For composite springs, they are an easy way to update your stock style chassis with a better riding AND handling Corvette. The composite achieves this by being able to flex equally in both compression and rebound. A steel spring is always fighting against itself when rebounding back up and therefore has rebound built in. With that, most factory replacement shocks have compression and little to no rebound valving in the shock to maintain as good a ride quality as possible. Factory steel leaf springs ran from 180lbs to 330 lbs with higher rates available for track usage.

A 330 lb composite spring will hold up the rear of the Corvette much better under cornering and hard acceleration than the 9 leaf 180lb steel spring, yet ride much better. A 360 composite spring is the advanced street, drag setup, high horsepower and light track spring rate. This rate will ride better than a 7 leaf 330lb steel spring, plus give you much better performance. When looking at a 300lb composite spring, this will be for smooth riding and a mild increase in handling. Shortened composite springs are only for wheel and tire clearances. No matter how you use your Corvette, when not wanting to change your trailing arms, a composite spring is a quick and easy way to upgrade the rear suspension.

For rear coilovers, these are a great option when wanting or needing to replace your rear trailing arms. Coilovers allow for wider wheel and tire options when not using a rear sway bar or using a Van Steel offset rear sway bar. With rear coilovers you don’t have to worry about spring clearances at all. Our small block spring rates are ideal for the street and are tuned for excellent ride quality. For high horsepower Vette, spirited driving, track or drag race usage, the big block spring rates are a must. The 600 lb rear springs reduce squat under hard acceleration or cornering keeping the car planted and moving forward quickly. With proper tuning, they are still quite enjoyable on the street although they are a firm ride quality.

Both systems allow for approximately 1-1.5″ drop in the rear. The coilover kit applies a better spring rate right at the wheel. A coilover kit is much easier to change spring rate if you change how you drive your car. We’ve had many a customer order a small block spring rate and find themselves auto crossing or going to the track. Then the big block spring rates are a much better setup. A quick and easy spring swap and you’ve upgraded your suspension again. For a composite spring, you’d have to replace your entire spring or at least upgrade the shocks.

So it all comes down to how far do you want to go with your rear suspension and how much do you want to spend. A coilover kit provides a modern approach to spring rates, ride quality and upgraded trailing arms. A composite spring is a quicker, easier and cheaper way to make your corvette ride or handle better when matched with proper shocks.

Single Adjustable: These shocks are great for 1963-1982 Corvettes driven on the street only. You adjust compression and rebound at the same time making setup and initial adjustment easy. They are not meant for any kind of track duty. For 84-92 Corvettes, you can get by with single adjustable, but you do not get the best out of the ride or handling. We do not offer singles for 97 or newer Corvettes.

Double Adjustable: These shocks adjust compression and rebound independently allowing you to fine tune your suspension for ride or handling. For autocross or track, doubles are a must! These are the preferred shocks for 84-96 Corvettes and required for all 97 and newer Corvettes using adjustable shocks. 

So we now know what they are and kind of what they do, but how do you know how to set them up? For single adjustable shocks, you generally want more clicks up front and less in the rear. This compensates for the weight of the motor, plus allows for more weight transfer in the rear allowing for a bettering riding and handling car. If you find the car oversteers, do one of either; first add 1-2 clicks to the front, if that doesn’t help, then reduce rear clicks. If you find the car understeers, reduce the front by 1-2 clicks, or add 1-2 in the rear. Only make one adjustment at a time before test driving the car again. 

For double adjustable shocks the rule of thumb is more compression up front and more rebound in the rear. Too much front rebound will make the car ride rough and bounce through the corners, too much compression in the rear will cause the car to oversteer or have reduced traction on launch. Loosely, you can look at compression as handling, and rebound as ride quality, although they certainly intertwine with each other. For fine tuning, you’ll adjust front compression for under or oversteer. Reduce compression for understeer and add compression for oversteer. If you have having wheel hop or reduced rear traction, reduce rear compression. While under hard braking the rear of the car feels loose, add rear rebound to keep the rear from hiking up too quickly. Front rebound adjustments will only be for better weight transfer to the rear of the car under hard acceleration or if the car is riding too rough. The rear rebound can also me lessened when the car ride quality is too severe. 

Basic shock settings by generation, single adjustable:

63-82: Front: 7 Clicks / Rear: 5 Clicks
84-96: Front: 7 Clicks / Rear: 5 Clicks
97+: N/A

Basic shock settings by generation, double adjustable:

63-82:
Street: Front: C8/R5 / Rear: C5/R8
Track: Front: C10/R5 / Rear: C4/R8
Drag: Front: C12/R3 / Rear: C3/R10

84-96: 
Street: Front: C7/R4 / Rear: C3/R6
Track: Front: C10/R5 / Rear: C4/R11

97-13 Base:
Street: Front: C7/R4 / Rear: C3/R6
Track: Front: C10/R5 / Rear: C4/R11

97-13 ZO6/GS/ZR1
Street: Front: C9/R4 / Rear: C4/R7
Track: Front: C12/R5 / Rear: C5/R11

Van Steel exclusively uses QA1 shocks for their reliability, rebuildability, quality, and they look good too. 

Slide reinforcement bracket over OE bracket

Tap all the way on to line up the shock mount hole.

Weld bracket to frame along the outside frame rail. 

Weld the short side bracket to frame

Drill out the factory 7/16 hole to 1/2 for new coilover hardware. 

Working on your frame but not ready to buy the rear coilover kit. You can order the rear brackets separately so you can have all your frame work done and ready for when your parts arrive.