Ridetech coil overs? Have I missed something?

[NDSP]

I've looked far and wide for "mid-level" non Chinese made coil-overs and basically found a big bag of nothing besides Ground Control which are koni based not exactly what I'd like. By mid level I'm mainly talking about price ( out the door ready to bolt on in the mid $2Ks ) . That is until today when parusing pro-touring project updates I saw a ridetech coil over being used and it got me thinking. I only know ridetech to be a air-ride thing until today. Anyway I went to thier site and found these ridetech coilovers. They are monotube and rebound adjustable. The only thing I see that might be less than desirable is the spring is on the shock in the back, which isn't ideal for a couple reasons on this chassis.

Anybody, care to way in with there own opinions?

Here is a little video that they produced about there new coil overs video

 

[dontlifttoshift]

I use RideTech coilovers and shocks a lot, really a whole bunch. Other than JRI its all I sell. FOX manufactures the hard parts for them and they come with a million mile warranty. These were at SEMA in 2012 and I waited until I couldn't wait any longer, other wise they would be on my car.

There is not a ton of adjustment in their camber plates, they use a slotted hole and a camber bolt where the spindle bolts up. I tried putting their engineer intouch with Vorshlag as Ridetech was looking for someone to manufacture camber plates......I don't know what ever came of that. I don't think the 18x11 Vorshlag/Forgestars would fit with these struts. There is also some trimming required of the differential brackets for clearance.

It's a great product but I couldn't tell you if it is better than Ground Control parts. I am pretty sure the adjustment range on the Ridetech would be wider and more accurate than a revalved Koni but have zero science to back that up, just previous experience with RideTech that has always been positive.

 

[sheizasosay]

I called them. This is what I got so far:

Spring come with the kit are 325inlb and 225in/lb. Other springs can be had, but you will pay some. Part of getting their cost down was bulk order from hyperco.

Rear coilovers come with brackets to mount Griggs style (further outboard).

They were engineered for the car to be 2" lower than stock. At this height, the rear coilovers travel in either direction is 2.6". You can lower the car 1" if you choose, but keep in mind 5.2" is total stroke.

Front stroke is 6".

Fox racing worked with them to develop the internals.

22 clicks of rebound adjustment.

I should have the shock dyno to post tommorow.

The shocks as dontlifttoshift to pointed out, are warrantied to a *only* a million and 1 miles. So that kinda sucks. I mean what if I drove 1 million and 2 miles and the shock broke? Seriously though, they don't care if you are daily driving or road racing, they will warranty it.

So if you want more info, maybe call him and ask. I think they are at a stellar price point. But then again, I don't know anybody using these and can't comment from experience.

 

[csamsh]

And, just to point out, you can probably still put the spring in the stock location if you want, just get some weight jackers.

Rear spring rate is probably fine, but I'd want stiffer in the front.

 

[NDSP]

I did call and talk to them, the front springs are 10" and the rear springs are 12" in height, the rates are as sheizasosay said. But you can get different rates. The cc plates are not adjustable and have a Torrington bearing. We chatted a while about whether or not my j&m camber plates would work with them. Didn't come to a conclusion. The strut shaft diameter at the plate is 3/4". The nice thing is they are single adjustable monotubes with springs and plates/mounting hardware for $2100

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[csamsh]

Wow those are tall springs. I think mine are 8". Then again...I suppose the height of the spring shouldn't really matter as long as everything works.

I wonder why no spherical on the strut mounts...

 

[NDSP]

Another thing is they have lower than stock sway bar mounting hardware and come with links. Non adjustable links. Since I already have the white line links that came with my sway not thrilled about that either. I'm still strongly considering them, but honestly I want to talk to Terry this weekend at the nasa event. See what his take is.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[NDSP]

Wow those are tall springs. I think mine are 8". Then again...I suppose the height of the spring shouldn't really matter as long as everything works.

I wonder why no spherical on the strut mounts...

I thought the height seemed tall, I wonder if it has to do with the spring covering the entire shock and not just on top of the rear end. The instructions show clearancing required for the rears. If memory serves they have spherical bearings for some applications just not the mustang yet. They also have triple adjustable rears and the fronts are coming soon. That whole kit (the TQ series) will be $4000ish he said.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dontlifttoshift]

I wonder why no spherical on the strut mounts...

There is a spherical, just not like we are used to seeing. They use machined Delrin ball cups instead of metal/metal bearing. Its a little quieter.

The install instructions aren't on the line but if you click the link you can see how they go together. http://www.ridetech.com/store/2005-up-ford-mustang-hq-coilover-system-level-1.html

 

[NDSP]

The install instructions are here

This will download the pdf and it has more specific info for the mustang implementation too.

 

[sheizasosay]

Shock dyno

There are two different sets of graphs he sent. The HQ series is available now and the TQ is said to be released in 1-3 months.

 

[o2sys]

Interesting, I also thought ride tech was only air suspension but their coilover stuff looks promising.

I like the fact the front and rear can be purchased separately as well.

 

[BMR Tech]

I really like these pieces, from what I initially see and have discussed with them about.

Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot of people out there giving feedback on them. As time goes by, I am sure that will change.

My experience with their other components has always been about as good as it gets, so I fully expect these to perform as good or better than the price point indicates.

