i came across a set of pedders springs a local guy is sellin. the pedders are coming with rack spacers.

now i put Eibach lowering springs on my old cobalt LS and they were easy. but my ride turned to **** in a summer (i put the eibachs on at around 50k) ive been reading that pedders is the smallest drop but rides better than stock?? true or not?

also i dont know what the rack spacers are for,i never put them on my cobalt LS,they are coming with the springs so idk if i should HAVE to put them in or if i shouldnt have to worry about putting the rack spacers in..?

any help would be awesome!

 

I cant figure out why anyone would install rack spacers with Pedders. Im about 1 3/4 lower than pedders and I dont have them. No complaining about bumper steer although the ride sucks.

 

yea thats why i asked,i guess ive never saw anyone who installed rack spacers with lowering springs.

alot of people say the ride is better than stock atleast for the ss/tc's. i remember my old LS ride sucked after about 4 months!

 

<rant>

I hate the words "bump steer." I seriously do.

It makes people get the mistaken impression that bump steer means every time they hit a bump the car steers around like a drunken monkey on a broken skateboard.

Oh, you're funny, but my car doesn't do that, so I must not have bump steer.

Well, that's NOT what it is and yes you do have "bump steer" if you lowered your car.

Look, throw out "bump steer" and replace it with "toe in change on suspension compression due to poor geometry."

When you lower your car you change the geometry of the front end, and for our discussion it's the angle change from parallel of the lower control arms to the tie rod ends that we're concerned with.

(huge oversimplification coming)
Lowering the car changes the relationships in the front end geometry so that the control arms and tie rod ends are no longer in parallel. As a corner of the front end compresses - say from a sweeping right hand turn that makes the left front compress - the control arm and tie rod end (which are no longer parallel) swing in two different arcs, causing a gain in toe-in. That's "bump steer." That's all it is, and it doesn't need a bump at all to cause it.

Is it enough to steer your car all around like a drunken monkey when you hit a bump or take a turn? No, no, Probably not. Enough to wear your tires prematurely, and add some amount of "push" in the handling. Definitely, Yes. And do we want to wear tires or add any more "push" in a car that already pushes without a huge (Powell) rear bar being added? For most of us, that's No.

So, how do you fix it if you care about the increased tire wear and possible "push"? Shim the rack a little bit to return the tie rod ends and control arms to parallel, and then get an alignment done to fix the static toe-in that lowering the car caused. How much to shim depends upon the drop. I think John Powell quoted 10mm for Pedders. Could be wrong on that.

Could even be wrong on the whole rant thing. It's late and I'm pretty tired.

 

Because they realign the steering rack and are only 20 bucks and super easy to install.

 

Soooooo many people just can't grasp the concept.....

Thank you for what has got to be the best write up I have seen on the topic of "bump steer"

 

I dont know if its defferent but when i pick the springs up from this guy the only parts i will be getting is the springs roght? When i got my eibachs for my old LS there was just springs and stickers lol

 

You are welcome. I'm going to ask John to look it over. I was pretty sleepy when I wrote that last night. I was kind of afraid of what I'd see this morning. The key is you might not feel it, but your tires will. I'd take 20 bucks for rack shims over an extra set of tires during the life of my car... any day!

When I bought mine new I got 4 cardboard boxes with 1 spring in each box. You'll probably just get the springs.

 

Well due to having a 300$ limit on my daily withdrawls and vy that time my bank was closed, i only picked up 2 interceptors but the springs were still in the original pedders box. Ill be pickin them up next wensday since i will be working OT all weekend. Springs were only on the car for a summer, he bought them from his buddy and. The guy im buying them from never installed them.

 

sox fan is correct. there are two ways to simply adjust bump steer. most race cars do it at the tie rod end at the steering arm. They have a spherical joint, and its easy to pack or remove washers to raise or lower the outboard tie rod pivot.

In production car racing like Grand Am replacing the tie rods with spherical joints was not allowed.

race spacers are an easy solution.

 

well the rack spacers come with the springs. ill have to check the how to section to see if theres a how to on it.

 

tools required; alignment gauges or string chalk and tape measre.,18 mm wobble socket 36 inch 1/2 drive extension and ratchet. Torque wrench.
how to:
park on solid level ground, no junk in trunk, half tank of fuel.lock steering wheel in straight ahead position. set tire pressures.check toe in and record.from above behind motor insert 18 mm on extension, inset of bolt, undo and partially remove bolts. insert spacer under rack pedestal let bolt pass through, insert bolts, both sides, snug bolts, torque and check toe. adjust if needed.

ur done.

 

it's part of this one

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-...s-pics-271421/

should be the same on all balts

 

How to put in rack spacers?

simple. Loosen one rack mount bolt until it is *almost* out but has a few threads left.

remove the other. Lift the rack, slide in spacer, put bolt back in. tighten only 2 or three threads.

Now do other side.

tighten both to 85 ftp/lbs

Do NOT remove both bolts at the same time. It's a serious PITA if you do. the passenger side one you can get to from underneath really easy. the drivers side one is easier to get at through the wheel well with the tire off.

 

Sounds good man, make sure you install the rears correctly, there is a front and top to them. Can't remember off hand

 

cool thanks guys!! when i pick the springs up on thursday i will have the parts in hand so it will make more sense lol and then when i get under the car and figure out whats what then i will prolly 100% understand.


thank you for the help!

 

Let me know if you want a hand

 

 

And this is why for John.

 

cool man,i will let you know.
thanks for the pictures!!

ive yet to hear a bad thing about him lol

 

I know John prefers to access the bolt from above, but I've never had a problem doing it from the side or below.

 

im lazy. hate to lie on back .

 

the d shaped end to black lower isolator. round shaped end to top isolator. only way they fit lol

 

I'll have to look at mine next time it's in the air, I used a hot knife to melt the isolator sides so it would fit...had a hell of a time getting them on.

 

I put my isolators on the ground, sprayed them down with white lube, then pushed down on the springs and turned. Took some effort but they got there.