Best Suspension Mods for VE/VF Commodore | Clunie Garage

[@pedroangelo4244]

Beer o'clock and a video! You beauty.

[@ClunieGarage]

Enjoy!

[@keananconnor4221]

I’m glad I’m not the only one with these options

[@ThriveMindsetCoaching]

Thanks Clunie Team - great advice !!! I have been pretty much following the program you have been on. (2009 L98 ss Ute) The car came with Pedders springs, but front strut mounts and shocks were poked. So relaced shocks all round. Have upgraded rotors and pads a bit too. Now looking at bushes and this is probably where I will start buying the good stuff as per your experience, get things prepped for coilovers at some stage. When the handliong is sorted I will go OTR and extractors, probably enough, but maybe I can sneak a cam upgrade past the minister of finance too ;-) Thanks again

[@ClunieGarage]

Nice one mate. Bushes will go a long way to support your other mods. Have a think about sway bars, wheel alignment and best of luck with the duscussion for the cam with the Minister!

[@pauljohns8215]

Good video about time you are back on the air bring on the VNNVP

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day Paul, absolutely. Yes, more VP content coming!

[@johnd7860]

Hey there from the US. There is a company/performance shop here called Wretched Motorsports. They have been racing GTO's(Monaro's) since they were brought here as well as helped pave the way for road racing the G8's (VE's). They have put together a list of alignment specs depending on mods and have also recommended running fixed caster plates on the front control arms. I have a set that max's the caster out to about 7.0 degrees. There are a few vendors that sell them like Pedders and Whiteline.

[@QkSilver04GTO]

I've got most of my 2004 Pontiac GTO (VZ) done... Peddlers Xa coilovers, Pedders radius rod bushings, Whiteline front control arms, Pedders rear subframe, sway bar, endlink and diff insert bushings. Gonna go Energy Suspension for the rear control arm bushings and upgrade the toe rods. Thinking about Pedders sway bars to finish it off.

[@ClunieGarage]

Sounds awesome, will tighten everything up for sure!

[@QkSilver04GTO]

@@ClunieGarage I can't wait to drive it. I put big brakes on it and I widened the rear 18" wheels to 9.5". Got brand new Michelin pilot sport 4S tires on it. 245/40 up front and 285/35 in back.

[@marktiltins8845]

Yeah mate coilovers did my WH Grange talk about Superkart get some Pedders Xtreme coilovers and all bushing , nice

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, how do you find the pedders coilovers?

[@MarcusMussawar]

Michelin pilot sport 4 tires recommend starting 25 front 28 psi rear cold and 32 front 36 rear hot and tunning from there depending on your heat but keeping them between 32 and 36 psi hot is supposed to be optimal

[@sethblack3036]

Hey great to see a clunie garage video you guys have grown a lot

[@ClunieGarage]

Thanks Seth! You have supported the channel from the start!

[@aaronwendt-smith5910]

I have a WM caprice with Monroe sport shocks and king super low springs. It handled very well but then I changed the rear from super low to heavy duty super low. It remedied the camber wear on the rear tires and made it handle so much better

[@ClunieGarage]

Nice one Aaron. How do you find the Monroe shocks?

[@Low760]

Myself and my friends have added castor with lots of gain to handling on other rwd cars designed for comfort originally. You end up with numbers near M3s for castor and it definitely has more effort to turn in but feels better doing it. I'm thinking about h&r springs for my VF with redline struts, haven't got the vf redline Front Sway Bar but have the rear end combined with over a degree of negative camber it feels good for a Calais v wagon.

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, we are still learning about castor some really keen on hearing about what you have done and results. Have you tried some negative camber on the front of your VF?

[@gabereisner6718]

Nice video! although I don't have much experience with road racing I have been racing dirt speedway for a little bit now. recently i had to pull the rear suspension and found that the shocks where completely shot. since changing the shocks to new ones the car is worlds different. one thing I didn't do was the bushes and that it something I am interested to try and see how it goes. when you were talking about camber, toe, and caster it is quite interesting the difference between tar track and dirt speedway. for dirt we run negative camber on one site and positive on the other, we also run toe out on one side. I enjoy the videos especially as it shows me a the different setups between the different racing types. have you tries going with even lower tire pressures?

