Hammrman

I have a 77 with the composite spring and i feel there is WAY to much give or bounce in the rear. The ( what i believe are OEM) shocks bounce as though they are shot. Can someone give me a type of shock to use. Do i need to go to a heavy duty one. I am not planning on hauling with it at all. I'm just looking to smooth ride... not look like I have some serious hydraulic jumping action happening every time i go over a bump.

jb78L-82

Bilstein heavy duty, not sports (30% stiffer than the hd's)

Hammrman

I had seen those , but wondered about the HD's because it says about hauling or towing.

Shark Racer

I had Bilstein HDs when I installed my composite spring in 2001/2002 timeframe. It rode horribly and I switched to Bilstein Sports, which rode much better.

That said, the HDs were about 10 years old and had ~50k miles on them.

Chinaski

Bilstein HD's in mine.

mrvette

***** Stein sports in mine, on a 360 VBP rear plastic spring, been there some ten years in this combo....VERY happy.....the previous shocks were out to lunch, don't remember what they were now....

Hammrman

Thanks for all the help. I'll have to get a set soon.

BOOT77

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...60-spring.html

TEXASDESERTVETTE

Monroe Air Shocks... In order to get over Speed Bumps , also tow a 15' Baja Speed Boat.
Usually just have around 10 P.S.I. in the air bladders, for Street use, add more air as required to adjust ride.

Les

Beat me to it.

GregS_72

QA1's came with the VBP stuff I have

Hammrman

My spring is a 330# im wondering now if that might be to light, thus the reason for the "bouncy butt" syndrome. Do you think the Bill HD's would counter act to stop the flop?

Rotonda

The bouncy feeling you describe is caused by the lack of rebound control in your shocks. The stock multi-leaf metal spring has a lot of friction between the leaves which dampenens any bounce in the spring and the shocks are valved accordingly. Fiberglass springs depend completely on the shocks to dampen the oscillation, and stock shocks won't do the job.

With a 330# spring, you've chosen something for both ride and handling. VB&P offers a KYB shock (NOT Gas-Adjust!!) that is specially valved for fiberglass springs that might prove to be the combination for your particular application. Investigate.

Paul L

Those computer-designed shocks work very well with my VBP #330 composite spring.

http://www.vbandp.com/auto-parts.htm...category_id=46

jkippin

I have the QA1 shocks on mine with the VB&P composite front and rear springs. They work great for my application. If you go with the QA1 shock don't worry about the single or dual adjustable ones. They are not needed for a DD

427Hotrod

I like the QA-1's...in either single or double adjustable.

If you want to make sure you only do this one time....get at least the single adjustable and you can dial in what you like simply by turning the *****.


JIM

fleming23

I am pulling my Bilstein HDs (part of my VB&P Performance Plus kit) off this week and replacing with RideTech adjustables. The bilsteins ride fine, if not a bit stiff, but I need more adjustment for track days.

PM me if interested in the Bilsteins, they are still relatively new at about 1-1.5 years old.

AirBusPilot

I have the glass rear spring and QA1 double adjustable shocks.

With the shocks set at full stiff on rebound, and a little over midway stiff on compression, the rear still bounces too much. I don't know if it's because my car is lowered, or just the short wheelbase. I hate it.

Les

Adjust the compression tighter by a couple clicks at a time until you hit your sweet spot. I have QA1 single adjustables and went tighter than the medium range before I got it right.

jb78L-82

Having started with the bone stock 7 leaf steel gymkhana spring and AC Delco shocks and in 1986 switching to a 360 composite spring with various shocks over the years, I have come to a few conclusions about the C3 rear spring issue:

1. The stock 7/9 leaf steel spring has MANY drawbacks versus a composite spring-there is a reason that no one uses steel leaf springs on cars any longer.
2. Replacing the stock steel springs with a composite of comparable load rating is a mistake since the composite versus steel ratings do NOT equate when on the car.
3. A composite spring requires top quality shocks since its rebound is not limited by the the friction afforded by steel leafs-Bilsteins, Konis, QA1's etc. Forget mass market shocks like Monroe, Gabriel, KYB's.
4. I currently have a 1986 VBP 360 composite with Bilstein SPORTS and the rebound control is good but not great-the cars ride quality is superb BTW.
5. I think that the sweet spot between ride and rebound control on my C3 is probably a 420 composite and Bilstein sports.Base cars generally speaking probably need a 330 composite (no less) and gymkhana cars like mine should be a 400-420b composite. Most C3's are way too softly sprung for adequate handling and ride control from the factory and all you have to do is ride in just about ANY car today (not sports cars) to realize how soft a stock C3's rear suspension is. Most car manufacturers today know that softly sprung cars make for a lousy ride and crap handling-even economy cars.