New 420# rear fiber spring?

G

gkull

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Wild West, Nevada USA
I'm kind of going back to making my Vette a street machine. Previously I had a custom steel of kind of unkown weight and QA-1 single adjust rear shocks. both with and without a 3/4 rear bar.

Now the rear with less spring stiffness almost feels flexy or bouncey where before it was rock solid even hitting bumps in a turn. Right now I've tried several adjustments with more rebound than compression and I have considered reinstalling the 3/4 sway to firm up the rear.

What shocks have you tried with a fiber mono that has good balance?
 
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UMMM....I suspect your requirements/what you are used to is a tad more demanding than what I am used to.....:pprrtt:

I have a 360 VBP and Bilsteins, and stock 7/16? sway bar....to ME, it's fine....

the Bilsteins cured that bounce over the bridges here, the old KYB's that car felt like I was the ball in a NBA game....

:gurney:
 
We've heard this "bouncy" description applied to the FRP springs many times. I still run the steel "Daytona" spring set (850# front/400#) rear so I haven't experienced the effect but one assumes it is due to loss of interleaf frictional damping. To counter the loss of internal friction forces I would think you would need to apply increased damping forces in both compression and rebound not just compression.

Grampy
 
Grampy said:
We've heard this "bouncy" description applied to the FRP springs many times. I still run the steel "Daytona" spring set (850# front/400#) rear so I haven't experienced the effect but one assumes it is due to loss of interleaf frictional damping. To counter the loss of internal friction forces I would think you would need to apply increased damping forces in both compression and rebound not just compression.

Grampy
Click to expand...

I went back to the stock steel spring just for a test....fuggetaboutit....

that scrubbing action made it ride like a truck over my rough as a cob roads here....

:hissyfit:
 
I had the koni's with the original steel spring. Very old and rusted, but the controlled the bouncing quite well. Unfortunately, the steel spring gave out.

Went with 550front and 360 mono rear (VBP). Stock sway bars. Started out with IAS shocks. They were great for handling bumpy roads and did quite well at speed around corners. Still had a little bit of that floating feel over longer road dips.

Put Bilstein sport shocks on. They give a much tighter feel of the road and none of that floating feeling. Corners very well. The roads here are generally in very good shape. So far I prefer the Bilst. on my BB.
 
I guess it's been what?? 5 years ago now, I did Bilstein over KYB after all the hammering from guys more in the know than me...so after over a year's worth of comments, I finally hit one thread, and tossed the towel, now that change is kinda expensive at 300 bux....and it really IS WORTH IT....in my case...

360 plastic rear VBP spring....15 years ago there was little to no information except locally...and they said VBP 360 and KYB....but the Maryland roads are lots better than this sand bar, and the bridges don't undulate the way they do here....my comment about being a NBA ball....

so for anyone going IN on the project today....all I can say is I"m happy with my setup...

thing is, this shit is SO totally subjective, what I tolerated as a kid is no longer considered nice....but it's only BEEN 50 years of automotive 'progress'....

:surrender::twitch::thumbs:
 
I have a 420# VB&P rear spring, a dragvette 6-link and bilstien shocks (not the sport ones). I put aftermarket aluminum upper control arms on the front and just poly busings on the lowers, with big block coil springs. I have a rack and pinion conversion and only use a front sway bar. I have 19" rims with 255/40's on the front and 345/30's on the back. The car handles amazing and really sticks to the road at high speed, but it is not that good for ride quality ... you feel every piece of the road
 
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