Suspension
Pontiac V8 Suspension
Stance, Grip and Ride Quality — Suspension for Pontiac V8s
Suspension is where a Pontiac stops being a drivetrain and starts being a car you actually want to drive. A GTO or Firebird that still rides on fifty-year-old coil springs, worn rubber bushings and a stock-diameter sway bar will roll, wander and bottom out no matter how strong the engine is. Fixing the chassis is what lets the V8 put its power down and lets the car turn without an argument.
Butler stocks RideTech suspension for the Pontiac platforms our customers actually own — 1964-1967 and 1968-1972 GTO A-body, 1965-1970 Pontiac full-size, 1967-1969 first-gen Firebird and 1970-1981 Firebird and Trans Am. That covers bolt-in StreetGRIP packages, complete coil-over and air ride systems, RidePro control systems and subframe connectors.
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More About Suspension
1. Three Ways to Rework a Pontiac Chassis
RideTech builds its Pontiac suspension in three tiers. Picking between them is mostly a question of how the car gets used and how far you want to go.
| StreetGRIP | a direct replacement for original-style suspension. The kit includes lowering springs, adjustable shock absorbers, high-performance bushings, heavy-duty sway bars, tall ball joints, hardware and instructions. It goes in where the factory parts came out, which suits a restored car or a mild resto-mod. |
| Complete CoilOver System | HQ Series coil-overs on all four corners, plus StrongArm control arms, tall spindles and front and rear MuscleBars. On F-body cars a bolt-on 4-Link replaces the factory leaf springs. RideTech has already done the spring-rate work, which takes the guesswork out of matching components. |
| Air Ride | HQ Series ShockWaves in place of the coil-overs, so the car can sit on the ground at a show and come back up to a usable ride height for the drive home. The lower-cost CoolRide approach uses application-specific brackets to put air springs where the coil springs were, paired with HQ Series shocks. |
2. Find Your Chassis Before You Shop
These systems are built per platform, not per engine. Start with the body and the year.
| 1964-1967 GTO, A-body | StreetGRIP, complete coil-over and air ride systems. The 1964-1967 GM A-body family also covers LeMans, Tempest and Sportwagon, so a Tempest takes the same parts as the GTO. |
| 1968-1972 GTO, A-body | the same three tiers on the later A-body chassis, which also takes in LeMans, Tempest and Grand Prix from 1969 through 1972. A 1964-1972 CoolRide air kit spans both when you want air springs and HQ shocks without the control-arm package. |
| 1965-1970 Pontiac full-size | a front and rear air suspension built around CoolRide air springs with vehicle-specific bracketry and HQ rebound-adjustable shocks at all four corners. |
| 1967-1969 Firebird, first-gen F-body | StreetGRIP, air ride, and coil-over systems offered in two spindle configurations. See the spindle note below. |
| 1970-1981 Firebird and Trans Am, second-gen F-body | StreetGRIP, air ride and coil-over systems, all built around the TruTurn front geometry package and the bolt-on 4-Link out back. |
3. What Is Actually in a Complete System
The component names show up over and over in the RideTech catalog. Here is what each one does on a Pontiac.
| Tall spindles | they induce more negative camber gain to keep the tire contact patch planted through a corner, and their 2" pin drop lets you run a longer shock for more suspension travel. They work with brake kits made for the stock disc brake spindle. |
| StrongArm control arms | the uppers have corrected ball joint angles for the tall spindles, with the upper ball joint moved back for extra caster and better high-speed stability. The lowers use a double-shear lower mount, a dropped shock mount for more travel, and a ball joint moved forward to add caster while keeping the wheel centered in the opening. Both use injection-molded Delrin bushings with 13% Teflon to cut deflection and stiction. |
| HQ Series shocks, coil-overs and ShockWaves | impact-forged aluminum bodies, monotube design, and a rebound knob on top of the shock so it can be reached under the hood. They carry a 1,000,001-mile warranty. |
| MuscleBar sway bars | the front bar cuts body roll and clears wider front tires, and it comes with PosiLink end links that engage the chassis and control arm immediately. The A-body systems add an adjustable-rate rear MuscleBar. |
| Bolt-on 4-Link | the F-body answer to leaf-spring wheel hop. It improves traction, handling and ride quality with minimal cutting, and on second-gen cars RideTech uses a unicradle design whose lateral tubes index off the leaf spring mounting points rather than the frame rails, specifically to work around the frame-rail thickness variation these cars are known for. |
| TruTurn | on the 1970-1981 systems this package bundles tall spindles, steering arms, tall inner tie rods, billet tie rod adjusters, inner rods and a centerlink so bumpsteer is minimized and camber gain improved as a package. |
4. Air Ride Control Systems
An air suspension is two purchases: the springs and shocks on the car, and the compressor and control system that feeds them. Several RideTech air kits ship without a control system, so budget for one.