I also really like the fact they worked with Fox for the dampening. Fox is top tier, in my eyes.

 

[Sky Render]

Hmm, that's not a bad price. But my only concern is that I'd have to put that bloody huge, stupid Ridetech logo on the side of my car like all the other guys running their parts.

Seriously, though, so these things are rebound adjustable and (I assume) height adjustable? Yet they require shorter endlinks and don't come with adjustable ones. That can easily be fixed by going to just about any suspension catalog; most companies make "universal" adjustable endlinks.

 

[sheizasosay]

There is not a ton of adjustment in their camber plates, they use a slotted hole and a camber bolt where the spindle bolts up. I tried putting their engineer intouch with Vorshlag as Ridetech was looking for someone to manufacture camber plates......I don't know what ever came of that. I don't think the 18x11 Vorshlag/Forgestars would fit with these struts. There is also some trimming required of the differential brackets for clearance.

Actually just re-reading this. Then I read the instructions that were posted. All the camber adjustment comes out of that slot at the srut/spindle mount. This might actually be a big deal if no other camber plates can be used with their coilovers.

A-there might be clearance issues pending wheel/tire combo

B-the camber that you gain from that adjusting per instructions at the lower strut mount might only get you a very minor camber adjustment range.

NDSP- did Chase say anything about ANY camber plates and not just J&M?

 

[Boaisy]

sub'd. interested in seeing where this goes.

 

[NDSP]

No, he knows of no camber plates that will work. He just mentioned the shaft diameter of the strut so as to have something to go by. It's 3/4" btw. I went by Vorshlag today a had a convo with Jason about ridetech's offerings . Not having a way to adjust chamber easily ( no cc plates that we or They know of that will work with these. I asked if Ridetech contacted them about plates and they did not.), I am not a fan of the elongated mounting hole method of chamber adjustability. These struts were designed to work with 325lb springs, putting 450/550lb springs on them without revalving isn't a good idea. That is not something to can just adjust rebound to compensate for. Effectively I've decided to save up for some MCSs.

Fox back in the day was a well thought of shock company, they haven't kept up with the competition and aren't considered a manufacturer that a serious racer would be using anymore. To put it another way, the top competitors aren't running their offerings.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sheizasosay]

I use RideTech coilovers and shocks a lot, really a whole bunch. Other than JRI its all I sell. FOX manufactures the hard parts for them and they come with a million mile warranty. These were at SEMA in 2012 and I waited until I couldn't wait any longer, other wise they would be on my car.

There is not a ton of adjustment in their camber plates, they use a slotted hole and a camber bolt where the spindle bolts up. I tried putting their engineer intouch with Vorshlag as Ridetech was looking for someone to manufacture camber plates......I don't know what ever came of that. I don't think the 18x11 Vorshlag/Forgestars would fit with these struts. There is also some trimming required of the differential brackets for clearance.

It's a great product but I couldn't tell you if it is better than Ground Control parts. I am pretty sure the adjustment range on the Ridetech would be wider and more accurate than a revalved Koni but have zero science to back that up, just previous experience with RideTech that has always been positive.

No, he knows of no camber plates that will work. He just mentioned the shaft diameter of the strut so as to have something to go by. It's 3/4" btw. I went by Vorshlag today a had a convo with Jason about ridetech's offerings . Not having a way to adjust chamber easily ( no cc plates that we or They know of that will work with these. I asked if Ridetech contacted them about plates and they did not.), I am not a fan of the elongated mounting hole method of chamber adjustability. These struts were designed to work with 325lb springs, putting 450/550lb springs on them without revalving isn't a good idea. That is not something to can just adjust rebound to compensate for. Effectively I've decided to save up for some MCSs.

Fox back in the day was a well thought of shock company, they haven't kept up with the competition and aren't considered a manufacturer that a serious racer would be using anymore. To put it another way, the top competitors aren't running their offerings.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

3 things

1- Did you look at the HQ dyno plots? The rebound forces look like they handle a 500 in/lb spring easily. Not saying you wouldn't benefit from a revalve designed for those rates, but rebound certainly wouldn't be the issue.

2- They will revalve them per your request.

3- The camber plate thing is a pretty big deal. Like I can't do it. They need to address that if their intentions are related to corner-carving.

Looking at those plots (and I'm no expert), it looks like the Struts do decent at keeping the compression and the rebound crosstalk down. The rears OTOH, almost look like a double adjustable (D-spec) *kinda*.

Damn it man. Ridetech was almost there. They need the ability to use camber plates. Unless they can magically get 3 degrees of camber out of that slot and not have contact with 18x11's.

I obviously can't speak for Vorshlag, but I can't imagine them making camber plates to offer for something that could potentially dip into their MCS offerings. Not to mention, the Bilstein coilovers they got coming would stand proudly dead center in the land of single adjustable monotube coilovers.

I hate being a broke-ass.

 

[dontlifttoshift]

Hmm, that's not a bad price. But my only concern is that I'd have to put that bloody huge, stupid Ridetech logo on the side of my car like all the other guys running their parts. .

It's their car, so sticker because advertising.

 

[o2sys]

What bilstein coilovers are they working on? Pss9?

The camber plates is not a deal breaker for me.

Highly considering these at the moment...

posted via Tapatalk