Advantages in comfort/ride quality from upgrading to Monroe GT shortened shocks

[HamaTime™]

This might be a silly question, but here we go.

How much better is the ride quality when you upgrade the shocks? I.e. my VS is running super lows on FE2 shocks, and it's quite possibly the firmest and most uncomfortable car to drive, (not complaining too much). I am going to upgrade the shocks, probably in the next couple of months, but I wanted to ask.....

How much better/more comfortable/ is the quality of the ride improved by upgrading the shocks to shorter ones to suit lower springs?

Cheers

[old mate]

just as a guess, as the fe2 springs were softer than the superlows the compression dampning of the fe2 shocks would be stiffer than that of the monroe gt's. but the rebound would be stiffer (ie slower) with the monroe gt's than fe2.

[HamaTime™]

So that sort of doesn't explain anything. Obviously due to physics the rebound is going to be slower on a smaller shock bearing the same weight, therefore effectively not being as soft as a higher car (whole point of not having low suspension - sort of).

The FE2 shocks I have in my VS now are disgracefully rough/hard. So my car is the most uncomfortable car, in the sense that you feel literally every inconsistency, every tiny crack, every little bump....Basically, the shocks are not doing the job they were designed for (partly due to the fact that they are too long for my springs).

So how much does ride quality improve from upgrading shocks, in terms of handling, comfort, etc etc. Because if the effects are minimal, i.e. by what your saying through being 'stiffer' shocks than FE2's....then that would suggest that upgrading shocks is a waste of time????

Not having a dig or anything, just a bit bored at work and harping on about a small point....

[Calaber]

Springs and shocks should really be matched for the best performance. Your superlow springs would probably be pretty stiff, certainly much stiffer than the original FE2 springs, and the FE2 shocks probably are not well matched to them. The stiffness you are encountering is more likely to be the springs than the shocks. Replacing the FE2's with shocks designed to work with substantially lower and harder springs would probably make a difference but don't expect that doing this will soften the ride. It will possibly mean the impact is dampened better but the stiff springs will still be transmitting road shock into the car.

[HamaTime™]

Yeah, the superlow's are very stiff, as you would expect. How much of an improvement would you suggest?

[old mate]

So that sort of doesn't explain anything. Obviously due to physics the rebound is going to be slower on a smaller shock bearing the same weight, therefore effectively not being as soft as a higher car (whole point of not having low suspension - sort of).

The FE2 shocks I have in my VS now are disgracefully rough/hard. So my car is the most uncomfortable car, in the sense that you feel literally every inconsistency, every tiny crack, every little bump....Basically, the shocks are not doing the job they were designed for (partly due to the fact that they are too long for my springs).

So how much does ride quality improve from upgrading shocks, in terms of handling, comfort, etc etc. Because if the effects are minimal, i.e. by what your saying through being 'stiffer' shocks than FE2's....then that would suggest that upgrading shocks is a waste of time????

Not having a dig or anything, just a bit bored at work and harping on about a small point....

the length of the shock does not mean anything in the scheme of the stiffness of the shock. it is all to do with the valving of the shock. as the spring rate has increased (more force to compress but rebounds with more force) compared to the standard fe2 shocks they will not be matched correctly.

with the softer fe2 springs there will be less rebounding force from the spring acting when it hits a bump, so the shocks will be suited for this application. so now, the shocks will be setup for say x amount of rebound force but will be receiving x+5 rebound force. this means that the speed of the rebound will increase. with a shock that has its rebound stiffer than the fe2, it will slow the rebound speed, which may help the wheels to stay in contact with the road over a series of bumps. if the shocks are too soft in rebound the car will feel choppy in the suspension action.

if you go too stiff though the suspension will not have enough time to recover from one bump to the next, causing a very harsh feeling and the suspension will pack down and you will not get as good traction.

on the compression side, the fe2 shocks were tuned so that they would work with the fe2 springs. the fe2 springs would have had a lower spring rate than the superlows so as before, there needs to be a shock adjustment. if the fe2 springs had a spring rate of x and the superlows of x+5, you may find that the standard fe2 shocks are too stiff on compression. this will mean that when you hit a bump the suspension will compress less than what it should. this will give a very harsh feeling, similar to that of a overly stiff rebound setting. if it too soft however it will react to everything that you will hit and could feel wallowy.

the superlows will have a pretty high spring rate compared with stock and it may actually be too stiff. after fitting different shocks it may still feel quite harsh and wont use all of its travel, then you will know the spring rates are too high. i know KMAC advise against going too high in spring rates on a street driven car, instead they use shocks and sway bars to tune the handling.

you wont get a good ride on the street with superlows, and they may be actually too stiff to work correctly on the street. on the track is another story though, as you dont have to deal with as many small bumps so you can tune the suspension to be less compliant on little impacts and rebound slower as it would be rare to hit a series of little bumps on a good racetrack. so there a higher spring rate would be better.

if you want to get the best out of your car id suggest calling someone with lots of experience, not just hacks on the internet (however good they might tell you they are). KMAC seem on the ball with commodores and are based in melboune like yourself so you could give them a call and discuss what you have done and what you have in mind for suspension.

one thing to understand is that suspension is always a compromise, you cant get it to work exactly right for every second of driving

[old mate]

i wouldnt expect very much improvement over the little bumps. what youre saying by saying that it feels every crack etc is that the spring rates are too stiff. the only way to change that is change the springs.

downside of going too low in the suspension on the street.

[HamaTime™]

Ok that was a very comprehensive answer. Appreciate it rep given