What is the bonus of Coilovers?

I'm not sure if this is O/T or not, I don't think it is. Some hot rods use coilovers for suspension. A friend asked me what the bonus is from using coilovers. Now a suspension guru I am not, but the only thing I can think of is that it is a more compact unit than having the shock seperate from the spring. 57Joe couldn't think of anything either and he is wayyyyyyyy smarter than I.

Anyone care to enlighten us?

 

They are lighter,easier to adjust,height,spring rate and dampening and break more often than the original parts that came with the car.At least thats my opinion.Tom

 

I agree

 

I have never have seen a coil over ride better than a leaf set up, for the street, and most people just bolt them up and never "fine tune" them for a better ride.

 

Ha, most of what was said above is true. One other bonus, your dampening is in the same orientation as your spring travel. That makes it more effective. The reason they break more often is due to improper installation. There's nothing inherently wrong with them, but sometimes the mounts they are attached to are weak or poorly designed.

Yes they aren't traditional on hot rods, but if they had been available back then they would have.

 

I use coil overs for 25 years and to date never broke one. Proper spring rate and adjustment and you can tune the ride to your choice. Currently I have 2 street rods with coil overs and about 30,000 miles combined with no problems

 

The advantages are packaging. They're lighter and more adjustable, and are a self contained unit. For performance applications, they're great. We used them when we built our SAE car, we used titanium mountain bike shocks. Friggin things cost $400 a piece, but when we put the car on 4 scales, it was clear that each tire was not bearing an equal load. The adjustment of the springs allowed us to achieve a perfect 50/50 weight balance. They're also more user friendly, as you can take the load off the spring without a compressor, and swap it out. Bottom line is performance. But when it comes down to it, it's a spring and a shock. It works the same way as standard stuff does, and IMHO, for our applications here, it's overkill and has no real benefit. Your 58 Buick will not handle like a new GTO no matter what shocks and springs you're using.

 

Plus you can do some tricky stuff like this nifty pull-rod set up we fabbed for the 2008 University of Delaware SAE car

Cool for applications like this, but not for your Model A.

 

Those Fox shocks arent Ti Unless you added the Ti springs later..........in which case the Ti springs run over $400 w/o the body

Nice work

 

Good catch Tman, these shocks aren't Ti. We used Ti shocks on the 2006 car, but I dont have such good pictures of that one. The Ti shocks still used steel springs though. We're not made of money

 

All of the above, however, my '32 with coilovers rides a lot nicer then my '31 with a buggy spring. With the nice ride comes bottoming out on deep pot holes and I replaced 2 sets when the seals started leaking. Aldan has a life time guarantee so it was no biggie. With the buggy spring, it never bottoms out but I feel every bump in the road.

 

One disadvantage with coilovers - in the sizes commonly used in our hot rods - is the lack of travel

Makes for a rough riding car sometimes....

 

I think a single leaf offers a much better ride, if it's too stiff just take a leaf or two out.

Coil overs do give a better ride on a heavy ass car, but I think that a hot rod is just too light..

 

I would never buy coilovers again, and here's why: first of all, every hot rod I've ever built has very little rear suspension travel anyway. Typically something along the lines of 2"-3". There simply is no other way for a hot rod to look good in my opinion. With that amount of travel available, and a goofy weight bias with virtually no wieght behind the rear axle, you can swap springs and spin adjusting knobs until the cows come home and it's won't make a noticeable difference. Second, I like traditional cars and a Model A rear leaf just looks "right", even on a '32, where it gives clearance for a quickchange rear. I also happen to like the simplicity of the leaf, and in my opinion, simplicity breeds reliability.

 

I guess the answer I was looking for came from Gotgas. The dampening being in the same orientation as the spring travel. Plus all the adjustability.

Joe where were you with all that info on the way home from Detriot when Sal asked? Maybe a little overtired from the wknd still?

 

What about coilovers on a '52 chevy w/mustang II suspension?

 

Why didn't you ASK while you were here? In the garage of the house you slept in Saturday night was my Dad's '56 Olds with a first generation Camaro front clip and coilovers. VERY slick set up. The car handles like it's on rails and performs right up there with cars half his weight when he does an autocross track.

Dad's never broke one and he's got over 50,000 miles on the car.

 

No Ti bodies made, somebody lied to you.

 

Haha, yeah. Sal quized us on the way home with random questions such as this. Other topics included if you could possibly date a stripper. If you were dating a girl and she was perviously a stripper could you still date her? Lots of stripper and coil spring talk goin on on the way home. Sal's funny...

 

If your coilover gives a bad ride, swap out the coil for a different spring rate.

The only broken coilover i've seen personally was a bent coil retainer on my buddy's Silverado with Kings coilovers/triple bypasses on it, however he hucks that truck pretty hard. I doubt anyone here is jumping their hot rod like the desert guys jump their trucks.

The only real downside i see to coilovers is that they don't fit the look at all.

 

freind of mine has coilovers on his 29 gets basketball dribble at highway speeds. we cranked the spring load tighter, still dribbles. not trying to jack this thread just curious to what might cause this ? the coilovers are brand new.

 

What kind of rear tires and pressure is he running?

 

Are the tires round, the rims straight and, most importantly, are the wheels/tires well balanced? 90 percent of these kinds of problems are caused by balance issues and/or tired/defective shock(s).

-Bigchief.

 

vintage byas checked for out of round slight bit present left rear.

 

Dude , the coil overs arebrand new pete and jakes. these bf goods must be the culprit ? ? no wonder the chainers run cocker radials ! !

 

Coil overs are used on many sports cars that re MUCH lighter than our hot rods. Think Lotus for instance and they ride fine. Springs are available in more rates than you can imagine so it's just a matter of having the correct parts

 

They are not rocket science, just misunderstood. Most every motorcycle made for decades uses coilovers, any macphereson strut car uses the same basic design.

Any good suspension system can be installed to ride well and be reliable with proper DESIGN. You must know what those design requirements are. You can get lucky with any suspension, but leaf type is most forgiving. Ride quality is a very subjective topic. If you want smooth, you sacrifice handling. If you want handling, you sacrifice smooth. To say a car doesn't ride well is a vague statement. It is more appropriate to say something rides too harsh, too soft, etc.

 

You made the wrong adjustment. Dribble is normal for rough road surface and controlled by damping.

You tighted up the springs, so increased the spring rate which will increase the velocity of the bounce. You need to increase compression and/or rebound damping instead.

Tires will only be a consideration if it get dribble on smooth roads. That is a balance issue and will over work your shocks if it goes on too long. You must get balance under control to have relaible influence on any other situation.

 

You tighted up the springs, so increased the spring rate which will increase the velocity of the bounce. You need to increase compression and/or rebound damping instead.

Ok Scott how is that done ? the only adjustment is spring tension it looks like. am i missing something here ? thanks Russ

 

Probably not. Lower end coil-over shocks don't always have any adjustments. Mid range will have one screw or knob for compression then high end shocks have two adjusters to include rebound damping also.

Sometimes the adjuster isn't obvious. Can you post a pic or make and model, web link? Maybe we can figure it out.