Replacement Shocks /Ride Height ?

[ASO544]

Have a 2013 BDR and thought I might replace the shocks and give the ride height a check. I have the 18" Halibrands and 245 front and 295 Falkens on the rear.

Any shock recommendations and possible part numbers. Looking for a good cruising shock with a little more firmness than stock.

I also remember reading that these rear tires were possibly too tall and could bottom out causing damage to the fenders. Where is the the best place to check the clearance above the tires and what is the recommended ride height to ensure I minimize possibly bottoming out.

Thanks

[cbreez]

Just curious, why would you want a stiffer shock for a cruising shock? What are you trying to accomplish?

[ASO544]

I may play on the track on occasion as these stock shocks are really soft

[cbreez]

Why do you think that they are soft? What kind of travel do you have? Do you know you your spring rates? These are light cars and don't need much tweaking.

[Grey 65]

I have a set of custom JRi double adjustable struts on the front of my car with JRi double adjustable shocks out back.If you are interested in a setup like this email me and I can get you hooked up with the Street Racing manager at JRi....

The tire to have in 18's is the BFG Rival S. I am running 315/30/18 at all four corners. You can run the 275's up front and the 315's out back on stock rims.

FYI: The stock spring rates are WAY too soft for any type of track day or autocross. The correct spring rates will depend on the shocks you run. I have nitrogen filled shocks/struts so I run somewhat soft spring rates. I run 375lb Hypercoils up front and 600lb Hypercoils out back.

Kevin....

[cbreez]

Originally Posted by Grey 65

FYI: The stock spring rates are WAY too soft for any type of track day or autocross. The correct spring rates will depend on the shocks you run. I have nitrogen filled shocks/struts so I run somewhat soft spring rates. I run 375lb Hypercoils up front and 600lb Hypercoils out back.

I have tracked my car hard on a full race course several times for several hours and found the car to be pretty good and about right. Funny, it's one of the few compliments that I have about a Backdraft. I checked suspension travel, front and rear, and it was at an acceptable range.

Many folks think that they automatically have to stiffen everything up and it just isn't true. There is a science to it. You say they are way too soft...please tell us what you mean by that and how you determined this...

Suspension 101 is that you determine a proper spring rate and match the shock to the spring, not the other way around. The first tweaking one might do is with the anti-roll bars...which is more difficult with this car...all depends on how serious you want to be. BTW, check your ride heights with the driver in the car or the appropriate number of cinder blocks in the front seat and floor.

Check my gallery for a pic of some fat Goodyear stock car tires in my rear wheel wells under load...stock springs and shocks and no rub. A stiffer anti-roll bar would be the first thing I work on if I were still doing this.

[Grey 65]

Originally Posted by cbreez

I have tracked my car hard on a full race course several times for several hours and found the car to be pretty good and about right. Funny, it's one of the few compliments that I have about a Backdraft. I checked suspension travel, front and rear, and it was at an acceptable range.

Many folks think that they automatically have to stiffen everything up and it just isn't true. There is a science to it. You say they are way too soft...please tell us what you mean by that and how you determined this...

Suspension 101 is that you determine a proper spring rate and match the shock to the spring, not the other way around. The first tweaking one might do is with the anti-roll bars...which is more difficult with this car...all depends on how serious you want to be. BTW, check your ride heights with the driver in the car or the appropriate number of cinder blocks in the front seat and floor.

Check my gallery for a pic of some fat Goodyear stock car tires in my rear wheel wells under load...stock springs and shocks and no rub. A stiffer anti-roll bar would be the first thing I work on if I were still doing this.

I'm not going to argue with you. If you think you know more about suspensions and racing than me lets meet at a road racing track that neither of us have been to and race for titles. Granted you will have to add cash as my car is worth quite a bit more than yours.

I race my car, the shock and spring rates on my car were determined by actual racing engineers. I have JRi racing shocks that were built for MY car, not a BDR, they were valved for MY exact car. I don't have a pair of front struts and a pair of rear shocks, each one is valved for a specific corner of MY car, the left is not interchangeable with the right. What shocks are you running $30 KYB's? Go to the JRi website and see how much their shocks cost.. They don't list the price, why because they are expense custom built for YOUR car racing shocks. You can adjust spring rates at a track via racing rubbers inserted into the springs.. aka NASCAR, road racers have nitrogen filled shocks where you can add and subtract nitrogen to the shocks at the track to effect small spring rate changes to suit the track surface. Cinder blocks? Seriously? My car gets corner balanced on a $4,000 Longacre machine. As a matter of fact I re-corner balanced it yesterday.
My entire suspension is either heim joints or poly, I have adjustable front and rear sway bars, I have adjustable caster lollypops on my car.

The springs rates that come on the BDR are for comfortable cruising only. The car as sold by Backdraft is NOT setup for racing, it is setup for people like you.

BTW: I have been racing in the SCCA since 1996 and I am an aircraft engineer.

This conversation is over. I will not respond to anymore of your posts as you talk like you are an expert on racing and suspensions and you are not.

Kevin.....

[cbreez]

Man you get ugly quick! Too bad...

A smart man will listen and learn. BTW, adding blocks when scaling a car to compensate for the weight of a driver is an old method still used today, it doesn't matter what your scales cost, either!

You never answered the question, which is fine...but it does sound like you got sold a bunch of stuff! Your $'s!

I am sure I have forgotten more than you proclaim to know about making a car handle.

