suspension upgrades?
Printed From: West Coast Fieros
Category: Technical Topics Forum
Forum Name: Technical Questions and Discussions
Forum Description: Got a technical question about your fiero? ask it here.
URL: http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3128
Printed Date: 22 November 2024 at 12:05pm
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Topic: suspension upgrades?
Posted By: fiero_fighter
Subject: suspension upgrades?
Date Posted: 11 February 2013 at 4:07pm
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hello from the other coast... the frozen one.
I'm looking at improving the handling of my 87. I've had some issues with a shop and their definition of a proper alignment. I wasn't happy with my car prior to the job, now it just plain scares me. its so twitchy at highway speed at the moment(read end of last season here) that I refuse to drive it. I already have polly mounts but plan on giving them a looksee to make sure they are still in good condition. shocks and springs on all four corners will be replaced with coil overs. my question is what experience people out here have had with the kits? I'm not just talking the coil over kits but the full upgrade kits available. the slalom kit is more than likely overkill for me, but switching to the sport package and rear bumpsteer kit from arraut looks promising. along with the aluminum cradle bushings, drop spindles and coilovers I thinks I should be covered and able to dial it in. I'm aware that there was one report of parts failure with the bump steer kit, any other issues you guys have heard of? other kits or mods recommended? |
Replies:
Posted By: bcampbell
Date Posted: 11 February 2013 at 9:23pm
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Having done some basic modifications to my Fiero for
handling, I would say the best mod for me was larger wheels with low profile tires. After that, a rear sway bar. I haven't had my Fiero professionally aligned but I have camber ball joints maxed out up front and camber bolts maxed out in the rear, which made a noticeable improvement with handling, and is stable at all speeds. Honestly I haven't really noticed bump steer and a bump steer kit would probably be last suspension upgrade I would buy. Probably an 88 rear cradle swap would be a better way to eliminate bump steer. The next handling mod I'm going to do is replace the sloppy rubber control arm bushings with poly. I'm hoping that will get rid of the delayed response I feel when turning the wheel. I'm also going to replace my rear struts with coilovered KYBs since my rear struts need replacement anyway and I now have some spare 325# 12" springs leftover from my other car which now has stiffer springs. ------------- '86 2m6 F23 5-speed, LSD, 3.5L LX9 '89 Firebird 3500T, T56 |
Posted By: fiero_fighter
Date Posted: 12 February 2013 at 10:39am
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Front and rear sway bars are done, full Polly done. As for the wheels
and tires, I have some customized 15" motegi traklites with BF sports comp tires new last season. The reason I went with 15's and my specific tires was to reduce rotating mass. That along with the grand am brakes saved me about 15 lbs per wheel. I'm sure the biggest issue is worn parts but if its time to replace a part I do my best to upgrade at the same time. Thus the questions as to personal experience with the kits. Thanks for the input, keep it comming. |
Posted By: Colby
Date Posted: 13 February 2013 at 6:05pm
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I'm willing to be that if you just had the car aligned properly that you'd be so much happier with how the car is driving. Start there before going crazy with it, because it sounds like you've done a lot simpler stuff already. Specifically, the twitchyness at highway speeds makes me think the front of the car is toed out rather than toed in. That can only be corrected (or even checked) by having the car aligned again. ------------- 88 Formula 5 speed |
Posted By: Kennethrogers
Date Posted: 24 February 2013 at 3:43am
I think if you use top quality kits your most problems will be solved. Just my thoughts.. |
fiero_fighter wrote: