FLYNAVY30

My new RideTech catalogue showed up in the mail today and I saw that they've added a level 2 and level 3 suspension kit for the C3....just curious if anyone is running their set up yet. I know Van Steel is generally the go-to guys for coil overs, but having driven RideTech equipped A and F Bodys, I can say they do make a nice product. Just curious if there were any first impressions out there yet.

Richard454

Looks like a really well done system - BUT the entry level front and rear set up is almost $6K....add better shocks and sway bars and you're close to $9K. By the time you put the wheel bearings on it your easily into 5 figures. Just saying.....

FLYNAVY30

Oh, I agree completely, I was just curious if anyone was running this set up yet and how it compared to the Van Steel stuff....which I agree isn't a true apples to apples comparison either.

k7king

I've been running the Ridetech Suspension on my C2 since June. I've ran 3 weekends of autocrossing on it and many mile on the street. I don't work for Ridetech but I'm proud to call them friends. The Corvette kit was very easy to install and the difference from stock is night and day. I actually installed the kit without any instructions since I installed the prototype kit. I switched to a borgenson power steering box which is a great upgrade. Most people are upgrading the brakes anyway so doing that at the time of the Suspension upgrade makes that easier to swallow. I love how my Corvette drives like a "Corvette" now. The car is at home on the street or the track now and has made the car FAST on the track.

Here are the specs on my corvette:
Ridetech Level 2 single adjustable coil overs front and rear
Ridetech Front and rear splined swaybars
Borgensen Power steering Box
Wilwood disc Brakes

Here is some install pics
http://s295.photobucket.com/user/k7k...?sort=3&page=1
Feel free to ask me anything you want about it on here or email me.
mike@kingind.com

k7king

I posted a review but I'm waiting for the mods to approve it? It had links and pics.

FLYNAVY30

Any chance you could email it to me at GPaules03@gmail.com ?

FLYNAVY30

Perfect, you answered all of my questions...including use with the borgenson box. How do the level 2 shocks ride on the street? It seems that of the RideTech options, the level 2 kit with the muscle bars is the best bang for the buck set up.

k7king

My opinion is level 2 is all that is needed for most people. The singles only adjust Rebound but all but Experienced shock tuners won't need the adjustment that the Triples provide. My ride is firm but not rough.
I love how mine rides and drives. I'll post a video of it autocrossing and add a link to it.

FLYNAVY30

perfect, I thought that might be the case with the triple adjustables....as I found with my C5, too much adjustability in inexperienced hands can often times be worse than a factory suspension

k7king

marolf101x

Flynavy30 states,
"as I found with my C5, too much adjustability in inexperienced hands can often times be worse than a factory suspension"

This is very true. When discussing shock options with people I always say,
"there are thousands of possible settings when you have three *****. Only about 3 combinations will net what you are after. Do you think you can find those 3?"

If they are knowledgeable about shock tuning they tend to find them without much fuss. (if they are knowledgeable they already know they need the added adjust ability of the triples!)
If they don't understand shocks, vehicle dynamics, and how the shocks affect these dynamics they get very lost, give up, and say the shocks are crap.

Since the rebound adjustable shocks have only 24 settings, it's pretty easy to nail your desired setup.
-Just start at one end (full soft or full stiff).
-drive the car
-rotate the **** to the complete opposite of where you were (if full stiff, go full soft or vice versa)
-was it better or worse?
-go half way back the other way
-was it better or worse
-go half way back the way that was better
If you keep doing this you'll narrow in on what you like pretty quickly

Shark Racer

Does anyone know how/if this offers improved toe control over suspension travel vs the factory design?

Kid Vette

I believe it it improves bump steer in front but no help for the rear.

Bad Bird

I think that the kit raises the differential by about 0.5" for improved toe control.

tektrans

I looked into it as well and the price just shut me down. It's a very nice product but......

TheSkunkWorks

I believe that's the figure they've cited.

To better clarify what that does... Raising the diff in the chassis can certainly help counter adverse rear toe-steer at lower ride heights, but rear ride height relative to the half-shafts remains the key factor in determining just how low you can go from a cosmetic standpoint before creating wonky toe-steer geometry. And, FWIW to subscribers open to considering such, the maths I've run on C2/C3 toe-steer curves would appear to concur with John Greenwood's recommendation to set static rear height no lower than to where the inner u-joints are ~1/2" above the outers. One might get away with slamming further, but once the half-shafts travel below level to the ground rear toe necessarily and increasingly moves towards or into toe-out, requiring greater and greater static toe-in alignment to compensate (creating more and more scrub). And, no, one needn't make this exorbitant purchase to address this rear geometry issue, or to improve front bumpsteer.

Hope that's worth $.02 to someone.

Shark Racer

Where I'm at with it... I like the crossmember mount, both for the diiff relocation, the fact that you can drop the diff without dropping the x-member, and what I consider to be the best of the various upper spring mounts for coilovers.

Van Steel's setup comes to $3900 for new control arms, trailing arms and coilover bits.

There's the Shark Bite rear setup, but, uh... pass. $1500 in the cheapest iteration, and I'll still have to do front control arms.

It's still... a LOT of money for the Ridetech setup, but... not horrible. Looks like the usual outlets have it for around $5500 for the base setup; still have to add a sway bar... at least a front one.

So basically, they haven't really fixed the toe-control problem more so allowed you to lower the car a bit more without extending into the range where the toe curve starts getting wacky?

Kid Vette

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you still need to drop the crossmember to drop the diff. I just watched their installation video and that's the way it appeared to me.

Also they have raised the diff only with the modified crossmember. The front pinion mount stays the same so in effect you are changing the pinion angle which may cause problems. Or you could eliminate the front bushing like Greenwood suggested however the video showed retaining the bushing.

Shark Racer

They state in the video, "one of the advantages of running our system is that you can remove the differential unit without dropping the crossmember" (paraphase).

Kid Vette

Well if they say so I guess you can. The bolts still go in from the top and with the diff raised 1/2", the space has got to be tight.