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, thanks for watching and we are trying and learning new things about our suspension set-up all the time. Very interesting about the dirt set-up- I assume you race a oval track with that configuration to help rotation?

[@gabereisner6718]

@@ClunieGarage That is correct. It is the kind of thing that the more I learn about racing the more questions arise.

[@brushitoff503]

Great video mate! Had a set of Lovell springs years ago, didn't find much gain from them & went to King's (road use) How much difference does just a strut tower brace make! Put one on my V8 VL years ago & thought I was going mad from the difference it made so took it off just to check ha ha! I still have it but unfortunately now it doesn't fit over my air filter with the new setup so need to get one that works. Running Pedders Shocks never messed with sway bars or camber etc (not a track car, it's a garage queen at present) used to Drag race it up in Alice before it's new Heart Transplant, would love to get involved with that again but down here in SA there isn't any Drag Strips for real racing anymore (live close to the old Adelaide International Raceway) & Tailem Bend is a long haul when one doesn't have a tow rig & trailer ha ha. Keen to see that VP take shape!

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, we will let you know how the strut brace goes and feels as we haven't fitted it yet. We found the lovells springs OK but our experience was reduced as we had sub optimal shocks. A mate of mine had a VL turbo back in the day and that thing understeered terribly. I wonder if a front strut brace would have helped back in the day?

[@marktiltins8845]

Speak to Peter at Pedders Cairns the man is brilliant

[@WickedDeadly]

Hello Fred I have a 2012 Ve Clubsport R8 I'm going to be hitting the track with here in Western Australia! I'm going to be going with the BCA racing coilovers after watching your channel I think they are a good price point and also cover the daily driving I do! I'm subscribed and addicted to your Chanel cannot wait for more info! Making a parts list going nice and slow with everything, ill be getting my bushes done at the same time as my coilovers! The Clunie is a 427! did you stroke an ls3? or was this a crate engine? you keep inspiring me to head to the track Fred keep posting this is some good brain food!

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day and how did you go with your track day? Nice choice on the coilovers and don't forget to grt a wheel alignment done and dial in some toe and dial in some toe and negative camber. Our 427 is a factory LS7 engine from a W427.

[@WickedDeadly]

@@ClunieGarage Cheers for the info on the toe and negative camper! 😁 I recently bought a Texas speed camshaft to go in the blue meanie! Next will be intake Headers and exhaust. Considering 3.9 or 4.11 diff gears probably going to ask around for that one before I decide though! I won't be hitting the track until start of September after the Brocky Cruise with the HSV car club. I'm going to get some help sorting out my track days sorting out my car and learning some track etiquette. 👌 W427 crate engine! The Clunie is a Dream Machine thats for sure! 😁🤙 Thanks for the reply and I Cannot wait for more videos on your 500HP 6.0L build!

[@tomnewham1269]

A mechanic friend recommended me to get a front strut brace when I bought my new VF ute. Unfortunately I could not find one however there are available for the VE model so I think you cannot go wrong with putting one on your VE ute.

[@angry9901]

Those Blue Springs look like Lovells spring. Those King Springs are usually yellow. Could you just get some Bilstein shocks and a set of lowered Springs from someone like Eibach?

[@ClunieGarage]

Good pick up Angry. I did refer to them as Lovell springs and then for some reason mentioned Kings. I meant to say Lovells as that is what they are. You could also go with a shock and after market spring upgrade like you have mentioned. I covered this as an option in the first mod. Thanks for watching mate and always appreciate your comments. What suspension mods have you fitted to your mum' Caprice?

[@angry9901]

@@ClunieGarage mum won't let me touch it, she likes the factory ride height and thinks the FE2 shocks are just right. Tried to talk her into a set of Koni shock but she gave me a clip around the ear.😭

[@tomnewham1269]

From what I have heard Bilstein are the best in the industry and it is recommended that Eibach springs are the springs to use with Bilstein shocks. A shame Bilstein don't make springs.

