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So I bought my 01 C5Z stock with rear lowering bolts. Front had stock and lowered some. Looked fine and rode fine. So I decided I want lower, so removed front bolts and put some DRM Bilsteins on. Ride better....nope. Made all kinds of noises, like a noisy washer and just overall didn't like the sounds and made me not want to drive it.
So, then decided to remove leaf springs for some used Aldan American coilovers. Not the best reviews here but I'm not tracking it, just cruising. Ride and sound better...nope. Rear feels floating sort and still sounds like something is loose. I can hear the coilover being compressed over bumps. Still don't feel like driving it. I admit, I haven't messed with coilovers any but still. I thought I could throw these on there and boom, rides fantastic just like stock or better. Nope.
So, now I'm thinking just throw leaf springs back in, put front bolts back in and stock shocks and leave it alone. Won't look as good with my CCW'S but I just want to drive it. Or buy some Viking coilovers and try those, but hate to just keep wasting money. Everything is tight so I'm not sure what's going on in the rear.
First pic is when I bought it. Rear lower than front.
Second pic is front bolts removed. Hate the noise the DRM shocks make and other sounds.
A little update and a lot more happier😁....sometimes my patience wears thin and I know all about hot rodding and things taking awhile to line out, so i should have waited to post my original comments haha. So I replaced my 12 year old tires with new Hankooks, put Teflon tape around rear sway bar and took off one coilover and put it back on. I still have some creaking as the suspension goes over bumps, but the car is riding pretty good. I believe I've got the front lower then the rear, and the car about as low as I want. I'm also happy with the 265 size up front compared to my old 275. For me, I didn't like the higher sidewall then the rear look. Thanks for all that helped and now hopefully I can start driving this car👍
I haven't been down the exact road you have and I also do not have a Z car, but I run the Bilstein sports NON DRM and lowered on stock bolts. It drives great, no weird sounds. BTW your Z is beautiful!
I have a non lowered coupe. Just put bilstein B6 shocks on like 2 months ago, along with C6z51 sway bars, I didn’t want to mess with ride height because I like to drive mine and not worry about the next pot hole or rail road crossing. I also have wider tires than a stock coupe, running 275 35 18 fronts and 305 30 19 rears. Car handles and rides nicely.
Bilstein B8 shocks are for lowered cars. Put the stock ride height bolts back in, lower it on stock bolts, Ditch the coil overs, put the B8 shocks on, and your car should hopefully ride nicely. There are some thick leaf springs you can buy out there if you want to throw those on.
sell the coil overs on Facebook. You should get most of your money back.
The DRM Bilsteins. Did you call Randy at all when this occurred? By washing machine what do you mean as that is fairly non specific. Does this mean firm over bumps, or does this mean clunking or metallic on bumps?
By the way, those CCWs look amazing on the car.
Ride height... wow... you went LOW-LOW. I can not go so low here in CT or I will not only bottom out or damage body panels but being that low you're going to rub your wheel well liners if you have any kind of wider or taller tires.
So leaf or coil, you may benefit from raising the car. Being low LOOKS cool, but it limits shock travel and available range of shock travel. This can result in dangerous handling. What happens is when the suspension bottoms out its range of travel you no longer have any buffer between the car and the road and your effective spring rate goes to infinity. Essentially, you can spin and wreck if traction is exceeded. Not wise. I will also share that for style points it is better to go level front to rear or a slight rake to the front. It looks lower in the rear in the pic at top.
Leaf vs Coils. Both work fine. Both work differently. Both have nuance. I respect but essentially hate the leaf setup. I have run it for years as C5 Z06 springs / bars with Bilsteins. Bumpy as eff. Crosstalk if you push it. But it absolutely handles the car well for cheap. Coils need to be installed right. And they need to have the right spring rate. Most are angled towards a sporty firm feel without going too far into race range of stiffness. TBH, if they are adjustable most owners are completely best off running them at the softest setting. Those who drive truly aggressively or do a few track events can venture into settings correctly. I don't know Aldans unfortunately, so I cannot steer you on them. But I can say that RideTechs have been EXCELLENT and opened my eyes to a world of better handling. I have focus on Vikings as a potential next option as well. You may benefit best by reaching out to Kelly Aiken at KellTrac who can best kit out a set for you based on your needs.
Whichever way you go, the car looks awesome and any outcome which yields confidence and your preference for comfort is a win in a C5.
Thanks everyone for the compliments. @Tusc It's a metallic like sound, like a washer is loose on the shock. I ordered some poly bushings to replace the rubber and I was also going to reinstall front bolts. Maybe I'm out of that shock range. I also found a thread on here about noisy Bilstein washer sounds, so maybe the poly bushings will help.
