suspension done, smoooooth....er
03-13-2005, 07:10 PM
#1
suspension done, smoooooth....er
i wanted go from my old setup of se springs and blown struts with fstb and rsb to something akin to the original feel of the car which was actually pretty smooth. i decided on gle springs and illumina struts. andy at T.E.T did this for me on saturday (very nice guy btw) and here's the end result.
i left the fstb and rsb on for now to handle any additonal sway from the softened suspension. with the illuminas on 2 in front and 1 in the rear. ride is certainly much improved over small and moderate bumps. not nearly as jolty and harsh as before. i didn't realize how much of an effect on ride quality the rear shocks had but it's quite significant apparently. large irregularities in the road still disrupt the car quite a bit but the motion is dampened and i suspect back to oem form. good litmus test for me is speed bumps and parking lot speeds.
high speed passes over crap freeway sections are muted and smooth. what still makes it into the cabin i can attribute to stiff sidewalls on new tires.
there is noticeable body sway in turns that i have experience with. high speed sweepers tend to get a bit disconcerting around 85mph when i previously took them at close to 90. curious since my stock shocks were probably all gone.
overall, it's what i expected. subtle, but definitely smoother with less chatter from the chassis. less sporty but more comfortable.
btw, illuminas on 1 all around had a cadillac-esque boaty feel. 2 in front is much more controlled and is there for now. no squeaks so far. andy jokingly mentioned that he thinks my car is actually higher now, but then he's biased
. i didn't notice any difference. we re-used the stock dustboots and bumpstops.
i paid 410 for all 4 illuminas on ebay. 25 for the used gle springs. thanks to budi, andy, and larry for the help and hookups.
i left the fstb and rsb on for now to handle any additonal sway from the softened suspension. with the illuminas on 2 in front and 1 in the rear. ride is certainly much improved over small and moderate bumps. not nearly as jolty and harsh as before. i didn't realize how much of an effect on ride quality the rear shocks had but it's quite significant apparently. large irregularities in the road still disrupt the car quite a bit but the motion is dampened and i suspect back to oem form. good litmus test for me is speed bumps and parking lot speeds.
high speed passes over crap freeway sections are muted and smooth. what still makes it into the cabin i can attribute to stiff sidewalls on new tires.
there is noticeable body sway in turns that i have experience with. high speed sweepers tend to get a bit disconcerting around 85mph when i previously took them at close to 90. curious since my stock shocks were probably all gone.
overall, it's what i expected. subtle, but definitely smoother with less chatter from the chassis. less sporty but more comfortable.
btw, illuminas on 1 all around had a cadillac-esque boaty feel. 2 in front is much more controlled and is there for now. no squeaks so far. andy jokingly mentioned that he thinks my car is actually higher now, but then he's biased
. i didn't notice any difference. we re-used the stock dustboots and bumpstops.i paid 410 for all 4 illuminas on ebay. 25 for the used gle springs. thanks to budi, andy, and larry for the help and hookups.
03-13-2005, 08:01 PM
#2
Glad ya got everything done the way ya wanted it... have ya tried higher settings on the Illuminas with the GLE springs? I'm just curious to see how things change across the range of settings....
03-14-2005, 09:26 AM
#4
haven't tried the whole range yet, especially since the rears aren't exactly easy to get to with my sub box back there. but i'll prolly try out different combinations for a week or so each.
as a reference, there was actually a noticeable difference between settings 1 and 2 up front. i was skeptical that the adjustability was more marketing than reality and that adjustments between 1 and 5 would be minimal. but when i went from 1 to 2 there was a real (but not significant) difference. i may go up one all around to 3 front and 2 in the rear next time.
as a reference, there was actually a noticeable difference between settings 1 and 2 up front. i was skeptical that the adjustability was more marketing than reality and that adjustments between 1 and 5 would be minimal. but when i went from 1 to 2 there was a real (but not significant) difference. i may go up one all around to 3 front and 2 in the rear next time.
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