Suggestions on smoothing out ride on a 2008 ACR

[mufflerguy]

Just purchased a 2008 ACR from Centennial Dodge in Colorado, got delivery on tuesday, love it!
A couple questions:
I had previously owned a 96 GTS, and that car rode fairly well on the street.
This ACR is a handful to drive, can barely keep it going straight down the road, and it takes bumps way harder than the GTS.
The Sport Cups are down to the wear bars that came on the car, so I just got 4 new pilot super sports ( 285 fronts) and will be installing them over the weekend.
My shocks and springs appear to be stock, stickers still intact and set on the softest setting,. Yellow springs with purple spacers, fronts are KW 190-170, rears are KW 90-200, are these factory?
I would like to get this vehicle to drive as soft as possible, and I know about the 1000 lbs downforce, I will not be racing or getting the car over 80-90 MPH , ever.
Would changing out the rear springs to a lighter rate (800 lbs) help, or would going to a stock set of coupe shock/spring assys work better ( $1600 on VPA)
Also, looking for alignment specs that would work well on the street to stop it from following every groove in the road.
I am an auto mechanic for 25 years by trade, so swapping shocks out would be very easy for me.
Thanks in advance, Matt

 

[Sonoman]

The Super Sport tires will take care of some of the tram-lining and may ride a bit better too. You can have an alignment shop set the toe to make it less twitchy. Most people change to $$$ high-end coilovers like MCS or Motons to improve the ride on Vipers. 800 pound/in springs are commonly used on non-ACRs in the rear with MCS coilovers. With that wing setup you will get some comments not to change the spring rates as you mentioned.

 

[mufflerguy]

I have been looking for street alignment specs for almost an hour, can only find track specs...
So Motons or MCS shocks will improve ride on the street? It seems a lot of people use them for the track...

 

[hou99gts]

The ACR is way more stiff than any other Viper out there, regardless of where you set the stock shocks or the tires you use. You will get more used to it over time, but it will still be stiff. I don't have any experience with aftermarket shocks, but have used street tires which softened up the ride a little. I would not advise softer springs unless you are going to remove downforce items. I had a more aggressive alignment put on mine which helps it track better along with better cornering. The ride just comes with owning an ACR, it really is a race car with ************ street tires, and is meant to be driven at speed so the aero works with the springs.

 

[TowDawg]

No offense, but that's the problem with buying a car because it "looks cool". It's made to be stiff and at home on the track. If you bought it to cruise around in, you'd have been much better off to buy a non-ACR. My vert rides retty smooth. Wanna trade?

 

[mufflerguy]

Just wondering if the stock coupe shocks would make a big difference, they aren't very expensive and are easy to change out.
Once again, I will not be driving the car hard ...

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Yes those are the stock shocks and at the softest settings. Your new tires will make a world of difference over the cups and quieter too however the ACR is mostly for the track and will give a very stiff harsh ride on the streets. Plus without the cups (for track) you will not have the car follow the grooves.

 

[CA97GTS]

Too late now....but sounds like a "Aero" coupe could of been a better choice.....

That said, maybe the suspension from the Aero coupe could work- if different from regular
coupe, do not know if it is. If I recall correctly, the Aero coupes have about half the downforce.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Super sport tires go a long way. Best choice I made. MCS will be next.

If you put stock coupe shocks on you run the risk of having the ACR aero overload the shocks. The stock coupe shocks were not designed for the downforce the ACR is capable of at speed.

 

[TrackAire]

Super Sports are going to make a huge difference, also, do not over inflate your tires. Get a high quality tire gauge so you now where your pressures really are.

3 or 4 psi makes a huge difference in ride quality.

Enjoy your ACR,

George

 

[bushido]

My shocks and springs appear to be stock, stickers still intact and set on the softest setting,. Yellow springs with purple spacers, fronts are KW 190-170, rears are KW 90-200, are these factory?
I

If the sticker,labels are still on the shock rebound adjuster knob,and compression knob,and appear to be not broken. Then your ACR is at the factory street setting which is dangerous. It's dangerous because there's not enough rebound . The car will feel springy/ too sprung, like a pogo stick. This can make you lose control if you go around a corner that has a small dip,bump etc. You need to crank more rebound on the shocks. You do this by turning the top knob all the way to the hardest setting. Then count the clicks backwords. I have my rebound set fronts 10 and rears 9. It transforms the whole car..

 

[denniskgb]

I would not mess with all that. This ride comes with the factory settings. Will hurt resale value, imo.

