gr86ss

UPDATE FEB 22, 2012

Sorry for the long delay. I got my car back from the body shop for the rear end collision that happened in Dec. I haven't installed the revised QA1 coilovers yet, but here are some pix and observations.



QA1 added a spherical bearing where the rubber bushing used to be. My concern here is a much harsher ride vs the more compliant rubber bushings. I totally felt the difference when QA1 sent me the poly bushings that they had me try to remedy the noise. It will be interesting to see how these SOLID sperical bearing do for ride comfort:


QA1 clearanced the lower spring perch ID to add more clearance between it and the shock body. Hopefully no more scrapped up shock body:



Depending on my schedule, I will hopefully be installing these in the next couple of days.

Wayne O

I've never heard of QA1 coil-overs either. I use LGM coil-overs and I've never had any noises or issues. Can you isolate which corner the noise is coming from? If so I suggest you remove the assembly and inspect it thoroughly. Good luck.

gr86ss

Wayne- did you, by chance, read this from the beginning to end? This thread has been an on going saga. Hopefully I'm at the tail end of it

VETFEVER

You have been VERY patient with these guys - I would have not only asked for a refund but also a coupon for a free set of LG's

5 Liter Eater

LOL

It's good to see them making some pretty big changes based on your (and perhaps others) experience. It has taken a while but it looks like they followed through. Hopefully problems solved.

gr86ss

At least I got refunded for the rear shocks that they modified..

gr86ss

We will see..

I'm just worried about the ride of the solid spherical bearing that is replacing the rubber (soft riding) bushings...

Remember, I daily drive my Vette and it used to have a F55 suspension, so I'm accustom to a "soft" ride. I totally felt the difference between the rubber and poly bushings.. way more harsh. I'm affraid that fixing the angle problems with the sperical bearing will just open up comfort issue for me...

victorf

I know it is not the same set up other than mine set up is also solid mounts on top.

I have Bilstein Sports and changed out the Bilstein top bushings to solid Pfadt Delrin Spherical Pin Top mount. I felt no difference in comfort in terms of harshness, but I do feel the suspension is freed up. I changed to the Pfadt mounts to relief the shock piston side loading as well as inhabits free articulation due to the rubber mounts.

In my case, the Pfadt Delrin Sphericals provided the free articulation, enabling the shocks to perform their designed functions to smooth out road irregularities. The Pfadt Delrin Spherical Pin Top mounts although solid, unlike solid engine or transmission mounts, it is part of the shock assembly, thus generated no adverse effect in terms of DD comfort. As a matter of my seat of the pants, in place of the previous delayed, sluggish rubbery effect, now, cushioning is direct/crisp and more comfortable.

IMO, the spherical and clearanceing of the spring mount is a move by QA in the right direction, given the previous problems with spring rubbing the body, poor angle top mount and the binding issues.

I hope that works out for you, your trial will surely benefit those want to use as well as the company making the coil overs.

gr86ss

Mahalo Victor- I appreciate your input on the ride comfort of the spherical bushing vs the rubber. My whole intent for being patient and for being the guinea pig for all this was to benefit all our Corvette brothers

glenB

gr86ss

02.24.2012 UPDATE

I took a break from work today and installed the updated rear coilovers.

I only went around the block after installation and did some hard left to right and right to left weaving turns. I did hear a slight noise, which I suspect is the upper shock mount twisting and hitting the mounting bracket under this hard load. There was NO CLUNKING!

I will do some driving this weekend and give an update after I put some miles on them. My first impressions is that these fixes have cured the original issues that I had

More to come after I do some driving

3dNomad

Any updates?

glenB

I know this be old, but, we are waiting on the final analysis, is it fixed, any feed back?

gr86ss

Sorry All... I wanted to do some more miles on these, but here's a quick update.

Noise all went away. The spherical bearing did the trick for the noise issue. I recommended to QA1 to put some kind of stop on the bearing so that the upper shock mounting eyelet doesn't rotate and hit the upper mounting bracket during suspension travel.

Am I happy with these shocks... Yes and No....

I'm happy that I can lower the car and still get full suspension travel.

I'm not happy that I have to set the rear shocks at setting 8 in order to keep the rear end from pogo-ing when hitting a dip or expansion joint at freeway speeds. It's bad enough to lift my rear from the seat when set at 7 or lower. I still get some pogo-ing at 8, but just haven't had the chance to click it over to setting 9 to verify it will go away. I was hoping that the spherical bearing would fix this as I had read that the binding could cause a pogo-ing effect. Setting 3-5 is much like my F55 suspension, setting 8 is very much like a z51 setting.

I purchased this car specifically because it had a cush ride, now since I have to have the shock setting at a stiffer setting, I'm not a very happy camper. QA1s response to the pogo-ing was to "purchase" a set of double adjustable shocks from them... NOT... after all my troubles, you would think they would at least investigate this issue on their end. Their response to me was that they have never heard of any complaints about pogo-ing with their set up. I haven't had time to find the threads where others have complained about this effect on their shocks so that I could forward them to QA1.

My recommendation is that if you don't mind a harsh Z51/Z06 type ride, then these are a great lower price alternative to other coil overs. For street driving on perfect roads, these shocks handle awesome.

I daily drive my car, and I'm afraid that upping the setting to 9 to get rid of the pogo effect my make my commute not so friendly. I may end up selling these LOW mileage coil overs and purchase another brand in a double adjustable set up...

TNTC4VETTE

Might be old, but VERY relevant considering.

Thanks for the feedback on the updates. Seems to be a vast improvement on what you originally had, but may need some more effort. Would you say commensurate for the 50% cost reduction vs Pfadt?

gr86ss

Yes, it's a vast improvement. I would say that these are worth the money, if you don't mind a Z51/Z06 type ride. I was truly hoping to keep the ride comfort that I originally had with my F55 and be able to lower the car.

They do handle WAY better than the compressed (from being lowered) F55 shocks that they replaced..

victorf

After all your hard works to help them addressed the flaws, they should have send you a set of double adjustable for compensation.

Now even one forum vender is carrying the QA1 line!

I am very hesitant, wouldn't mind spending more on the proven design for the long haul!

Nice rear by the way, especially your rears come correctly painted IIRC?

TNTC4VETTE

My car is lowered and has Z06 leafs and the Pfadt JOC bits.

I track the car 4-5 times a year, so getting around a road course is the primary concern for me. My home track is very bumpy, however, so the "pogoing" you speak of worries me.

FloydSummerOf68

Lol, what?

That was just about the line where I realized that your review wouldn't be relevant to me

gr86ss

I only have these adjusted about half way, so I'm sure that for track use you would probably want to go with 650lb springs and also crank up the adjustment. That will definately get rid of the pogo effect. Great for the track, but not very rider friendly on the streets..

I have the 450 springs in the front and the 550 springs in the rear