[@angry9901]

Are you able to pick your spring rates with King? I know you can with Eibach.

[@ThriveMindsetCoaching]

Hi Guys - just a quick one - what bush kit did you go with for the ute - are you happy with it? Thanks

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, from memory it was the superpro kit.

[@batto6962]

nice i liked your video. I'm new modifying holden cars could you take a debt off me, Are the coilovers and bushings the same as the VE and VF? thanks

[@ClunieGarage]

Not too sure about the bushings but the coilovers are definitely different between the two models. We tried fitting second hand VF shocks to a VE and they don't fit! Found that out the hard way.

[@Hapkido82AUS]

As much positive castor as you can manage... (Have a look at the angle of the strut mounts in a E30 BMW M3, they point back towards the windshield!)

[@rhysgilbert5942]

Great video. I have a 2010 SS ute, cam work, maf tune etc. I have taken mine to Lakeside a couple of times for a few laps. Its a daily. I have tried Pedders coilovers, the rears blew the oil out, went to stock ones, standard ride height, that was crap and finally bought XYZs all round. They are cliche but bang for buck i find them pretty good. As you mentioned, i set them up mid range and are a bit on the low side but they do handle well, and i have never had a drama with them since fitting them. On a different note, have you ever replaced a fuel pump/ filter on a VE ute, do you have to still have to drop the rear end and tank, or can it be accessed by taking the ute tray liner out?

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day Rhys, thanks for sharing your experiences at Lakeside. We haven't had to change the pump or tank in the VE as yet.

[@jakob31448]

Next thing for the ve would be lightweight wheels surely?

[@angry9901]

My thoughts exactly.

[@ClunieGarage]

Yes, we our eyes on some semi forged Koyas!

[@Low760]

I've only seen one set of castor plates for the ve/VF though. Did you guys do the subframe Bushes on both cars? And the upper rear bushes?

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day, we have done front and rear (including upper) sub frame bushes on both cars. Big transformation!

[@Low760]

@@ClunieGarage I've noticed the ones on my VF are worn, but it's a street family wagon so I'm not that keen to go solid subframe!

[@garysmith3559]

G'day Fred, you mention XYZs. Are they any good?

[@angry9901]

Only a small step up from Maxpeeding I heard.

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day Gary, we have seen anyone use them at the track and we don't have personal experience with them. For their price point, they would make a sensible purchase if you are looking to lower your car and have a firmer ride over stock.

[@rhysgilbert5942]

I have them on my ute for close to 18 months now, and never had a drama with them. Set them up mid range, handle well. Bang for buck i reckon they are good. I heard some coilovers all come from the same factory, just rebranded.

[@zachnewman6338]

Shame to not see the slammed life bagged suspension on this list ol Fred hahahahahaa

[@ClunieGarage]

Haha, yes slammed life on air bags isn't really our thing Zach.

[@RBFR01]

Is there a kit that you can buy with coilovers, sway bar, bushes ect... all in 1 package?

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, not that I am aware of. Typically these components come from different manufacturers. What are looking to do?

[@killerta87]

Just wish their was more option for drag racing suspension😪 everyone says use stock struts with lowering springs

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day mate, unfortunately we don't have any experience doing setups for drag, only circuit.

[@brianwalsh9672]

Hi please help have a vf v v8 Calais 2014 went in to Holden at Mil end sputh Australia to put in a new air con unit in fix satnav now the head up display give the rong speed zone an sensors don't work now

[@ClunieGarage]

G'day Brian, sounds like some weird electronic and sensor gremlins there. Suggest you go to a reputable mechanic and run a scan tool on it to see what is going on.

[@brianwalsh9672]

@@ClunieGarage thanks there denying responsibility for it mile end in south Australia there the only ones that had the car work on by them

[@eugenehollis1067]

the ol 'illegal' coilovers,no good on the goldy roads.stringbean king springs in a1800kg ute, what a joke,cross between a trampoline and a coilover..lovels all the way. Thicker and harder steel,with the perfect shocky...the 5k mca coils look pretty damn sexy though.