| RidePro E5 digital control | a 5-gallon aluminum tank, two Thomas compressors, the RidePro 4-way valve block and 1/4" airlines and fittings, run by a 3.5" full-color touchscreen. It self-adjusts to ride height at each key-on, compensates for load, and connects to a phone over Bluetooth. RideTech calls it right for vehicles over 3500 lbs. |
| Prewired E5 AirPod | the same E5 system supplied as a preassembled and tested AirPod, the shortcut if you would rather not plumb and wire a tank and two compressors yourself. A 5-gallon AirPod cover is available. |
| Analog 5-gallon system | the simple version. Manual control switches, two dual-needle analog gauges, four rocker switches, an aluminum tank and dual compressors. It upgrades to digital leveling later by swapping the analog switches for a RidePRO-X leveling ECM package. |
| RidePro-HP height sensor kit | four ride height sensors with linkage kits and harness that add true height measurement on top of the E5 pressure system, so the car levels without cross-loading. Note the limitation: these sensors work only with the RidePro E5 digital control system. |
5. Chassis Stiffening for F-Body Cars
New springs and shocks cannot do their job if the unibody is flexing underneath them, and second-gen Firebirds are the classic case.
| Subframe connectors, 1970-1981 | our PTFB connectors use a single-piece main beam with the largest minimum cross-sectional area and large mounting pads while keeping ground clearance. They come powder coated with bolt-in hardware and can be welded instead. The kit includes solid body bushings with a 3-in-1 standard height, 1/2" lower and wedged feature. |
| T-top cars | this is where connectors matter most. Removing the roof structure costs an F-body its stiffness, and tying the subframes together is the most effective way to give back a modern, solid feel. |
| RideTech Trans Am connectors | offered as two separate part numbers, 1970-73 and 1974-81. Order by the year of your car, not by generation. |
6. Spec It Right the First Time
Most suspension returns trace back to details that are easy to check before the order goes in.
| Tell us what engine is in the car | RideTech spring rates are calculated around a cast-iron-head Pontiac V8. If your car runs an aftermarket block or aluminum heads, put that in the order notes and we will swap to a lighter spring. This is the single most common mistake on a StreetGRIP order. |
| Round versus oval bushings | the A-body StreetGRIP system is designed for a round lower control arm bushing. Control arms with oval bushings have to be replaced, so look under the car before you buy. |
| Pin spindle or hub spindle | the 1967-1969 F-body coil-over system comes both ways. The pin spindle keeps the traditional setup. The hub spindle gives the same geometry improvements but uses C5, C6 or C7 Corvette hubs and brakes for strength and consistency, requires a minimum 17" wheel, and the hubs themselves are not included. |
| Rear shock brackets | brackets for the rear coil-overs cover the frame and a 10 or 12 bolt rearend or a Currie 9", with Moser brackets available. Know what is under the car. |
| Early F-body wheel openings | RideTech offers optional drop kits for 1967 and 1968 cars that lower the car an additional 1" to make up for the larger wheel opening on those years. |
Not sure which tier fits? Tell us the car, the year and what is in the engine bay, and we will point you at the matching system. A street-driven restoration and a pro-touring car with an aluminum-head stroker need different spring rates out of the same catalog.
1967-1969 Firebird 1st Gen F-Body 1970-1981 Firebird/Trans Am 2nd Gen F-Body 1964-1967 GTO GM A-Body 1965-1970 Pontiac Fullsize 1968-1972 GTO GM A-Body
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.