Ridetech HQ shocks review
Thread Starter
'72 Cutlass ragtop
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 1,328
From: Tampa, FL
Ridetech HQ shocks review
Decided to upgrade my shocks to a set of adjustable Ridetech HQ and thought I'd throw out an initial impression. These are single-tube shocks which are performance-rated for street and track-related use.
Front shocks install took a bit of work as their bottom bases were too thick in diameter to fit through the lower control arm openings - had to remove the oem barrel clips which the bottom bolts originally mounted thru and very slightly clearance the opening for the shocks to fit all the way through - Couldn't reuse the clips due to them interfering with the shock bases, ultimately ran my bolts through the bare holes. The shock mounting eyelets are thicker than typical flat mount tabs, so had to use slightly longer bolts to install them.
Fronts didn't come with new bottom mounting bolts ultimately, used 3/8 x 1-1/2 grade-8 bolts, dropped down from inside the control arm bolt holes. For each shock once in place, I installed a washer up by each shock eyelet, followed by a 3/8 standard nut and finally a 3/8 lock nut to ensure nothing would come loose in operation.
Rear shocks were infinitely easier - just plug and play replacements for the prior shocks. Literally 15 minutes per side.
These shocks have roughly 24 firmness adjustment settings Ridetech suggests the middle range for initial street quality testing so that's what I went with. The front shocks have their adjuster **** at the very top, fully accessible from under the hood. Rear shocks have their adjusters at the bottom base, so also completely accessible for changes on the fly.
Initial impression after about a 20 mile test run, pretty awesome - really smooth controlled ride and seems like I can actually feel where the tires are planted. Rough road surfaces are well dampened without any harsh reactions or stability loss requiring correction, so the middle settings are probably pretty close to ideal for my purposes, pending more drive time.
.
For anyone interested, '68-72 A-body part numbers are 22149846 / 22189853.
Front shocks install took a bit of work as their bottom bases were too thick in diameter to fit through the lower control arm openings - had to remove the oem barrel clips which the bottom bolts originally mounted thru and very slightly clearance the opening for the shocks to fit all the way through - Couldn't reuse the clips due to them interfering with the shock bases, ultimately ran my bolts through the bare holes. The shock mounting eyelets are thicker than typical flat mount tabs, so had to use slightly longer bolts to install them.
Fronts didn't come with new bottom mounting bolts ultimately, used 3/8 x 1-1/2 grade-8 bolts, dropped down from inside the control arm bolt holes. For each shock once in place, I installed a washer up by each shock eyelet, followed by a 3/8 standard nut and finally a 3/8 lock nut to ensure nothing would come loose in operation.
Rear shocks were infinitely easier - just plug and play replacements for the prior shocks. Literally 15 minutes per side.
These shocks have roughly 24 firmness adjustment settings Ridetech suggests the middle range for initial street quality testing so that's what I went with. The front shocks have their adjuster **** at the very top, fully accessible from under the hood. Rear shocks have their adjusters at the bottom base, so also completely accessible for changes on the fly.
Initial impression after about a 20 mile test run, pretty awesome - really smooth controlled ride and seems like I can actually feel where the tires are planted. Rough road surfaces are well dampened without any harsh reactions or stability loss requiring correction, so the middle settings are probably pretty close to ideal for my purposes, pending more drive time.
.
For anyone interested, '68-72 A-body part numbers are 22149846 / 22189853.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 886
From: Tinley Park, IL
Nice review!
I had them on my car (front and rear) for a while, and I agree they are very nice. The ability to adjust the front shocks from under the hood is great. I then went to single adjustable QA1 coil-overs up front, and swapped the rear shocks to QA1 at the same time just to have a matching set. I ultimately removed the coil-overs and went to traditional style front springs with double adjustable QA1 shocks. I like having double adjustable up front. compression is a little on the soft side for ride quality, and prevent excessive "bounce" with a slightly stiffer rebound. However, both adjusting ***** are tough to get at since they are on the bottom of the shock and I have to reach up into the LCA's.
The Ridetech stuff is probably a bit higher quality, though.
I had them on my car (front and rear) for a while, and I agree they are very nice. The ability to adjust the front shocks from under the hood is great. I then went to single adjustable QA1 coil-overs up front, and swapped the rear shocks to QA1 at the same time just to have a matching set. I ultimately removed the coil-overs and went to traditional style front springs with double adjustable QA1 shocks. I like having double adjustable up front. compression is a little on the soft side for ride quality, and prevent excessive "bounce" with a slightly stiffer rebound. However, both adjusting ***** are tough to get at since they are on the bottom of the shock and I have to reach up into the LCA's.
The Ridetech stuff is probably a bit higher quality, though.
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