So last night was the first time I really got to drive my new 67 Camaro. I had to drive 15 miles to get the exhaust work done on it. I gotta say. I was not impressed with the ride at all. It has ladder bars and coilovers but not sure on the brand of coilovers. I know they are red so I wanna say Lakewood.

The tires are 29 x 12.50 x 15 MT Sportsmans on 15 x10 rims. I know the tires are not the best but they were on the car when I bought it.

I know ladder bars are not the best on the street but can somebody tell me if the tire size and brand is the problem or not. What should this car ride like? Would changing the back spacing and moving the rims out more and maybe a different brand or size tire make a big difference? What about brand of coilovers?

Any help would be great to get this car to ride better? Every once in a while I would feel the back end pull in to the grooves of the road. These tires are only 1" taller and 2" wider then my 275/60/15's on my last car.

Thanks, Erik

Erik, your problem is tough. Much of what you report can be very subjective. Others might have no problem with your cars ride. It might be better for you to contact others in your area with similar setups for their opinions and go from there. For what it's worth, my 12 bolt car has the ride of a wheelbarrow. And it's been that way since new. I love it.

I've rode in one ladder bar car and it was a hoped up 289" engine, '64 or '65 Pony-car Coupe!!

Had a 2x4 T/R on it!!

Sucker was so noisy it scared me and it rode like a lumber wagon!

But boy did it scoot!!

pdq67

I'm not an expert, but ladder bars want to move in an arc with the axle, and really can limit travel, and side to side roll. Ok on the strip, not that good on the street. Some good reading here:

http://www.cachassisworks.com/Stories/TechCAC-003_WEB.pdf

Do you have a panhard bar to keep the rear planted from side to side?

Also, a 29 inch tall 12.5 inch wide bias ply tires is not going to ride, track, or handle like a 275/60 15 radial.

In short, it's really probably a function of both the type of rear suspension and tire. Switching to a slightly smaller radial would probably help some, but depending on what exactly about the ride is getting you, you might not be able to work it out of that style of suspension (although Alston mentions some ladders with larger poly bushings to allow some more flex).

If the car has ladder bars it may also have a spool locking the rear end together. The ladder bars ride rough and a spool makes you fight to turn the car. My stock worn out suspension on my vert will outride and outhandle my hot rod with ladder bars. They are both 67 camaro's the ladder bars just dont work well on the street they are for going straight.The only thing I could recomend would be replacing the heim joints with some rubber bushed heims for a little bit of give. But it will never have a smooth ride with ladder bars.

I can speak from experience.....ladder bars= a very stiff rear suspension and abnormal ride quality. My ladder bars are equipped with a diagonal link that controls side to side movement of the rear suspension not a panhard bar that attaches from the housing to the frame. Although my suspension is somewhat stiff, I can live with it, just took some time to familiarize myself with the reactions of the car on the road at different speeds. Like Fred said "his car rides like a wheelbarrow and he loves it", I would say "my car rides like a tank with 33"x19.50" tires and I love it!! Makes them big ol' wide marks in the road:D:yes:

" Makes them big ol' wide marks in the road"

And them big ol' wide marks is what it's all about for most of us ;)

Jim

I was running a set of Competition Engineering, bolt on ladder bars, on a 1970 Chevelle SS454 I had.....Very, very stiff ride, which I hated!:mad:, matter of fact, in the short time I had them on, the frame developed a stress crack, on the passenger side, which I had to get welded!.....Those things are not intended for street use!.....I recommend removing them before they bend or crack your frame and also run your 275/60/15" street tires.:yes::thumbsup:

handling? its a muscle car ......they handle like crap-ola.

It depends allot on what type of ladder bar suspension you have. If it's a bolt on set-up it will no doubt bind against the stock suspension & ride terrible. If it's a purpose built ladder bar system, it should ride fairly well. I built this ladder bar rear suspension for my 40 Chevy panel truck w/454/th400/12 bolt posi. We drove it all over the country to NSRA Nats & area rod runs - pulling a pop up camper no less, and it rode very well. I used a formula to figure ladder bar length for best weight transfer (I don't remember now 30 some yrs. ago).
Street racing (I did it then, not now) the faster it went the smoother it rode. 6 grand in 3rd. it rode like a caddy. Being a fat fendered panel truck it didn't corner real well, but I didn't build it for that, so I didn't care.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/ladderbar.jpg

This is the panel truck From IA stopping @ Indy on our way to Columbus OH
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/pro70z28/Indy-paneltruck.jpg