Where to begin?

[FirebirdPhil]

Looking to improve handling on my Firebird. It's my DD and I deal with a lot of rain, 54k on it as of now, and would like any suspension mods to be do-able by me and my father.

I was thinking front & rear sway bars off a V8 fbody, sub-frame connectors, and strut tower brace. Also my dad said he would pay for replacement springs for me since I paid for half my car (as opposed to when he bought my sister a new Neon in 04) and I was wondering what you guys would suggest for springs? Keep in mind I'm not looking to lower the ride height. Let me know your guys' thoughts, just looking to get a to-do list together to have done by winter.

[RadRacer]

Re: Where to begin?

Stock springs should be fine, you might want to look into shocks though. V8 sways are a good upgrade, but someone will chime in with a good combo for DD. SFC's and LCA's should help alot from what I hear.

[FirebirdPhil]

Re: Where to begin?

Thanks Mike. Any suggestions for LCAs?

[crushedout]

Re: Where to begin?

May want to get LCA relocation brackets for LCA's. I would upgrade to V8 sway bars and when replacing them install energy suspension endlinks. They carry them at autozone and car rides so much better after install. May even look into hollow front swaybar, so you get better handling but not as much weight.

Also would do new shocks and strut bar.

Better tires would be a big thing if you want to handle better.

If your not wanting to lower car I see no need to get adjustable panhard bar but you could upgrade to a stronger panhard bar

[sjacobs85]

Re: Where to begin?

I love the set-up that I have on mine, but I'm not sure it would be all that popular with other people for their daily drivers. By the way, I'm from Michigan (just worked in China last year and will again this year) and we have some pretty nasty roads with potholes. We get quite a bit of rain too, and I also drive my Camaro in the winter as well. I've got SLP SFC's, G2 adj. aluminum LCA's and panhard rod with the rod ends, BMR adj. LCA brackets, Spohn adj. torque arm that mounts to the driveshaft tunnel brace with the rod ends, Hotchkis sway bars, BMR STB, Strano springs, and KYB AGX shocks set on 8 of course, and the Strano camber kit. First thing I did though was rims and tires, and that makes the biggest difference in my opinion. Not sure if any of this will help you or if it's anywhere near the route you want to take, but hopefully it might give you some ideas.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Where to begin?

As far as I know any aftermarket springs that you buy will lower the car. The least ride height difference you can find was like somewhere from 1"-1 1/2" At least that's the only thing I've ever heard on this site.

But lowering the car would lower the center of gravity and that's always good for handling.

[FirebirdPhil]

Re: Where to begin?

Ok, looking into shocks now, what do you guys suggest?

As for tires, I've got 4 BFG Traction TAs, the front two have roughly 5k miles on them, rears have less than 500 on them, next oil change I'll probably rotate tires since I like having fresher tires up front.

[96nastybird]

Re: Where to begin?

i'd start with a good set of some stiff *** shocks and some 17 or 18 x 9 wheels and tires. i put Bilstein HD shocks on and it made a really big difference, as did the 17 x 9 wheels with the Z tires. and why not drop the car an inch with the Eibach kit? TAs are lower than our cars and people have them as DDs plus it would lessen the wheel gap and lowering springs are generally way stiffer than sock springs. but some people don't like to have too stiff of a suspension for regular driving but I think they're crazy... the stiffer the better