Aftermarket Shocks

Rev Dynamics is a supper company to work with. Air shocks are nice but $$$$.$$ and can have problems when out on the road. I have been out on two ride where we had air ride failure --- did get it working and running but we had some talented guys on the ride who made it happen. The adjustable can be changed to the riding you want to do 'today'.

I bought JRI 1 ways a few years ago. What an improvement in ride. I am not one that cares about adjusting shocks(clickers). I like to set it and forget it. I put about 40k on these than JRI came out with touring shocks and offered to upgrade the 1 ways for $300. I figured with 40k on mine $300 for basically new shocks was a good deal. So that's what I did and am a happy customer.

I have the JRI 1 way and like them. also about 40,000 miles. Wife noticed more of a better ride than I did.

I have the DDM 3 way, love the adjustment capabilities. If you want even more, they have the new 4 way

I'm on QA1's and have been happy with them. Any of the aftermarket are going to be better than stock. Can't go wrong with anything from DDM. As for the air ride I love the cool factor and they are adjustable also but like EJ I've been on rides with others who had issues. Less to go wrong with coilovers.

If you can deal with the possibility of a failure and $$$$$ isn't a issue I'd go air if not go coil over. As for adjustability I have two way which means you can adjust height and one nob will control both compression and rebound . Hope this helps

Just about any aftermarket replacement coilover set will make a big difference compared to stock. I bought the basic Bilstein aftermarket coilovers during a Group Buy several years ago and now have almost 40K on them, so i guess it's time to look into getting them refurbished. I was going to roll my own QA1 coilovers since that was basically the only affordable way to go back then, but the Group Buy offered a decent price w/o the complexity of ordering the different components and assembling everything on my own.

LOL, no worries. From what I understand, the 4 way offer a high and a low speed compression, where the 3 ways only have a single compression setting. I heard Dave@DDMWorks mention at MV to someone that these are just as good as the higher priced Ohlins, but he can probably explain better about the difference between the 3 and 4 way setups.

I do love the ability to change, if I'm going riding on twisties, I'll crank up the settings to tighten things up, but then when I go cruising, I'll put them back to softer settings.

I have tried Bilstein - QA 2 way and I now have the DDM 3 Way. By far the DDM set up was the best value for the money

Plenty of adjustment, great price and great after purchase support

Quote from Cman

Thanks for the info. I've never had adjustable shocks before. For those that have them do you really change it often? In regards to 3 way vs 4 way can someone speak to the extra versatility the 4 way adds?

So I have the TD 3-way that I bought as a "complete setup" from the dealer (about $9K in accessories total at 1 shot). They weren't cheap but since I was doing a package deal, I just negotiated over the total. Just putting that as a baseline to answer your question.

Would I replace the stock shocks again? Absolutely YES. Would I spend the high $ money on them again? Probably not.

Have I adjusted them? Yes. But really just because I could. If you are going to be doing major driving, pushing the limits, doing drags or racing or time trials, get the best you can. But if you're going to just drive it normally, maybe push it when you can to have fun, etc, just get some basic upgraded shocks. I thought I remembered DDM having some basic non-adjustables but I couldn't find them on his site.

The 3 adjustments are:

1. Height - Set it once and forgot it.
2. Compression - Set it soft for normal city driving
3. Rebound - Set it just a little harder than Compression to get it to come back faster on a corner.

The 4th adjustment that they are talking about seems to be whether the Compression is fast or slow. I dunno, never seen them.

I have 18 "clicks" on the adjustment for each of the Compression & Rebound on my shocks. I set them to C2R6 (very soft) and have left them. Yes, I might turn them up to C8R12 (mid-range) or so when we are in Eureka Springs and hitting the mountains hard, but that's it. And mainly just because I can.

As far as air shock, yes, a lot of $$ - but if you want to lower the SS, that's the way to go. Yes, people have had problems, but mainly with damage due to installation issues (cutting a hose with a too tight a cable tie or too close to a heat source, etc), not a defect in the air shock system itself. Don't let that deter you.

I hope I answered some of your questions.

Quote from chavey2

I thought I remembered DDM having some basic non-adjustables but I couldn't find them on his site.

Maybe you were thinking of the sport upgrade to the stock : http://www.ddmworks.com/Polari…it-by-DDMWorks_p_904.html

People have reported that the ride is a bit better due to the coilover upgrade, but this is still assuming the stock shocks, which everyone agrees are trash.

