so far H&R is the only company that showed there stuff for the cobalt and that was on the motegi, rk sport, and nopi cars all used H&R springs 1.6" drop which in my opinion looked sweet. i like H&R but i'm curious to see what B+G suspension has, i have their springs on my cavi and i'm lovin em. so i want to see what they will offer, i'm a fan of springs over coilovers. but if H&R, B+G, or KW suspension make a fully adjustable coilover system i just might get that. he he. but i will start with a spring shock combo. B+G and koni for me. he he. that and strut bars. nothing worse that chasis flex so getting strutbars to keep the chasis rigid. dont want my gas cap un even door siils uneven also do to chasis movement. so keeping the chasis stiffer will decrease chances of this occuring. that would be a first upgrade.

 

I remember reading that they didn't bother with strut bars because the car was stiff enough already. I think by adding them you are just making your engine bay look pretty. If you've test driven a RL, you realize that thing is STIFF.

 

stiffer the better , doesnt mean there wont be chasis flex. i just dont want to warp the body, have u seen some cars where doors are uneven, gas caps stay open cuz theve been warped so on and so forth, i'm not about to buy a sporty handling car thats in the 25k price range and want the chasis to flex so i will put strutbars as a precaution. just me.

 

I've had a strut bar in the trunk of my car for over 8 months now...... man I'm lazy!


the funny thing about it, is I can find time to raplace a wheel bearing or brakes/rotors, but can't take 10 minutes to put a bar on....

 

lol what kind of car do you got if its a j-body youll notice a pretty good difference, i have front rear and an 1" rear sway bar w/ prothane bushings, and theres a night and day diference. just need to buy koni shocks/struts to complement my B+G springs which i love.

 

i will be the first! lol

 

do not lower the cobalt on springs without some type of revalved shocks/struts.

The engine upper front strut bars really only work when there are generally 3 mounting points.

99% of the bars on the market just connect the two strut towers, but by having an isocoles like triangle shape where it connects to both the strut towers and the firewall, it gives the sides something to actually brace against. The firewall won't move.

 

Typically the rule is.. if you lower more than 1.5" .. its wise to get some aftermarket shocks/struts .. otherwise they'll take a beating and wear out early..

Eibach has some good springs that dont typically require strut/shock replacement

 

I like the look of a lowered car, and the general better handling that comes with it, but the good reviews that the Cobalt has gotten about it's ride/handling balance have me concerned that lowering will disturb the ride more than it will improve handling. Any thoughts?

 

Well unless you match the ride exactly, you will always have "ride distortion". Really its preference, you either have it stiff or loose. I have eibach lowering springs on my civic, and lowering your car, on small cars does improve cornering and overall handling, but it seems to have stiffened my ride as well. But it depends if you want a loose suspension for a more comfortable ride, but giving up performance, or one made for performance. I like a stiff ride, the car isnt considerably different in any case, it has a lower stance, better handling, and feels fine. All in all, just choose what you want!

 

Just a question for all of you. Wouldn't the cobalt use the same suspension setup as the ION? If that's the case, us ION owners have Eibachs, B&G, Progress, and sprint springs. I can't remember about the H&R springs, if they are available for IONs, but I know the others are.

I am looking to get some Eibachs for my ION. Everything is so damn pricey though, when you live in Canada.

 

I don't think the two cars come the same from the factory. As for after marked... The two should be simular, but there is a wieght difference between the two. As for pricing, I got Koni struts and Eibach pro series springs for my 99 Z24 and I paid about $800 for the whole set, and that was a really good price. The Eibach springs are great and well made, get the pro series!

 

Do any companys make strut bars for the cobalt yet? I'd love to get some cause I love the way the look under the hood and they offer a better ride in my opinion.