[cbreez]

Originally Posted by Grey 65

What shocks are you running $30 KYB's?

Actually I run $24.99 Gabriel's!!!!

[Sledge]

A difference of opinion turns nasty. Haven't seen that before.

It would help to keep the egos out and the facts in, so we can all learn something. Just sayin'...

[MJC]

Originally Posted by Grey 65

I'm not going to argue with you. If you think you know more about suspensions and racing than me lets meet at a road racing track that neither of us have been to and race for titles. Granted you will have to add cash as my car is worth quite a bit more than yours.

I race my car, the shock and spring rates on my car were determined by actual racing engineers. I have JRi racing shocks that were built for MY car, not a BDR, they were valved for MY exact car. I don't have a pair of front struts and a pair of rear shocks, each one is valved for a specific corner of MY car, the left is not interchangeable with the right. What shocks are you running $30 KYB's? Go to the JRi website and see how much their shocks cost.. They don't list the price, why because they are expense custom built for YOUR car racing shocks. You can adjust spring rates at a track via racing rubbers inserted into the springs.. aka NASCAR, road racers have nitrogen filled shocks where you can add and subtract nitrogen to the shocks at the track to effect small spring rate changes to suit the track surface. Cinder blocks? Seriously? My car gets corner balanced on a $4,000 Longacre machine. As a matter of fact I re-corner balanced it yesterday.
My entire suspension is either heim joints or poly, I have adjustable front and rear sway bars, I have adjustable caster lollypops on my car.

The springs rates that come on the BDR are for comfortable cruising only. The car as sold by Backdraft is NOT setup for racing, it is setup for people like you.

BTW: I have been racing in the SCCA since 1996 and I am an aircraft engineer.

This conversation is over. I will not respond to anymore of your posts as you talk like you are an expert on racing and suspensions and you are not.

Kevin.....

And D-bag of the year award goes to......

A simple "I disagree, and this is why....." would have sufficed. Sucks cuz I'm sure a lot of the info is valid and informative, but I tuned it out when you said the car was soft.

This car rides like a car with no suspension at all. I blew out 2 glass windshields due to vibration and bumps in the 3.5 months I've owned the car before switching to lexan. I would consider this car rather hard, it has the compliance of a woman on the rag. A road or track anything other than glass smooth will have it chattering along the surface outta control...yes I'm aware a tuned suspension will solve this but the stiffness is not helping anything.

Anyone else have some actual "non-racecar budget" style suspension mods? Not everyone wants to drop 5-10k on suspension on a car that rarely every sees track duty.

[itstock]

Originally Posted by MJC

And D-bag of the year award goes to......

A simple "I disagree, and this is why....." would have sufficed. Sucks cuz I'm sure a lot of the info is valid and informative, but I tuned it out when you said the car was soft.

This car rides like a car with no suspension at all. I blew out 2 glass windshields due to vibration and bumps in the 3.5 months I've owned the car before switching to lexan. I would consider this car rather hard, it has the compliance of a woman on the rag. A road or track anything other than glass smooth will have it chattering along the surface outta control...yes I'm aware a tuned suspension will solve this but the stiffness is not helping anything.

Anyone else have some actual "non-racecar budget" style suspension mods? Not everyone wants to drop 5-10k on suspension on a car that rarely every sees track duty.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as a dbag, but if you want a smooth ride, why did you pick this car? I have a couple of roads around me that I literally have to avoid do to chatter, but I understand that and it's not an issue. If all of your roads are like the one road that I absolutely despise that is right outside of my neighborhood, then I would sell the car and never consider driving it again. The car as it is stock, is a good mix of road/driveable and race IMO. If you don't like the quirk of having a somewhat stiff suspension because of roads, I guarantee you a million other issues are going to come along as well do to ****ty roads.

[Kobura]

My car rides almost like it has no suspension, but I love driving my car. Nevertheless, the harshness of the ride continues to be a literal sore point as my back aches after some of my longer drives. I am still in the process of trying out different spring rates on the front. Don't know what to do with the rear "beehive" springs. I fail to understand why the Backdraft can't have a softer ride akin to that I have experienced in a Porsche 911. Being an engineer, it brings to mind the formula: H(appiness) = E(xpectations) - R(eality)

[eedeutsch]

I have had good luck with KYB343144 replacement rear shocks on my Backdraft. This issue was brought up before in Sept. 2014 "18 Falkens too tall?"

[jimbo01]

Shure would like to know where you got the Halibrand wheels. I have a set of 18" wheels from Backdraft. I am sure they are made in China or South Africa. Sure not Halibrnads.

[cbreez]

Originally Posted by jimbo01

Sure not Halibrnads.

I am sure that you meant to say Hildibrands...

[jimbo01]

I am sure your right on the spelling but that is the way the original post stated. Still have no idea how he got Hildibrands or as he said Halibrand wheels on his new Backdraft. Maybe someone can help.

[ASO544]

Ignorance... Just meant that style. Mine are the factory BDR 18" knock offs. I also ordered the KYB shocks as one of my 1k mile Gabriel shocks is leaking pretty bad.

[cbreez]

Originally Posted by ASO544

Ignorance... Just meant that style. Mine are the factory BDR 18" knock offs. I also ordered the KYB shocks as one of my 1k mile Gabriel shocks is leaking pretty bad.

They have oil surrounding the shock for cooling...you don't mean that I hope.

[cbreez]

Originally Posted by cbreez

I am sure that you meant to say Hildibrands...

This is just my very dry sense of humor...