firehawk take-off springs/shocks

[Only4U]

so will these help my ride and make it look more even? i stumbled into a great deal on these--$0. and they only have 10k miles on them...lemme know what you think.

[Only4U]

will this even out my jacked-up end look?

[xjarayax]

Definately not, nope...no way.

;)

[Dominic]

Are these the standard firehawk take off shocks/springs or the SLP shocks/springs (i.e. are the shocks yellow?)

[xjarayax]

Here's the email from the guy with the Hawk..
--------------------------------------


As far as I know the shocks and springs are no different than any other
V8 F-body. I heard a rumor the base suspension came with 1LE springs, but
I never found out for sure. The shocks are definitely DeCarbon's.

I bought the car with the base suspension and added bilsteins and slp
springs later. (Which is why they are in my garage and not on the car.)

--------------------------------

[ October 06, 2002: Message edited by: xjarayax ]</p>

[Only4U]

so what does this mean, are they the good kind or the bad kind...heh, in other words, would they be an improvement?

btw--sam and i both are on an austin mailing list--that's why he got the same email i did.

also, since i have a 97, my camaro sits jacked up in the rear. 98+ do not have that problem. so my rear springs aren't the same as the take-off ones. what if i just changed the rear springs and left the stock ones exactly how they are on the front? changing the rear shocks and springs would be alright?

[ October 06, 2002: Message edited by: Only4U ]</p>

[Only4U]

anyone?
anyone?
bueller?

[FirebirdGT]

The standard Hawk springs and shocks are the same as any V8. These are the same as the SLP Take-offs.

[Only4U]

so does that mean that they will be well worth getting put on? better than stock f41?

[scottblack]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Only4U:


also, since i have a 97, my camaro sits jacked up in the rear. 98+ do not have that problem. <hr></blockquote>

Where do you get this???
My back end looks like a 4X4 also, along with just about everyone else's cars that i know who have not lowered them.

Scott

[Only4U]

jeff's car doesn't look that way...every single 98+ camaro i've ever seen doesn't have this problem. my car has a higher rear than front. every pre 98 CAMARO had this problem--firebirds did not. after 97, i know GM changed the back springs to the same as the v8's, whereas all v8s, lt1 and ls1 alike, are even in the front and rear.

[Only4U]

so i've got the springs/shocks...and i've decided this. you guys that know a good bit about suspension tell me what you think...

replace all the shocks with the newer ones. leave my old rear springs, but put the v8 springs in the front that way i can reduce nose diving in hard braking, improve handling, and yet, still have the weight transfer for accelerating purposes with the softer rear springs...

what do you think?

[FirebirdGT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Only4U:
so i've got the springs/shocks...and i've decided this. you guys that know a good bit about suspension tell me what you think...

replace all the shocks with the newer ones. leave my old rear springs, but put the v8 springs in the front that way i can reduce nose diving in hard braking, improve handling, and yet, still have the weight transfer for accelerating purposes with the softer rear springs...

what do you think?<hr></blockquote>

If you leave the sway bars the same, you will increase your understeer by increasing the front only spring rate.

[Only4U]

so is understeer bad?

so how big would i need to go (sway bars) to equal it out?

[ October 07, 2002: Message edited by: Only4U ]</p>

[V6Bob]

"If you leave the sway bars the same, you will increase your understeer by increasing the front only spring rate"

Yes, some. But not as much as you might think, since the front end will have better camber control. It might not be even noticeable.

"so how big would i need to go (sway bars) to equal it out?"

You can't even it out with swaybars. The smallest change in sway bar diameter (2mm) will go back toward oversteer a lot farther than the original change went toward understeer. Swaybars are tricky, because the stiffness increases as the 4th power of the diameter (a whole lot). It's easy to get into trouble with swaybars.

If you want to get the handling close to even with V8 front springs, the best way would be to use the V8 rear springs also. That will get you pretty close.

"so is understeer bad?"

Not as bad as oversteer. That's why all cars, even high performance ones like Ferrari and Porsche, are designed to understeer. Even race cars will always understeer if they are not at full throttle and will rarely oversteer even then. If they do oversteer, they lose time.