square body front coil over questions

[87chevy.com]

I've been looking at coil overs, I don't know why but I prefer the look of Detroit Speed coil over system vs some others: QA1, Ride Tech
The Detroit Speed appears to have a longer coil over shock assembly vs the other 2, the coil springs look a lot beefier than Ride Tech's.. in the picture, it looks skinny and the coils are spaced far apart...

Detroit Speed doesn't offer anything other than a full front cross member kit and I wont be going down that path. 2 reasons, one it looks like it will lower the truck way more than I want, and 2 its just expensive. I have Wilwood 2" Pro c10 spindle and the drop is just right in the front for me.

Control arm wise, I like the way the Ride Tech control arms are built at the bushings vs QA1.. not sure what kind of bushings either use, but it looks like Ride Tech has more bushing material...


I did a search using "coil over", and not many posts for the square bodies.


What makes the coil over better than stock setup.. is it mostly all due to the quality shock and longer length? I mean, its the same 2 components, but 2 different configurations ...

Was thinking getting Ride Tech control arms and build a upper shock mount bracket for a set coil overs..

Also, how do you pick which coil spring rate for the front... is it buy one, see how it is and if you don't like it throw another 250$ at it with the next spring rate?


Thanks,
clint

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 87chevy.com

I've been looking at coil overs, I don't know why but I prefer the look of Detroit Speed coil over system vs some others: QA1, Ride Tech
The Detroit Speed appears to have a longer coil over shock assembly vs the other 2, the coil springs look a lot beefier than Ride Tech's.. in the picture, it looks skinny and the coils are spaced far apart...

Detroit Speed doesn't offer anything other than a full front cross member kit and I wont be going down that path. 2 reasons, one it looks like it will lower the truck way more than I want, and 2 its just expensive. I have Wilwood 2" Pro c10 spindle and the drop is just right in the front for me.

Control arm wise, I like the way the Ride Tech control arms are built at the bushings vs QA1.. not sure what kind of bushings either use, but it looks like Ride Tech has more bushing material...


I did a search using "coil over", and not many posts for the square bodies.


What makes the coil over better than stock setup.. is it mostly all due to the quality shock and longer length? I mean, its the same 2 components, but 2 different configurations ...

Was thinking getting Ride Tech control arms and build a upper shock mount bracket for a set coil overs..

Also, how do you pick which coil spring rate for the front... is it buy one, see how it is and if you don't like it throw another 250$ at it with the next spring rate?


Thanks,
clint

Coil-Overs aren't 'better' vs. the separate coil & shock set-up as far as functionality goes.

They're easier to 'tune' but as you indicated that requires swapping to slightly different rate springs which adds cost. They also allow dialing in the heights more specifically vs a traditional set-up.

Doing your own C/O allows you to engineer things the way you want but you need to know/understand how it all comes together to yield the same or better results as one of the mass produced kits. The longer the shock stroke, the better the ride when matched w/the spring rate. Packaging is where the DIY approach can be beneficial.

Detroit Speeds C10 kit is basically a 4/5 - 5/7 drop & that's w/a drop spindle. Ridetechs is similar as far as drop dimensions.

Initial spring rate is derived from the vehicles specific set-up (motor type; F/R/corner weights; accessories; etc).