 

ok... I just got off the phone with Koni, USA and here is their story for suspentions. The Cobalt is a top priorty car for them. They are already in the process of design. The rear shocks will have very simular spring rates, and that front struts will be a complete new design. They are going to bring out a complete coilover kit as well as the individual dampers for sale. Time line on this depends when I get my car in, they will use my SS/sc for testing and developement. The other time restraint is Koni, Holand is wating for the stampings for the redline and the SS/sc to finish the mount designs. I would also like to tell everyone that Koni is by far one of the best aftermarkert damper manufacters. I've been to the plant here in the US and they make all the dampers for NHRA and well as for many of the proffesional racing teams, these guys really know their stuff.

 

Nice, thanks for the good information. Yet again, it's great to see a small Chevy garnering so much attention from aftermarket companies.

 

i was hoping Koni would get to this, they were definatly the best coilovers for jbody cars. i would like some adjustables like the "yellows" were.

 

your definatly want the Koni red specials..... They just brought these out for the Cav. I had them on my Cav but it was before the adjusible Specials came out. I'm hoping Koni is developing the Specials for the Cobalt. I will let everyone know when they get done testing on my car.

 

i thought the major diff between the red and yellow were that the yellow's are adjustable?

 

Reds or as Koni knows them.... Specials are also adjustible. the difference is in the dampening rates, or as people realize the sportier suspension.

 

both reds and yellows are adjustable, typically the yellows have more dampening then reds, also the yelllows are externally adjustable which means on the top of the shaft where the strut mount connects to has a screw where you can adjust it, where as reds you must remove the intire strut from the car and compress the strut and adjust it. usually yellows are more of a better choice due to ease of adjustment but you get a stiffer ride than reds.

 

The reds also have the screw adjustments.... it just happend that up to about 2 years ago all the reds had to be removed in order to be adjusted. But now the reds are easily adjusted just like the yellows. I had the reds on my Z24 and when I talked to them after northern motorsports sales rights had expired they design the reds with the screw adjustment. As for the difference between the reds and yellows...... The reds have a faster dapening (higher dampening rate, designed for street sport and track) and the yellows are designed for standard steet sport only. The yellows would have a "smoother" ride compaired to the reds. I loved the reds, but the one problem I had with them around here, is on bumpy roads the dampening was so high that the car would actualy be airborn for a brief period after going over the bump, you really had to watch the bumps in the turns!

 

youve must have gotten confused, i've had experience with reds in the past and youve always had to remove them from the car inorder to adjust them, you have to compress the rod and adjust it left or right, and the reds (specials) are more forgiving for the road, good for daily driving, where as yellows (sport) you can leave them on the car and on top where the strutmount is you can adjust it from there without compressing them, they have a harsher dampening and are designed for more for competition use instead of street use.

 

Reds (special)
The red KONI line is meant for drivers who want to improve their car in general; better comfort and road-holding combined with a higher level of safety.

KONI Special shock absorbers are available for most performance cars. KONI select the most appropriate technology for each car from the wide range of shock absorber types. Each shock absorber is then customized for the car model. Hence, a KONI Special is always the best choice, for replacement as well as improvement.

Yellows (sport)
The KONI Sport product line is one of our specialties. KONI serves sporting drivers with a carefully designed range of sport shock absorbers and suspension kits with lowering springs. This line focuses on exceptional road-holding and handling properties, combined with an acceptable level of comfort.

Many of the KONI Sport dampers are externally adjustable by means of a knob, so they need not be disassembled from the car. The fine-tuning of the damping forces to personal driving style and to different driving conditions is therefore not more than a matter of seconds. The best of fine-tuning technology straight from the world of Formula 1 racing.


looks like koni does make coilovers, i thought it was just shocks and a matching set drop spring, didnt know it was a sleeved coilover, nice.

 

koni adjustment procedures

http://www.koni-na.com/adjustment.cfm

 

Eddie, yes your right ..... I just checked Koni's site for parts. the package they brought out for th Cav is yellows and externally adjustable. I don't think you can even get the specials for the Cav anymore. Thanks for the correction