Vick Shock & Spring Set

[Frog2Spider]

Yo familyman,
The Koni 's are very 'dear', but damn, I'm glad I got them. My next choice would be Vick's (62-7344) set of 4 for $175.00. I don't care for the Gabriel brand, and I wouldn't deal with Midwest.
Dave.

[mbovino]

I just put a set of Vick's springs on all four corners along with conventional (not gas filled) shocks. My car is a 1980, but I retrofitted it with old-style chrome bumpers. The ride height looks about right though. When installing the springs, I loosened all of the suspension pivot points (A-frame and trailing arm bushings) then preloaded the interior with six bags of softener salt before retightening all of the suspension pivot points so as not to overstress the bushings when driving. My only knock about the Vick's springs is that the coil ends are ground flat which do not register well in the receiving cups that are designed for an open spring termination. Grinding off six or so inches on both ends would fix that, but I wanted to be sure of the ride height before I removed any material so I installed them as is. My car is not yet back on the road so I can't attest to the ride quality but I expect it to be fine, if a bit on the stiff side.

[vandor]

My only knock about the Vick's springs is that the coil ends are ground flat which do not register well in the receiving cups that are designed for an open spring termination.

I wonder if that's because they were designed for a different car? We designed our springs specifically for the Spider and we tested three different heights before settling for what we had produced (here in the USA). We specified the same type ends as on the stock springs, obviously.

[familyman]

Thanks, mbovino, for your feedback. That is the information I needed. But now I have another question. Does anyone have experience with cutting one coil off the stock springs and keeping the tubular bumpers? Keep in mind that this car needs virtually everything, so I am cutting some corners in areas I can easily upgrade in a few years after I get it on the road. So, any experience out there with ride height and ride qualities with one coil removed?

[ebrown0104]

Does anyone have experience with cutting one coil off the stock springs and keeping the tubular bumpers?

I removed my tube bumpers a little while ago and I cut about 1-1/2 coils off the front and 1-1/4 off the back to compensate for the height difference (and I also wanted to lower the car some). With a set of fairly worn-out shocks the ride quality didn't change appreciably between being original height and being cut.

I just replaced the shocks with Vick's Hydrasports within the past month, and the ride is definitely much better now. My old shocks had pretty much no compression damping left, so when I'd hit an expansion joint or pothole the suspension would crash. It now rides just a little more firmly, but takes bigger bumps with much more composure. The main reason I've stayed away from replacement springs is because I'm afraid that they will take the ride quality too far into the sporty ride territory. With the stock springs and Vick's shocks it's a perfect combo of being sporty while still being comfortable.

[So Cal Mark]

cutting the stock springs will make the ride much harsher. The problem with cutting the rear springs is that you end up with no tension on the springs when the rear end is hanging at the end of it's travel. That shouldn't be a big problem until you either jack the car up or go over a bump that unweights the rear end. Either situation can allow the spring to come off it's seat and not go back in once the car has weight on it again

[familyman]

I removed my tube bumpers a little while ago and I cut about 1-1/2 coils off the front and 1-1/4 off the back to compensate for the height difference.

Why did you remove more from the front springs? I would think this would cause the nose to sit lower than the rear.