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Old 03-07-2012, 03:56 PM   #1
BackinBlack
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How will Drag Coilovers perform on the Track or Street?

If I'm trying to decide on 'Drag' Coilovers (like Pedders/Lingenfelter) vs 'regular' Coilovers from either Pfadt or Pedders XA or Supercar, what exactly am I trading off for a fair-weather driver that only sees weekend track or strip?

Some of the early "packages" had the same coilovers and other parts whether they were a 'drag' pack or a 'track' pack. But now that there are different coilovers between the two I wonder if (for examples only) Lingenfelter Drag coilovers suffer a bit on a roadcoarse compared to Pedders XA or Supercar coilovers?

If it helps in the discussion I plan to do full bushings and trailer arm/toe links on drag radials anyway for a planned F.I. 600-700rwhp car, manual trans.

Thank for any input.
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Old 03-07-2012, 04:12 PM   #2
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Drag coilovers are much softer setup than street coilovers and allow maximum weight transfer from front to rear, etc. If you are doing more street driving and autox you will benefit from street coilovers in the sense that the car is stiffer and handles loads from side to side better. In a drag setup you want the front of the car to unload all its weight on the launch and transfer to the rear for better 60' times and track in a straight line.
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Old 03-07-2012, 04:33 PM   #3
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You would NEVER use drag shocks on a road course. Two hugely different spring rates and valving combination. It would handle like crap in the curves.
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Old 03-07-2012, 04:42 PM   #4
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OK, that's pretty clear. Sounds like I'll go shopping without Drag Coilovers on the options list.

Thanks!
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Old 03-07-2012, 06:00 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Synner View Post
You would NEVER use drag shocks on a road course. Two hugely different spring rates and valving combination. It would handle like crap in the curves.


Quote:
Originally Posted by BackinBlack View Post
OK, that's pretty clear. Sounds like I'll go shopping without Drag Coilovers on the options list.

Thanks!
Give LPE a call. They are the ONLY source for LPE 5th Gen Drag Coilovers.
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Old 03-07-2012, 08:29 PM   #6
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Give LPE a call. They are the ONLY source for LPE 5th Gen Drag Coilovers.
Just an FYI but I have Santhuff coilovers on my car that are strictly drag only made specifically for the 5th gen.
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Old 03-07-2012, 08:55 PM   #7
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Give LPE a call. They are the ONLY source for LPE 5th Gen Drag Coilovers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrpxxii View Post
Just an FYI but I have Santhuff coilovers on my car that are strictly drag only made specifically for the 5th gen.
I am aware of Santuff's and find them complicated to adjust. They work well, but that doesn't change what I posted earlier. LPE Drag Coilovers for the 5th Gen are available only at LPE.
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Old 03-07-2012, 09:34 PM   #8
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Pfadt also appears to have dedicated 5gen drag coil overs. Look them up on MarylandSpeed.com. Nice Price. What I read in the WCC catalog about these is that the spring rates are softer than stock, but will perform well on the street with the dampers set to max firm.

This whole situation sucks for me, because I want to drag and autox with the same car, but the suspension requirements are diametrically opposed. Guess I need to make enought money for a 4 car garage and 4 cars to fill it.
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Old 03-07-2012, 09:43 PM   #9
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Adjustable coilovers and sways can easily be adapted to both situations. If I recall the LPE camaro was into the 9's before switching to the drag specific coilovers. Spending money on a lightweight drag wheel/tire combo with tons of sidewall would have far more benefit for most people. Obviously it won't be a 100% optimized drag setup but having a car that is great at everything is far better than having one that's only awesome at squatting from a standstill. You can have a car in the 9's without drag specific coilovers so I don't see how its a limitation.

Other suspension components aren't really different. Bushings, bushings, and more bushings.
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Old 03-07-2012, 10:32 PM   #10
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I am aware of Santuff's and find them complicated to adjust. They work well, but that doesn't change what I posted earlier. LPE Drag Coilovers for the 5th Gen are available only at LPE.
WHOOPS, sorry I didnt read your post clearly.
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Old 03-08-2012, 07:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Synner View Post
Adjustable coilovers and sways can easily be adapted to both situations. If I recall the LPE camaro was into the 9's before switching to the drag specific coilovers. Spending money on a lightweight drag wheel/tire combo with tons of sidewall would have far more benefit for most people. Obviously it won't be a 100% optimized drag setup but having a car that is great at everything is far better than having one that's only awesome at squatting from a standstill. You can have a car in the 9's without drag specific coilovers so I don't see how its a limitation.

Other suspension components aren't really different. Bushings, bushings, and more bushings.
Exactly, the reason for my original post. I knew the benefits of the adjustable coilovers from various companies but was not clear on the penalty paid for drag-specific coilovers on a street or track car.
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Old 03-08-2012, 08:11 AM   #12
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This is basically already been said, but the readers digest version is that drag coilovers are designed for the car to have positive and negative rake. Where as regular ("street") coilovers are designed for positive and negative rake as well as roll.
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Old 03-08-2012, 09:34 AM   #13
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Autocross is all cornering; drags is all straight-line. Get out on a road course where you can do both lap after lap instead of just one run, park and wait until it's your turn again. Before you pour money into suspension mods, go to a club or HPDE event at a road course track and see how you like it. You might find yourself changing your mod plans.
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Old 03-08-2012, 10:22 AM   #14
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Our Drag coilovers do have valving that's built specifically for drag racing, as well as spring rates that have been selected for drag as well. The problem with building a coilover that will offer max performance at both drag racing and Autox/Road race is the requirements for max performance are so different between the two.

With Drag Racing you want a spring and damper package designed to let the front end lift quickly to transfer weight to the rear end of the car to get out of the hole, and that's just about opposite of what we want in a fun street car or autox/road race situation where control is mission critical to turn in response and balance of the car in corners. That's why we offer two different versions of our coilovers, one specifically for drag racing and another that's a more well rounded street/competition package.

The Drag coilovers can be used on the street with no ill effects, but with the really low rate springs the car will feel like it wallows in corners more than we would tune for with a typical fun street coilover package. It will overall feel more like a Camaro on the stock suspension than one that's modified for improved performance.

The other option is to do what East Coast Supercharging has done with their Camaro. They installed our street coilover package but purchased an additional drag spring package as well. This gives them the ability to swap front springs when they want to run the car at the strip, but otherwise keep the improved handling you would expect from a coilover package when they're using the car on the street. It's a little more work, but it's the best of both worlds... and has been used with really great results. Here is a video of one of the ECS Camaro's cutting a 1.47 60" time with the drag springs and the street coilover package: ECS Camaro Build Info So far their best 60" on that setup has been a 1.41 with a full weight street car.

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