I mainly use my Cavalier as a daily driver, and occasionally for road trips. The stock suspension helps you feel practically every piece of gravel in the road. Getting some nice tires (Goodyear Assurance Comfortread) has reduced this somewhat, but of course big bumps still make the car jump all over the place.
Basically I'd like to find some suspension parts that will help improve ride quality (and handling is always nice) without breaking the bank. Definitely under $2k, preferrably much lower. Not too concerned about lowering it, a little would always be nice, but definitely don't need to raise / lower at the flip of a switch.
Now I've noticed that there are a few different brands of air suspensions around. It seems that the price for the "kit" is always a hell of a lot more than the price for the front + rear. It also tends to include things like compressor, electronics, etc. Are these things really necessary if you don't need to raise / lower all the time? Can you just pressurize them to the right level and cap them off?
Also, anyone know of any non-air suspension parts that might also achieve this goal?
I've noticed there's a ton of information on sport suspensions but practically nothing available on getting better ride quality. I guess that's just not the target audience though
Air ride is horrible for "ride quality". You'll need better struts for improving ride quality... you can stick with an OEM replacement if you're staying with stock struts (or a very mild lowering spring)... or you'll have to pony up the coin for good ones (D-Spec or Koni) for aggressive lowering springs if you want to maintain any sort of "comfort".
If you want it to ride like a Cadillac, your barking up the wrong tree. You'll need another 1000 lbs of car to add inertia. J-Bodies will never be an ultra comfortable ride, they're too light (or suspension like that would be obscenely expensive.
I guess I'll have to take my rear seat out and fill the space with cinderblocks
Really though, while I know it's probably not possible (at least without some very serious $) to get a caddy-like suspension, are there any specific OEM-replacement struts that are known to provide a good improvement in ride quality and handling? I wouldn't mind lowering it a little bit as long as it doesn't cause any problems (bottom out, void warranty, etc.) but not as crucial for me as this car is still a daily driver.
As much as I like my car, I definitely wouldn't spend $4-5k+ for the electronic suspensions available. At that point I'd probably put the money as a down payment on a cadillac
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Perhaps what I SHOULD be asking is, what kind of suspension upgrades could I get that would improve handling some, but not destroy ride quality (or possibly make it better)?
Lenko, John Lenko wrote:Air ride is horrible for "ride quality". You'll need better struts for improving ride quality... you can stick with an OEM replacement if you're staying with stock struts (or a very mild lowering spring)... or you'll have to pony up the coin for good ones (D-Spec or Koni) for aggressive lowering springs if you want to maintain any sort of "comfort".
not really. my car rides awesome. its not all bouncy where im bouncing out of the seat and all. my struts for my kit are just like the konis. their 9 way damping struts plus i can set to a comfortable height w/ the psi in the bags. if i wanna ride lower all the time, i can put less in the bags and stiffen up the struts so i can ride a little lower if i like, or vise versa if i wanna sit a little higher
If you want to lower a little Eibach Pro kit with Tokico D-Spec. struts. Those struts may ride better than KYB AGX on those springs.
2004 Grand Prix GTP (Competition Group)
SOLD-->1999 Z24 5M-#30 to register on JBO
"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all the people'
all the time
i know for a fact that the suspension technique on monroe sensatrac are really smooth but they feel a bit weird!
Mylife75 (ajose) wrote:If you want to lower a little Eibach Pro kit with Tokico D-Spec. struts. Those struts may ride better than KYB AGX on those springs.
Those Tokico struts look nice, not sure I'd make much use of the adjustability but I suppose it'd be a good feature to have "just in case".
I will definitely look into some of the other recommendations. I think air suspension is out not only due to the cost but also due to the space they take up (electronics + compressor + tank)
BTW, are the Tokico HP struts and/or their brand of springs any good? Of course this is relatively speaking -- I'm sure anything is better than my stock parts with 53K miles on them! But there was a kit on Ebay for all 4 struts + 1.4" lowered springs for around $500. If not, the $800-1000 for the D-spec ones are probably still not a bad investment.
Just need to get a 3800 engine swap after that
Thanks for all of the advice everyone.
sunstealth wrote:i know for a fact that the suspension technique on monroe sensatrac are really smooth but they feel a bit weird!
Yup, that would be a good combo. Also could use GR2 instead of the sensatracs.
I've got sensatracs on my GAM, I like the ride, better than stock (slightly).
