What rear suspension set up are you guys using for the street

[Michael Watts]

I run an Hotchkiss boxed "A' arms sway bars KYB shocks .and an air bag kit .In my 1981 El Camino SS.with the original 7 1/4 rear end for now.

 

[pontiacgp]

Poly bushings in both upper and lower.
Guy

except for the upper Roto-Joint

 

[Malibu Mike7981]

Im thinking the umi set up. Question is do i run a poly, rubber, or spherical bushing in the top rear end housing? I have rubber bushings now and i will need to replace them.

 

[500/600]

UMI here. Upper, lower, tower brace, upper to lower mount brace.

Top notch parts and good attitude............

 

[565bbchevy]

My Monte has Metco adjustable uppers and Hotchkis lowers and my Regal has Umi adjustable uppers with Roto joint and solid lowers.

 

[Injectedcutty]

Just because I took a pic yesterday for the UMI shock brace....I'm running BMR boxed lower and tubular upper with poly on both ends. Then the Hotchkis trailing arm mount brace, UMI shock tower brace, hotchkis 1" drop springs and Koni adjustable shocks. I'd like to eventually get coilovers, but this car handles pretty damn good!

 

[64nailhead]

Guy with your set up what bushings are you running in the rear end housing?

Stock rubber bushings for almost 20K miles with UMI uppers and lowers.

I wouldn't run anything other than stock rubber mounts on the rear. They create a soft spot for street driving. We haven't worn ours out yet and are making 800whp. And the UMI's haven't given any issues at all - I can't say anything bad about any other vendors, but UMI makes good stuff and has great tech support.

 

[GuysMonteSS]

I'd like to eventually get coilovers, but this car handles pretty damn good!

X2 !!
Thats where I am too,mine handles so good that it makes me wonder how much improvement would I see in handling by switching to coilovers.
Its s lot of $$$$ to put out for what could be a minimal,or zero, gain.
Guy

 

[Northernregal]

Just because I took a pic yesterday for the UMI shock brace....I'm running BMR boxed lower and tubular upper with poly on both ends. Then the Hotchkis trailing arm mount brace, UMI shock tower brace, hotchkis 1" drop springs and Koni adjustable shocks. I'd like to eventually get coilovers, but this car handles pretty damn good!View attachment 126119

I have the UMI 2" drop with double adjustable shocks and pro touring sway bar. I dont have much of a comparison as I didnt drive the car much before I started the rebuild but the rear is planted and controlled even when swinging it way out under power. Even rides nice on the highway.

 

[64nailhead]

X2 !!
Thats where I am too,mine handles so good that it makes me wonder how much improvement would I see in handling by switching to coilovers.
Its s lot of $$$$ to put out for what could be a minimal,or zero, gain.
Guy

I'm with ^^^^this. We put on the large UMI rear sway bar onto the UMI lowers. That along with the SS front bar made the handling seem like night and day with stock springs and a decent set of shocks (Bilsteins). How much better can it get with a set of double adjustable coil overs?

I think it comes down to what you're going to do with the car. I think it's cool to load it up with all of the fully adjustable parts, but for street driving, the stock G-body stuff rode better than OK, but turned poorly. The big sway bars, along with a tire upgrade, resolve the bulk of the factory cornering leaning issues.

But, I have to admit that I haven't been in anything with a set of well tuned coil overs.