Hi everyone,

Been a while, but I've been away at a school for work...

Anytime I hit a small dip in the road my tires rub and the car bottoms out.

I installed new Eaton Springs giving them the specs of my car. I asked for 1 inch below factory and told them it has a BBC instead of a Pontiac engine (I wish it had a 400). However, the car still bottoms out. My friend lowered the car onto a shock that was not bolted in and bent it, so I went to a local chain and bought Monroe shocks ($24 for both).

Shocks/leafs in the back are of unknown age.

I know the bottoming problem is occurring up front, as when I hit a dip going around a curve, the steering wheel tries to recenter.

Is this a cheap shock problem? I did a search and found that most of you recommend the KYB shocks. Will the gas adjustable be worth a try?

The rear sits up nicely, and I don't seem to be having any issues with the back end rubbing.

Thanks for the help!

Dave

Shocks won't correct ride height. They're not designed for that chore.

How does your ride height compare to stock? What is hitting, and where?

Shocks are spring stabilizers, and that only. They control bound and rebound not ride hight. Your tires are rubbing due to them being an incorrect offset. Also having the rear of the car sitting that high will effect the steering. How is the front tire wear? I'll bet it wasn't aligned in it's present stance. No offense, but that reminds me of how we use to have our cars sit in the '70's. It reeked havoc on front tire wear and handling. But we looked cool.

Shocks won't set ride height but they can help bottoming out. A $24/pair shock is probably worse than anything you took out of an old bird. I have some of those cheap shocks like those in my truck. They are downright dangerous over a bump during a turn in the road. The back of the truck will leap out. Its a handful. Leaf spring rears and bad shocks can send you out of control.

I put Edlebrock IAS shocks in my Crown Victoria. It took the ride from bottoming out and uncontrolled rocking to well controlled but comfortable. The car was like riding a hobby horse before that change. Bilstens are the next level up. I didn't want a bone jarring ride for this car because my bones hurt. That is why I bought that body on frame car in the first place.

Shocks are very important to ride quality, including bottoming. The back of my 68 bird would bottom readily even when it was new. Decent shocks are much more expensive than $12 each. Bottoming out can be controlled by good shocks that resist that transient forces if the springs are appropriate. But if the springs are wrong, that needs to be fixed first. ?Ride height and deflection per hundred pounds will sort that out. Shocks won't fix ride height. They fix dynamic suspenstion action. Eaton knows this requirement, so you can trust their work. Give them a call if better shocks don't solve your concern.

Make sure you have the axle and pinion bumpers too. Although they are not the source of the bottoming issue, I think they are supposed to be the stop. http://www.geocities.com/jims68fb/AxleBumper.html

You should also think about changing out to airbags if you want to drop the front and ride forward. That way, you can ride level for driving use, and drop it to show off and impress the ladies.

Thanks for the tips. I should say the pics in my sig are of the car when I bought it. (Sorry for not pointing that out.) The front prings were absolutely shot, and the front tires rubbed badly even with sprin extenders (rubber inserts).

The new Eaton Springs installed in my Bird give it a 1" below stock front, and it sits much more level, even with the larger front tires. Tire wear up front is not bad, so far. I've got new tires on it, and they show even wear, except for my back right tire. (I gotta get posi!!!)

The car does bounce fairly easily over the segmented concrete roads we have here in Louisiana.


Thanks,
Dave

The Monroe shocks are junk (I put a set on my '69 when I first got it, changed them out for KYB, thinking of changing them out again for IAS or QA1).

What are your rim specs? Diameter, width, offset, backspace? What tire size?

If you suspect tire/wheel well interference, which is likely with your symptoms, use a pair of "roller skate" dollies under the front wheels and have a helper rotate the steering wheel lock to lock while you look for the interference point. Wheel to tie rod end and tire to inner wheelhouse are common. Tire to inner fender is usually accompanied by damage to the tire's sidewall or the fender lip. Look for smoothed undercoating or other signs of contact.

If you still don't see any damage, try jouncing the front end with wheels at full travel left and right. It may be hard to replicate.