Eric_who

So I installed some LG GT2 Coilovers about a year ago on my 03 z06, its my daily driver, and during that year have messed around adjusting them to try and get the ride quality in a good place but I just can't seem to get them to ride comfortably no matter the stiffness setting I set them to. So when I initially installed them I had them set to 8/12 stiffness all around (12 being stiffest), and lowered the car down from stock ride height (but the car is not slammed to the ground by any means). Since installing them I have been slowly reducing the shock stiffness to try and improve the ride comfort because the ride is very harsh when driving on the streets and highways here in Southern California. As of right now they are set all the way down to 3/12 stiffness in the front and 4/12 in the rear, and the ride is still very very harsh, not really a noticeable difference from when I had them set to 8/12. Is the car just set too low causing the suspension geometry to be out of whack and its bottoming out the shocks, causing the ride to be very harsh? Over certain bumps the car does feel a little "bouncy", but not cut springs bouncy. I love the height and stance I have it set to and really don't want to raise it up because I think these cars tend to look a little goofy if they aren't lowered. What are my options if I want to improve the ride quality but keep the current stance? Should I set them to 1/12 all around and see how it rides? Add Drop Spindles along with the coilovers to add 1" more shock travel and maybe bring the suspension geometry back in line? Any suspension experts are welcome to chime in here. I will attach pictures of the car's current ride height and stance for reference.

MetalMan2

Would it be feasible to temporarily raise the car 1" and see how it feels? I can't speak for your specific suspension components, but some shocks don't behave well near their end of stroke even if not bottoming out.
At least with a 1" raise, you can start to assess if 1" drop spindles would be a viable long-term solution.

Rob.M

Try setting the front to 6 and the rear to 1 and increase from there. Basically, you're sitting on the rear wheels so you'll probably want to set it softer than the front for the street.

Supercharged111

LG coilovers were made for the track, not the grocery store. They're not sprung or valved for optimum ride quality. You're going to need to call LG to discuss a game plan.

heggsc5

My first thought was these change the spring preload when you mess with the ride height, but after looking at them on Google, they look eerily similar to my Silver's setup. One might think one copied the other...lol

Since they look similar, I'll assume the operate similarly.

Did you set the spring preload according to the instructions? If not, that could be the issue right there.

If that's good to go, and they share the same construction as mine, altering the ride height shouldn't have any effect on the shock stroke or spring preload.

All that's left is the damping and springs...assuming everything else is good at this point, the only thought I have left is LG has very aggressive shock valving and/or spring rates (for racing, not comfy street driving). If they're that hard still, drop them all down to 1 and see how that goes.

My C/Os are noticeably smoother and more refined feeling than stock Z51 springs and B8s and my car should be lower than yours.

Supercharged111

You shouldn't be setting preload, rather collar height and thusly ride height. Ideally you'd set it up on scales to get your corner weights right, absent of that just make sure your left to right are set at the same height.

OP if you can spring for the drop spindles I would, I'd kill to have the scratch for coilovers and drop spindles.

heggsc5

If these are the correct GT2s, they look identical to my silver's (except colors).

The two collars directly under the spring is how you set preload. The collar under that is how you adjust ride height. Assuming they operate the same way of course, so I could be wrong, but they really do look identical.

Eric_who

First off, sick car! I have the spring preload set so that when the suspension is in full droop, I can turn the springs by hand but there is no play up and down, so just enough preload to keep the springs in place in full droop while still being able to turn them by hand. I actually was messing around with the dampening and set them to the stiffer side, 9/12 all around, and the ride actually is now more smooth and less bouncy than when they were set to 3/12 or below, so it seems I needed to actually go stiffer on the dampening to get a nice ride. And you are correct about the pre-load and ride height being set separately.

heggsc5

Thank you sir! Also in SoCal

It certainly seems a little counter intuitive to go to 9 if you didn't like the ride at 8, but hey if it worked, that's all that matters! Glad you got it smoothed out.

Eric_who

the only thing I can think of is with it being too soft that car was hitting the bump stops *boing boing boing*, but now with it much much stiffer, it no longer does that. I can definitely feel alot more of the road and bumps and cracks, but it at least feels solid and no longer mushy and bouncy.

Supercharged111

Soft shocks are just that, bouncy. They lack the strength to slow, or dampen the motion. A stiff spring will rebound more aggressively against a soft shock and one valved correctly will keep that rebound bounce staved off.

Bandit 00C5

I had the same issue running the LG GT2 here on So-Cal. I made very change imaginable and could never get a decent ride quality. These are set for a more track focused setup. Drove the car across country and every pothole felt like it was going to damage the car. I sold those and went to the Silvers and the ride is much better. Even the wife noticed a huge change in the ride quality. Car handles far superior to the stock setup and gives me the handling characteristics I like in it.

MSG C5

I just installed a set of GT2 coil overs on my 2004 convertible this last month. I went with them on recommendations from prior CF posts and a friend of mine who used to run them on his C6 Grand Sport. In talking with LG, they told me the GT coil overs are designed for custom and track applications whereas the GT2s were designed for more of a street performance application. Per my research, this earlier thread justified that description.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...aq-inside.html

I had them installed by a local shop the same time I upgraded my brakes/rotors to the Wilwood Aero 6 and Aero 4 kits. I had the GT2s installed at setting 9 of 12 with 12 being the firmest and I noticed on my first drive that the car felt very well planted around corners, however felt very hard even when driving at low speeds on relatively smooth roads.

The shop I worked with told me to drive it for a few days and then bring it back for adjustments in height and feel if needed. I brought the car back a week later and they tried to lower it down 1.5 inches and back to the slightly lowered height I had it prior to the coilovers installation (pic below) but they could not figure out how to do it. The also adjusted the front settings down from 9 to 6 and now the car feels more bouncy even at low speeds on smooth roads.

I'm hoping I can adjust and dial these in as my goal was to improve the overall stance and performance of the suspension. If the car feels bouncy, does that mean the coil over settings needs to be firmer, perhaps 10, 11, or even 12?

Edit - Below is a link to their installation instructions for anyone interested that includes photos on how to adjust ride height with their supplied tools. I don’t think my installer did it correctly as he didn’t remove the wheels when he went in to adjust the height and didn't use the supplied tools.. LG also provided special firmness setting adjustment rods for the rear coilovers however I was told by the shop that you need to drill a hole through the trunk/hatch to insert the rods which I didn’t want to do so I'm hoping by removing the back wheels, I can still reach up and adjust the settings.

My goal was lowered and more firm/planted and I’m now riding higher and more bouncy. As mentioned, I’m hoping to get these dialed in because I’ve read great things about their performance. I'm going to call LG directly to talk through the issues and try to work the adjustments myself as I have a friend who has a 4-post lift vs. trying to do this lying on my back with the car on jack stands.

https://www.lgmotorsports.com/media/...20GT2%20C5.pdf

Markolc1981

Following.

I bought these GT2s second hand and have yet to install them. In no hurry, just couldn't pass up a deal. However I'd like to learn as much as I can about these from other experiences so I have a head start when it's my turn.

Tusc

Hopefully before long we can compare / contrast these directly to my RideTechs. And possibly at a future date to some Viking Berserkers. Then we can start to offer some more tangible comparison between the common brands. All I'd need is someone local with some Silvers in CT at that point and we'd have much of the top of the field covered.

And is it me, or does Viking need to coat their gear with something other than a polished metal finish? Living in the northeast I do not trust anything which doe not appear to have a thick coating on it for fear of corrosion. Haha, so in reference to Viking I guess I come from the land of the ice and snow and without coatings we all know how that will go....