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Your car’s handling might have been pretty decent a decade or so ago. But perhaps it’s finally time for a suspension upgrade to improve ride quality and responsiveness. Fortunately, suspension upgrades can be done relatively easily and with immediate results.
Let’s review the four major ways to upgrade your suspension for a smoother ride and better handling.
Shock Absorbers
Shock absorbers offer a variety of simple upgrades. The most basic step is to replace standard tube shocks with a heavy-duty shock absorber.
Shop now for heavy-duty shock absorbers
Another type of shock is called a MacPherson strut. It consists of a spring over a shock, with the entire piece supporting the car’s weight.
MacPherson struts are commonly used on the front suspension—and in the back for cars with an independent rear suspension. The strut attaches to the steering spindle on the front suspension and the drive shaft carrier in the rear.
Stock lowering springs
McPherson strut
With MacPherson struts, the springs and the shock absorber can be upgraded for increased firmness. The stock springs can also be replaced with shorter ones to lower ride height and the center of gravity.
Coilovers
A variant of the MacPherson strut is called a coilover, essentially a strut with adjustable endplates. You can adjust the firmness of some aftermarket shocks with a knob on the top of the shock. In some setups, an electric solenoid allows drivers to make adjustments from inside the cabin.
Coilovers provide a way to adjust the suspension in various ways.
The addition of heavy-duty springs and shocks can improve handling. But of course, the ride can become harsher. The degree to which you want to feel the road and its imperfections is a personal choice.
Tire clearance in the wheel wells is also a consideration. You might compromise the upgrade if the tires rub when hitting bumps. The trick to upgrading springs and shocks is to balance harshness, wheel clearance, and the desired handling characteristics.
Sway Bars
A sway bar or anti-roll bar consists of a steel rod attached to opposite sides of the front or rear suspension, with an attachment point at the middle of the car’s chassis. This rod acts like a torsion spring and twists as the car corners. Sway bars stabilize the car’s chassis, especially when cornering at speed.
A stock and heavy-duty sway bar for a Porsche
The upgrades for a sway bar are thicker bars that do not twist as easily, thus keeping the car flat. In addition, some sway bars are adjustable on the ends that connect to the suspension members to vary the amount of twist. Installation is usually quite easy. In some cases, sway bar installation takes place without removing wheels from the car.
Learn more: Sway Bars Are An Easy Upgrade To Improve Handling.
Custom Restomod Suspensions
One of the challenges in building a hot-rod or muscle car is the limitations of the original suspension. We’ve seen a lot of improvements in suspension technology in the past 50 years. For example, entire front or rear suspension upgrade assemblies now bolt right into an older car.
Most complete chassis swaps are custom-built to order. Restomod suspensions include modern steering racks, upgraded suspension pieces, and coilover shocks and springs. They replace the original suspension pieces using a subframe that bolts onto the car’s body or frame. A Mustang II independent front suspension swap is a popular replacement on many older cars and trucks.
A restomod front suspension upgrade for a 1970s Camaro and Firebird models.
This type of suspension upgrade is especially popular with 1970s muscle cars because they allow for easy mounting of modern engines and transmissions. These upgrades can completely transform the handling of an old car, raising it to the level of most modern vehicles.
