you guys (Pedders) have addressed with the Monaro/GTO. No strut issues (except the stock struts are too soft), no axle hop on acceleration, and no tie rod/bushing issues.

A selection of Stage I, II, & III suspensions with different spring rates and heights, better shocks and stiffer sway bars would be appreciated. Their are already several coil-over products on the market.

[RobAGD]

1. For daily driving, what parts require upgrades to improve performance and your driving experience?

For general beat around I Think the Stock stuff is fine, for me personally I want a bit firmer ride and less body roll, I went with a Hotchkis TVS kit, that I loved the feel and how the car responded. Problem is the stock shocks and struts died in a year of driving ( 30k miles )

2. For enthusiastic performance driving (twisties, road courses and autocross) what parts require upgrades?

Sway Bars, Bushings, Shock damping rates and coil rates, The Question I would have would beefier end links make a differnace ?

3. To lower your 60' and ETs at the strip, what parts require upgrades?

Used up sloppy shocks do this just fine :) Something that maybe adjustable would be better though and maybe an easier way to swap them in for track days.

4. With the current selection of aftermarket performance suspension parts, what do you feel is needed and not available?

Better Shocks/Struts vs going Coil Overs, firmer bushings

5. What is the single most common compnent failure in the OE suspension system?

I would say Shocks/Struts from lowering Springs

6. What is the worst attribute of the OE suspension?

Thanks!

I would say this depends on how you drive the car. The Load Leving Shocks work great for beating around and actually carrying a load, but hurt Drag Racing and I would imagine road racing as well but in the SRT package they are well tuned ( I think )

I am looking forward to seeing your products being brough to our comunity.

-Robert

[JusticePete]

Thanks guys! Keep the information coming in!

[formerice]

I would like to see adjustable front struts and leave the Nivomats on the rear. My 6000 lb 4x4 Dodge Ram with Rancho 9000's handles bad roads way better than my RT Magnum. The front struts are too floaty for me, we have some very bad roads here. Sways are available already, but without spending a fortune , better front struts please.

[JusticePete]

I fully agree with your assement of the OE struts.

[moparman53]

The dealer replaced a leaking rear shock not so long ago.

[Padre Dave]

How about a sport setting shock absorber. My car already has 90,000 miles on it and I am having trouble justifying coil overs for it. I hear Monroe makes a wimpy soft-ride shock, but who needs that?

I remember adding KYB shocks to my PT Cruiser and the change in ride was amazing...more noticeable than bigger anti-sway bars, strut tower brace, Eibach lowering springs.

Any ideas?

[JusticePete]

How about a sport setting shock absorber. My car already has 90,000 miles on it and I am having trouble justifying coil overs for it. I hear Monroe makes a wimpy soft-ride shock, but who needs that?

I remember adding KYB shocks to my PT Cruiser and the change in ride was amazing...more noticeable than bigger anti-sway bars, strut tower brace, Eibach lowering springs.

Any ideas?

Dampers are close to production. I'll have the early release units in the USA in a few weeks. Until I personally install and drive the units they will NOT be released in the USA. We are close and will have production units available around SEMA. Hang in there.

[JusticePete]

pd6m PM sent.

[java]

How about a sport setting shock absorber. My car already has 90,000 miles on it and I am having trouble justifying coil overs for it. I hear Monroe makes a wimpy soft-ride shock, but who needs that?

I remember adding KYB shocks to my PT Cruiser and the change in ride was amazing...more noticeable than bigger anti-sway bars, strut tower brace, Eibach lowering springs.

Any ideas?

I don't understand, the installation for a set of shocks is the same as for a coil over system. Actually only the fronts are true coil overs. So if I was going to go through the trouble of installing shocks, I think I would spend $300 to buy new springs while I was at it

You can buy adjustable shocks all over the internet for these cars from KW, Eibach, KYB, Bilstein, etc.

[Jeepers]

I've been through sway bar links and outer tie rods on my RT. Seems to be pretty common on these cars.

[JusticePete]

I've been through sway bar links and outer tie rods on my RT. Seems to be pretty common on these cars.

What went wrong with the endlinks?

[Jeepers]

Don't know, wore out? I had a nasty clunk in the front end and the dealer replaced the end links, outer tie rod ends and one control arm bushing. Seems to have fixed it.

[RobAGD]

JP - The bushing in the end link rots quick, I was looking at mine sunday and they are not in good shape. I would have to imagine that would be an issue with most of the rubber bushings in these cars.

-R