I went with the JRI GT coilovers - only the height is adjustable I have left it at stock height - - I use my Slingshot as my daily driver and I wanted a more comfortable ride - I went with these because they seem to be the only coilover for the slingshot specifically designed for comfort - The ride with these is wonderful and even though they are designed for comfort the handling is still superior to the stock coliovers.

to my way of thinking the adjustables are trying to do everything really good, but probably have to compromise to be able to do this and probably wont be as good at one specific thing as a coilover specifically designed for that one thing

I also figured if I got adjustables that knowing me I would constantly be second guessing myself on how I had them adjusted

Quote from wokka

LOL, no worries. From what I understand, the 4 way offer a high and a low speed compression, where the 3 ways only have a single compression setting. I heard Dave@DDMWorks mention at MV to someone that these are just as good as the higher priced Ohlins, but he can probably explain better about the difference between the 3 and 4 way setups.

I do love the ability to change, if I'm going riding on twisties, I'll crank up the settings to tighten things up, but then when I go cruising, I'll put them back to softer settings.

Yeap, the 4 ways have height adjustment, High and low speed compression adjustment and rebound adjustment. The 4 way's are really good, not quite Ohlins good (those are amazing) but the definitely will out perform anything else we have driven on the Slingshot.

Quote from Edward Neal

to my way of thinking the adjustables are trying to do everything really good, but probably have to compromise to be able to do this and probably wont be as good at one specific thing as a coilover specifically designed for that one thing

I also figured if I got adjustables that knowing me I would constantly be second guessing myself on how I had them adjusted

I kinda disagree, as the non adjustables give you a single setting, set by someone else, based off a certain wheel/tire combination and it has to be a compromise between handling and comfort to some extent. There is no way to adjust for different weight wheels/tires/unsprung mass or different grip levels of tires, etc. So in that case you can not really have a perfect setup for your particular Slingshot with the non-adjustables, it will always be a compromise. With most of the adjustable shocks, if they have a good range of adjustment and valving, the shocks can be dialed in for the exact comfort or firmness that you want. They can also accommodate If you choose to go to 22" in the front and 24" in the back, or go 17" all the way around (we have set them up for both these combinations actually), they can adjusted depending on tire grip and unsprung mass, etc. The adjustability allows a more tailored setup for the particular Slingshot and driver then something preset can.

I will say the JRI GT's do work well though and don't think it would be worth changing if you are happy with what you have, this is just aimed at someone starting from stock.

Also, one way to stop you from constantly messing with the shocks is just rip the knobs off once they are setup, problem solved

Quote from Dave@DDMWorks

I kinda disagree, as the non adjustables give you a single setting, set by someone else, based off a certain wheel/tire combination and it has to be a compromise between handling and comfort to some extent. There is no way to adjust for different weight wheels/tires/unsprung mass or different grip levels of tires, etc. So in that case you can not really have a perfect setup for your particular Slingshot with the non-adjustables, it will always be a compromise. With most of the adjustable shocks, if they have a good range of adjustment and valving, the shocks can be dialed in for the exact comfort or firmness that you want. They can also accommodate If you choose to go to 22" in the front and 24" in the back, or go 17" all the way around (we have set them up for both these combinations actually), they can adjusted depending on tire grip and unsprung mass, etc. The adjustability allows a more tailored setup for the particular Slingshot and driver then something preset can.

I will say the JRI GT's do work well though and don't think it would be worth changing if you are happy with what you have, this is just aimed at someone starting from stock.

Also, one way to stop you from constantly messing with the shocks is just rip the knobs off once they are setup, problem solved

I see your point, but what about the springs? if I get a "sport" shock both the valving and the springs are supposedly set up for "sport" if I get a comfort shock then both the springs and the valving are optimized for comfort - - - if I get an adjustable shock I can change the valving for either sport or comfort, but the springs stay the same - - I would think that under ideal circumstances you would want different springs for different uses

oh - as to taking off the knobs - that would only work if I let someone else hid them from me

Quote from Edward Neal

I see your point, but what about the springs? if I get a "sport" shock both the valving and the springs are supposedly set up for "sport" if I get a comfort shock then both the springs and the valving are optimized for comfort - - - if I get an adjustable shock I can change the valving for either sport or comfort, but the springs stay the same - - I would think that under ideal circumstances you would want different springs for different uses

oh - as to taking off the knobs - that would only work if I let someone else hid them from me

The spring rate doesn't change ride quality nearly as much as the valving of the shocks. Most of the shock setups for the Slingshot run around 225-250# front springs and 300-350# rears. We played with up to 550# springs in the front and the ride quality was still pretty good, the harshness most people feel is due to valving, not spring rates. Another case of that was when we worked to develop the Ohlins setups for the Miata's many moons ago. We had spring rates on that setup that were over 3 times stiffer than stock, but the ride quality was actually better than stock. Shock valving can make or break the ride quality and performance much more than spring rate.