Suspension Q's

[foonji]

Ok, here is some n00bness from me about suspension and what to do, I've looked at the bible, never have played with changing suspension and just not sure what I want...

I currently have a stock 94' Sierra, which is my daily runner and also a long term project for me to work on.

I want to improve the suspension, have a little more height, and have the possibility for slightly larger tyres in the future.

Im not after insane work to be able to conquer hard core tracks, basically I use it for getting around to remote spots to shoot (photos), so traversing sealed & unsealed roads, bumpy washed-away tracks, sandy/beach tracks, moderate off road areas and stuff like you would find at Mt Mee, Ripleys in QLD... basically in the end want to create a better ride with improved capabilty.

What would you guys do in my case?

Thanks for the help!

[mrRocky]

Lifted springs generally make for a bumpy ride, and average handeling unless conbined with 31" tyres, which sucks power but handles much better. You will have to trim your front bumper mount and massage your firewall to fit them. Then you will want to be able to sit on 100 again so you need reduction or diff gears or a bigger motor.blah blah blah

[joeblow]

Lifted springs generally make for a bumpy ride, and average handeling

not if you get a system that has been designed well. it will actualy transform the car into something that drives and handles well.

[mrRocky]

i agree, i just think that you need 31's to make the most of any lifted susp
otherwise it seems a bit too stiff and roly poly. Ditching the swaybar helps handling aswell. Well in my opinion it does anyway

[Gwagensteve]

Mr Rocky, I disagree.

31" tyres are a very large upgrade in size - equivalent to putting a 38" tyre on a landcruiser based on % size increase, and a suspension kit will do absolutely nothing to make them fit.

31" actually make a car ride and handle worse than stock - their added unsprung weight is the enemy of ride and handling. sure, if you have overly lifted or overly stiff aftermarket springs, the added unsprung weight of the 31's might seem like it's calming things down a bit, but that's a pretty dodgy way of tuning a suspension kit.

Froonji - I'd be fitting an ARB/OME suspension kit and make sure you don't over spring the car for the load you are carrying. I'm yet to come across a better riding spring.

sierra suspension doesn't have much scope for lift. I think one of the traps is that people expect 2" of lift over stock height regardless of load - which will lead to high spring rates and terrible handling when unladen. If you expect about 2" over stock height unladen and around stock
(empty) height with a load in the car, I think you'll get a good result.

As a real world example - if you put OME HD leaves in the back of a stock sierra, the suspension is at full droop all the time- which leads to a terrible ride.

PS An off the shelf suspension lift like EFS, tough dog, OME, lovells - whatever will not allow the fitment of larger tyres, because the tyres can still move just as far as they could with the stock suspension. The end result isn't tyres that fit, it's just tyres that don't fit less often.

Steve.

[mrRocky]

Not saying its right but the kit i had was an efs 2" shocks and springs which rode terrible with jnr tyres on, the 31's seemed to make it a bit more liveable. Before that i had bluemax which was even worse.
For best ride i would go with maybe a 30mm lift and some soft shocks if you only plan on a mild tyre upgrade

[Gwagensteve]

OME rides significantly better than stock, regardless of tyre size.

Steve.