Hi All,

I have an 88 formula. I love the stiff suspension but Im more of a cruiser than I am a racer. What's the best way to soften the ride while still maintaining the handling?

Thanks

You can't really but you can give up a touch of handling for a better ride by adding more sidewall in the tires. After that, change the shocks or springs. The sway bars don't do anything in a straight line, only in turns.

Or, if you have poly bushings, change them back to rubber...

Check the sag in your springs. They should sag 1/4 to 1/3 of the total travel just by occupent weight alone. If they have less sag than that, you can get lighter rated springs and it should help the comfort AND handling.

Jonathan

Sofa King, try more padding in the seat. That should give it more of a "sofa" feel.

Switch to 88 coupe springs. They are softer. Handling will go down slightly.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 04-03-2010).]

quote Originally posted by 30+mpg: Sofa King, try more padding in the seat. That should give it more of a "sofa" feel.

LOL! I tried installing a barco-lounger (sp) but there just wasn't enough room...

I drove my '86 (late run with '87 up-grades) for a year before I installed eibach 2" lowereing springs, KYB shock, custom sway-bars, bump-steer fix, and all poly bushings, on old Goodyear tires, that had been on my car in storage for 4-years. I loved the handling and firm ride, but wished it was a little softer. I recently had to put new tires on, because the old ones were separating from age. I installed a set of Falken X912's (215/60's in front, and 225/60's in rear) all on my stock 15"X7" wheels. Now I'm happy...I still have a firm ride, but lot's softer, and I lost the hard thumping. Tires make allot of difference in your ride.

If you want the softest ride, but still with a firm suspension, go with stock springs, and Conni (sp?) shocks, with 18-20X7 inch wheels and the right rubber to fill up your wheel wells. Jimmy Schultz of Fiero Fiberglass runs stock springs on his beautiful blue custom '86 GT, and loves how it rides, and the tires and wheels look fantastic! You can see his car on fierofiberglass.com.

Im in agreement with taller rubber. I never go to a profile lower than a 60 series tire ever. 5 or 6 inches of rubber makes a nice ride and fills up a wheel opening. What you give up in handling can be made up for the most part with higher air pressures. I run 45 pnds in my Caddilac ( manuf recommendation) and also in my Sebring. Both have 60 series tires. The OEM tires on the Coronet are only 6 inches wide so I run 35-40 pnds in those (70 series)

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Im in agreement with taller rubber. I never go to a profile lower than a 60 series tire ever. 5 or 6 inches of rubber makes a nice ride and fills up a wheel opening. What you give up in handling can be made up for the most part with higher air pressures. I run 45 pnds in my Caddilac ( manuf recommendation) and also in my Sebring. Both have 60 series tires. The OEM tires on the Coronet are only 6 inches wide so I run 35-40 pnds in those (70 series)

I have larger sidewalls on my GT (normal tires for the 80s) and it still handles well. But its a night and day from my Vette with the rubber bands, I could run over a dime and tell you if it was heads or tails.

The spring rates on the '88s are already pretty low at ~150 pounds/inch ... considerably lower than the '84 through '87s ... and the suspension design itself is less harsh. Porsche has successfully used the same strategy for many years: low spring rates combined with moderate to high damping. There's really not much you can do, other than to replace old bushings with new and install new shocks and struts. Use rubber rather than poly bushings wherever possible for the smoothest ride. Rubber bushings aren't available through regular channels for the '88 rear suspension, only poly, although you can still buy complete new trailing links with rubber bushings installed. Rubber bushings are still available for the '88 front suspension. Installing aftermarket wheels and tires may (or may not) improve handling, but larger (and thus heavier) wheels, wider tires, and/or lower aspect ratio tires will almost inevitably provide a stiffer ride than stock.

My Formula has stock wheels and tires, KYB shocks and struts, poly bushings in the rear, and rubber everywhere else, and I would rate the ride as OK ... not at all harsh. The rear suspension (with KYB struts), if anything, still seems slightly underdamped to me.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-07-2011).]