too much up and down suspension play

[symmetrics1]

a few months ago i installed brand new struts and springs on the front, brand new shocks and springs on the back and new bump stops, the rear end has alot of up and down travel more than when i bought it brand new....im hoping new control arm bushings all around will help to stiffen up the ride a little bit and improve handling......95 3.4 211,000 miles....whatch guys think? any info greatly appreciated

[landj]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

1) I'd say something is wrong if you put struts on the front, as our cars don’t have struts.

2) When you say too much "up and down" do you mean that it bounces, or is not rock hard stiff, cause the original shocks crapped out and made it rock hard stiff for me until I put the Bilstein's on and made it a) more comfortable and b) more controllable (no more bump-slide) by allowing the suspension to go up and down. Really you want "up and down" motion, just not "up down up down up down motion."

3) If the control arm bushings are damaged, then maybe replacing them would help, but I'm not sure how they would really affect the car's vertical travel rate.

Springs stiffness would reduce up and down travel, but at the expense of handling in the real world bumpy roads we all drive on.

So... back to my original question. What do you mean by "too much up and down"?

[symmetrics1]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

i changed out the front springs and shocks not "struts" i was always told they were struts until i read your reply and read the post about them here in the website. To answer your question i would have to say too much vertical travel on the front, especially when i drive on the interstate, and for the rear, it seems like it doesnt have the sufficient amount of damping because it bottoms out onto the bump stops so easily. If im thinking the same thing you are about "bump slide" then that would be a symptom that i am currently having especially when cornering through traffic lights. Im hoping its the bushings because ive had this car for so long and have never had this trouble with it before.

[landj]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

1) Did you replace the front springs with identical springs or use different ones?
2) What type of shocks did you use (brand). Where they the right ones for the Camaro?
3) Are the bushings damaged, cracked or missing? (I'm still not sure how travel distance would be related to bushings, so I'm not convinced that's the solution, but bad bushings would need to be replaced).


Well the bump-slide (the loss of traction when cornering on uneven road) is generally an insufficient dampening problem, either too much, or not enough. If you have not changed the rear shocks, doing so will give you much better traction in the rear and greatly reduce the bump-slide. Because the whole car would then have the same dampening rate, the "up and down" motion in the front may not be as noticable.

I'm going to take the "up-down" you are describing to mean bouncing. If the front is bouncing, I'd say that the shocks in the front are gone. Cheap shocks may only last 10,000-20,000 miles (so many factors, but miles give you an idea) while better, generally more expensive shocks can last much longer (I hear words like "lifetime" but I usually take that to mean 100,000 miles more or less). Replacing ALL the shocks would really be neccessary to see improvement. If you havn't replaced the rear shocks, replace those first and see if that improves your situation.

I replaced my original shocks when I had about 65,000 miles on them with Bilsteins. It's like a whole new car. Yes there is more "up and down" travel, but it doens't bounce and the lack travel was making the car uncomfortable and a wee bit dangerous (because the back-end tended to slide out around corners and reduced stopping if you hit uneven road). I got mine from Sam Strano (at stranoparts.com), he may even have other suggestions for you depending on how much you are willing to spend.

The actual amount of up and down travel the system has will be more dependent upon the SPRING rate and height. IMHO, the best way to remedy that would be to replace the SPRINGS with stiffer ones. Keep in mind that stiffer springs may decrease handling performance depending on road conditions and generally decrease comfort by translating more of the bumps to your derriere. If you do replace springs, it's usually said best to replace all of them. You can search the forums on other people's opinions of suspension systems.

In case you are considering cutting or torching your springs; DO NOT. It keeps the spring rate the same, increases the bottoming-out potential, screws up the geometry and generally destoys handling.

[symmetrics1]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

10 years ago i lowered it 1 inch with eibach springs all the way around and monroe sensa tracs all the way around, the car rode great in my opinion, cornered great,stopped great and never bottomed out...july 2010, i replaced everything with eibach all the way around and monroe sensa tracs all the way around, the exact same set up i put on 10 years ago...thats whats bugging me, its the same set up that i had before and enjoyed. gotta go and put these bushings on and see if it helps...i mean, its not gonna hurt the ride thats for sure.

[landj]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

10 years ago i lowered it 1 inch with eibach springs all the way around and monroe sensa tracs all the way around, the car rode great in my opinion, cornered great,stopped great and never bottomed out...july 2010, i replaced everything with eibach all the way around and monroe sensa tracs all the way around, the exact same set up i put on 10 years ago...thats whats bugging me, its the same set up that i had before and enjoyed. gotta go and put these bushings on and see if it helps...i mean, its not gonna hurt the ride thats for sure.

Ahhh, that is bizarre. I don't have experience with Monroe or the Eibach springs. Before I bought the Bilstein's I read that Monroe are a bit under dampened even with the stock springs. Perhaps someone else can chime in? Other than the cost, you shouldn't go wrong replacing worn components though.

[pace2006]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

Monroe Sensa-tracs are crap. I have them in my 300ZX (PO installed when factory electronic adjustable shocks crapped out) and they have that same "pogo effect". It makes the rear end of that car feel all floaty and jouncy on rough roads or at speed. Monroe is an autoparts store brand and those shocks are not properly valved to handle lowering springs like Eibachs. They are bad enough on stock spring rates, so I can only imagine how much worse they are with a stiffer spring rate.

[symmetrics1]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

welp i got the right rear bushings in 2 down and 6 more to go, it did improve traction and cornering a bit especially on the wet bumpy michigan road i test drove it on, i still have that pogo effect" looks like ill be upgrading the shocks asap, its supposed to snow tomorrow thanx for the input on this dilema i was having it helped out alot.....and happy thanksgiving

[Slowside]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

Good luck brother. I just did kyb agx's and strano springs. I would reccomend them for sure!

[Bandit127]

Re: too much up and down suspension play

make sure you get shocks that are made for the 1" drop, if you don't, like pace said, they will not work right.