 

[bluesrt]

if that car is lowered by someone, raise it up to regular coupe specs, it will help, put some street coupe springs on it.. there you have it

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

We recently swapped out the stock ACRX suspension for MCS doubles for a track customer, the car does everything better according to him (no surprise to me ) and it absorbs bumps and sharp impacts incredibly so the overall ride is really improved. We used the stock ACRX rates which are stiffer than the ACR's, this coupled with he great range of adjustments the MCS offer really transformed the car. The MCS set up is also 6 lbs. lighter.

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[MtnBiker]

[QUOTE I will not be racing or getting the car over 80-90 MPH , ever.
[/QUOTE]

Huh?! Perhaps you bought the wrong car? I mean I take mine over 80 in 2nd gear!

 

[bluesrt]

[QUOTE I will not be racing or getting the car over 80-90 MPH , ever.

Huh?! Perhaps you bought the wrong car? I mean I take mine over 80 in 2nd gear![/QUOTE] better not have gieco.....lol

 

[v10enomous]

Let's see some pics of the new ride...

 

[Timnineside]

Let's see some pics of the new ride...

Yeah ***?

I don't notice any real difference in ride on my ACR. I guess depends on the roads you drive. "Seek alternate route"

 

[mufflerguy]

Here is one pic, It needs a bigtime cleaning and detail , which I am going to do over the weekend.
Also will be installing the new tires as well.
I got PM'ed alignment specs from a member who got them from Mark from Woodhouse.
I will post them in a minute.

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[mufflerguy]

Here are the specs:

Viper Alignment Specifications – 2010 SRT10



You should be about here;

Front camber - 1.8 degrees
caster maximum you can get equally across the front
Toe set at 0


Rear camber - 1.0
castor should be left alone just make sure they use both lower control arm adjusters equal amounts when adjusting camber and it should stay the same.
toe should be toe "in" .10 degrees per side.

I also hear that this stops the tramlining, but at a cost of premature tire wear...

 

[Paul Hawker]

Listen to Mark at Woodhouse. Those MCS shocks really give you the great ride and control people are looking for.

I put MSC on my 09 Coupe, and it is now a much better road car. Nice benefit is that it handles much better at the track too. Double win.

You can also sell your stock KW's and get back much of your expense.

 

[mufflerguy]

Well, Got the Michelin pilot SS's on today, difference is night and day!
With the worn out sport cups, I could barely keep it going straight down a smooth road, it would pull left or right, pretty much all the time, and major wheel hop if I pulled a holeshot.
New tires are quieter, ride is improved, no noticeable tramlining, and no more wheel hop.
Still gotta get it lined up next week.
As far as the ride, it does seem like the rear is the stiffest part, due to the higher rate springs for the spoiler..
After the alignment I will drive it for a week or so to see if I will make suspension changes.
Car is such a pleasure to drive now compared to the day I got it last week, so happy!

 

[mufflerguy]

...........

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[mufflerguy]

Forgot to mention, I went with the 285/35's for the front, IMO, it looks better.
The factory 295/30's looked too small compared to the thickness of the rear tires.

 

[bushido]

Crank more rebound on those shocks. You will be amazed how much smoother the car rides..

 

[mufflerguy]

I will give that a shot, but the ACR supplement from chrysler says that " best comfort is achieved at the following damper settings and should always be used when driving on the street- front rebound 18, rear rebound 17" that would be one click back from full soft on the front, and 2 back from full soft on the back.
Let you know how it works out in the next day or 2, going to the pats game all day tomorrow!

 

[ACRucrazy]

Well, Got the Michelin pilot SS's on today, difference is night and day!
......
Car is such a pleasure to drive now compared to the day I got it last week, so happy!

Those were exactly my thoughts when I switched to SSs. Totally worth it!

 

[viperprowler1]

Totally agree...no more tram-lining! Now my wife is no longer afraid to ride in it.

Those were exactly my thoughts when I switched to SSs. Totally worth it!

 

[msp282]

pretty much what everyone above said... I have an 09 ACR that I bought new... swapping to NITTO NT's vs the Sport Cups was a huge improvement.... I had it aligned and adjusted to soft when I first got it and like people said above, it pogo'd like crazy.... So I adjusted myself to fairly stiff and all is well... I have about 12k miles on it even here in pothole ville PA...

and ya, you need to drive a little faster than 90mph here and there... you didn't buy it for the fuel economy did you? LOL

 

[ACRsnake]

Mich SS is a huge improvement IMHO ....