I hate to go through all the trouble of swapping back to leafs but something is definitely wrong now. Who knows, maybe I've got the rears on the wrong side. Its way to floaty side to side, makes noise, and Service Handling light has come on. Guess I'll take them off and see. Since they were used I figured I'd be able to throw on and be perfect. I was going to buy some Vikings but came across these at a great price. I just cruise to work on nice days so honestly leafs and some DRM's should be perfect for me. All I know is I've got a beautiful car but don't want to drive it, so gotta do something.
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17
NCM Member '09
Just curious, what sway bar links are you running? I had heim-jointed ones that came with my Pfadt/JohnnyO bars, and they were noisy as hell. Traded them back out for stock metal ones, noise gone, handling not affected that I could appreciate.
Just curious, what sway bar links are you running? I had heim-jointed ones that came with my Pfadt/JohnnyO bars, and they were noisy as hell. Traded them back out for stock metal ones, noise gone, handling not affected that I could appreciate.
Beautiful Z BTW....
Thanks. Bought new stock metal ones when I got the car. I did read someone say that theirs were loose and made noise so maybe mine were as well.
Keep the coilovers, but raise your ride height by an inch all around. This will help a lot. It may not look as cool, but you'll be so much happier. From there, you can play with the adjustment on the coilovers until it's exactly what you want. Experiment with different settings until you find what works best for you. The CCWs really do look great on your car. Good luck!
Why?..... Because folks are Hot Roders and cars are the object to hot rod... When one gets to be senior one realizes perhaps that's not such a good idea.... Golly!!... Why not??... Well, we're not as dumb as we look and we've been there.
Why?..... Because folks are Hot Roders and cars are the object to hot rod... When one gets to be senior one realizes perhaps that's not such a good idea.... Golly!!... Why not??... Well, we're not as dumb as we look and we've been there.
That's the truth!! Been modifying original stuff for 32 years now.
Honestly just sounds like you just need to play around with adjustments on your Aldans. Adjustability is awesome until you realize that's just more crap you have to spend time adjusting Raising it up a little bit should definitely help improve ride quality just based on suspension geometry, but it shouldn't be making any weird noises. Sounds like something is loose or not installed/adjusted correctly. I went with Silver's, I'm pretty much as low as you, and I noticed an increase in ride comfort/quality the first drive out. Definitely inspect your entire suspension for anything loose, broken, or that needs to be adjusted.
Wait, you took the front bolts completely out? So the leaf spring end was sitting on the LCA? That's NOT good. You need some sort of rubber pad between the leaf spring and LCA.
It's also possible you lowered it too far. You need to balance ride height with shocks and make sure you're not bottoming them out. And Aldans are never the answer.
Your setup is not new, so put Bilsteins on and raise the car a little. Stock shocks are too soft IMO especially how old they are not if they are in fact stock from 2001.
Wait, you took the front bolts completely out? So the leaf spring end was sitting on the LCA? That's NOT good. You need some sort of rubber pad between the leaf spring and LCA.
It's also possible you lowered it too far. You need to balance ride height with shocks and make sure you're not bottoming them out. And Aldans are never the answer.
Your setup is not new, so put Bilsteins on and raise the car a little. Stock shocks are too soft IMO especially how old they are not if they are in fact stock from 2001.
Yes and I did have something between them, but I bet it wasn't thick enough and that's where my noise was coming from. I found some loose stuff on the coilover mounts and in the process of raising the car up a tad. I probably just need to throw the leafs back on, put a lowering bolt up front, and my DRM's back on. I feel i need a longer/heavier spring on the rear coilovers(550# now) and that just means more money spent and time adjusting them to what works. @heggsc5 thanks, and yes found a loose top bolt. Also adjusting the coilovers up just a tad.
Honestly, I probably should have double checked things before I made this post. Guess I was too quick to rant instead of taking my time and diagnosing it. May play with coilovers a tad since they are already on there. Stay tuned haha and thanks all for the advice.
Wants me to leave something alone for once haha...been modifying vehicles for 32 years. Only thing I'd buy and leave completely stock is a C6ZR1 or a 2014/15 Z/28.
06-20-2023, 04:10 PM
Why did I mess with the ride
Raising it up a little bit should definitely help improve ride quality just based on suspension geometry, but it shouldn't be making any weird noises. Sounds like something is loose or not installed/adjusted correctly. I went with Silver's, I'm pretty much as low as you, and I noticed an increase in ride comfort/quality the first drive out. Definitely inspect your entire suspension for anything loose, broken, or that needs to be adjusted.
