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Seeking info from all rear coilover users


Heza

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YES I DID THE SEARCH FUNCTION ALREADY. but...i only came up with a few good hits on info. who all on this forum has rear coilovers on their car FFP specifically or even TDC. how does the car handle and what's your input on the whole strut tower warping issue? please, i need some good feedback because i'm real close to buying FFPs rear coilovers and dont want to trash my car when i autocross. thank you all who help.

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In the 15+ FFP kits out there... I have not heard of a single person having problems with the strut towers. I have had mine on for 2.5 years and haven’t had any problems. The only person on here who insists there will be problems knows nothing about them and isn’t using them. The TDC kit is about the same, and i haven’t heard of anyone having problems with them either.

 

As far as handling, a lot of that depends on the spring rate. A 275# spring will be slightly stiffer than the FE3 option and will also handle better.

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I've had my coilovers on for about half a year now. The handling over stock is PHENOMENAL. Im not worried about the strut towers one bit because the back of the car doesnt weigh that much. Plus, the newer W-Bodies use coil springs in the rear and Im pretty sure the strut towers werent redesigned between then and now. (Maybe they were though) I'd recommend them to anyone who wants their car to handle and wants a lower stance. :)

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The shape did change in 95 with the monte/lumina, but they are still stamped out of the same gauge steel as the earlier models. And rear weight is a good point.... the back weighs next to nothing. Even after hauling a tranny and other crap around int he my trunk for 3500 miles on bad roads last year, i don't have a single problem. The body has not moved at all... all the doors and trunk still close perfectly. I am not worried about anything.

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hmm...a tranny in the trunk and misc other crap for 3500 miles on bad roads? i don't quite know why you'd trek a tranny around in your trunk...but it satisfies my need for comfort. i emailed Mike at FFP and he's going to hook me up with some pictures of the installed coilovers. anyone else have pics?

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Dave has the older style springs. I'll get you some pics of the new ones.

 

I had a spare tranny in my trunk on the way to (and on the way back from) the 60* V6 meet this past summer.

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www.dykz34.com/images/coilovers

 

 

PS: Michael at FFP is bowtiekid. ;)

 

thanks for the link. 'n sorry...didn't know Michael was 'bowtiekid', but thanks now i know and..."knowing is half the battle. GI Joe"

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I went to the JY recently and found some chopped up 95-99 Luminas and a 90 Grand Prix STE Turbo.

 

There is a HUGE difference in how the strut towers are made. No resemblance whatsoever.

 

The 90 STE rear strut towers are approx. 1/8" stamped sheet metal, single ply in entirety.

 

The 95-ish Lumina strut towers were made up of 3-layers approx 1/8" each of stamped sheet metal anchored at different points at the bottom, but coming together about 1/2-way up the strut towers. At the very top inside of the strut tower is another 1/8" sheet metal, cupped at the ends, it looks like its purpose is some kind of weight spreader. So the entire top of the strut towers is about 1/2" thickness of metal and the entire top half is 3/8" of metal.

 

I'm not saying the old W-bodies 1/8" stamped sheetmetal towers won't hold up to coilovers, but there's definitely no similarity between the first-gen W-body and 95-99 Monte/Lumina rear strut towers. I took pics and will try to get them posted some time this week.

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I don't think STB's would help much. From what most people say, the strut towers are already strong enough. They're just not nearly as strong as 95-99 Lumina/Monte rear strut towers.

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strut tower braces only keep the tops of the towers from moving side to side which changes the camber. No more than the rear weighs, the stock strut towers are pleny strong. although they do not originally support the weight of the vehicle, they are still strong due to the fact that the strut is a locating member of the suspension. They are not simply a shock tower that is used to locate a damper as in many other cars (J body, earlier N body, A body, etc.)

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YES I DID THE SEARCH FUNCTION ALREADY. but...i only came up with a few good hits on info.

 

I know this is off-topic, but the search function on these forums is virtually useless. People always say to search for a topic before you start a new thread on it. Well, I have tried that many times and I always get like 2000 resluts. Who has the time to look through 2000 threads?

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