Does the Competition Compare?
What Makes Speedtech the Best Suspension or Chassis Choice?
At Speedtech Performance our goal is to provide driving enthusiasts with an extraordinary driving experience through thoughtfully engineered suspension products that allow for wide tires with no body styling modifications. Our components will provide you the option for wider tires then our competition can offer while maintaining all the steering angle your car originally had, and deliver improved geometry.
We are unique in the Pro Touring community for undertaking the task of making great driving classic muscle cars with a different approach then our competition. In part this is due to the competition having been around longer than Pro Touring and having products that could lower ride height or allow for wide wheels before the Pro Touring movement to make them great to drive. When Pro Touring became a thing the car builders of the day could use aftermarket chassis products and style the cars as Pro Touring. But were they really Pro Touring? They didn’t always have the durability or performance one might expect, they often made better static show cars then drivers.
Speedtech Performance approached the task of designing Pro Touring chassis and suspension with a no holds barred mindset and engineered it from a clean sheet of paper. We did not restrict ourselves to original design cues, suspension mounting locations or existing products. We did our homework on how we could optimize the driving experience and simplify the installation process before ever putting pen to paper and the results speak for themselves. While others may provide the “look”, at Speedtech Performance our ExtReme products provide the highest level of styling and performance truly in the spirit of Pro Touring as defined by Mark Stielow (credited with coining the term Pro Touring)
No stone was left un turned when we designed our Pro Touring suspension. We came to market with a unique offering that has proven itself on track and on the street. You don’t have to race your car to realize all the goodness we put into our products. If you are building a Pro Touring car and want modern comfort for long distance traveling or extreme race winning performance look no further. Pro Touring cars are destined to be driven and we do what we do for the joy of the drive!
For all but a few exceptionally narrow cars you will be able to fit a greater then a 315mm wide tire under the car with full steering and no interference. Why is 315 the mark often discussed in Pro Touring circles? Mostly because in competitive driving arenas a 315mm wide tire is the largest tire you can run before being pushed up to a classification with no rules, open to unlimited modifications, these classes tend to be filled with purpose-built race cars. For a streetcar or anyone who is not concerned with sanctioning body rules you may find that a 335/30/18 tire will work just fine on the front of the car, 335 or larger in the rear will fine too.
When you start putting big rubber under the car other components may show weakness due to the higher loads that can be associated with large tires. We considered this and worked with a expert steering specialist to provide a heavy-duty rack and pinion steering system. The rack is derived from motorsports to stand the test of time and provides perfect amount feedback to the driver.
Our custom Pro Touring suspension and steering has been matched with the highest quality shock and brake suppliers we could find in the USA. Working with our partners we have developed proprietary shock valving customized to complement our suspension.
All efforts are made to be a one stop shop for all your chassis needs and we can provide you with power train and driveline components in your package too. Our customer service is second to none, period. Our experienced sales team will work with you to design a bespoke package tailored to your goals for the project.
Frame Construction
The Speedtech Performance ExtReme frame was designed with these applications in mind: Platform for Platform design uniformity- Subframe for Camaro and Nova, Full chassis for Trucks, Chevelles, and Tri-5 cars. And now offering products for Ford trucks AND MOPAR!!
- Bolt-in configuration utilizes factory mounting points.
- CNC laser cut hand fabricated box style construction with internal gusseting in all critical areas for improved strength and rigidity. Truck chassis’ use heavy duty center frame rails for greater flex resistance between cab and bed.
- Has unique aftermarket look and styling.
- Engine frame stands are included.
- Narrowed frame rails for up to 11″ wheels and 315 mm wide tires up front, 12″ wheels and 345 mm wide rear on full frame applications.
- Optimized for maximum autocross and track performance without sacrificing street comfort and drivability.
- Includes multi-plane, fully adjustable transmission cross member that adjusts up and down, front to back and has side to side offset options to adapt near any transmission’s length and height and still maintain proper driveline angle.
- Despite some competitor’s marketing efforts to push the strength of full frame designs, subframe based unibody design cars came from the factory with incredibly rigid rockers and internal strengthening within the body to be safe and rigid as a subframe design. We have found they are generally fine as is for most average Pro-Touring applications. Drivers who compete regularly and aggressively in autocross and/or track day events may prefer an even greater chassis strength with our optional unibody stiffener kit. This kit is not required for an average cruiser and occasional racer.
- Racer optional unibody stiffener kit design is incorporated into the floor and factory support braces, with bracing that runs front to rear and side to side, yielding the greatest stiffening available on the market in a unibody stiffener design. They do not compromise ground clearance or affect seat or rear frame rail design.
- Matched rear suspension for unibody Camaros and Novas is a direct bolt-in, aside from one frame stiffening crossmember between rear frame rails that requires only about 30 minutes of welding. This rear suspension does not alter the factory floor or frame rails in any way. Rear suspension for full frame cars are a direct bolt-in to the chassis.
Brand “D”
Applications: Subframe for Camaro and Nova, No frame kits for full frame vehicles.
- Bolt-in design utilizes factory mount points.
- Factory type “OEM technology” hollow frame rails formed similarly in style and construction to factory subframe. No apparent internal gusseting or additional strength engineering over factory frame.
- Engine frame stands are available separately at an additional charge.
- Designed for use with factory GM Camaro/ Nova non-adjustable transmission cross member.
- Limited to 10″ wheel width, 275 mm front tire.
- Suspension geometry is in line with industry standard average improvement over factory stock, see numbers below.
- Matched rear suspension mounting points protrude into the rear passenger compartment, requiring modifying the rear floor pan, rear seat, and trunk floor.
- Optional frame connector design is incorporated into the floor and runs front to rear only. They do not compromise ground clearance or affect seat or rear frame rail design.
Brand “R”
Applications: Full frame for all applications including the Camaro and Nova unibody cars.
- Bolt-in configuration utilizes factory mounting points.
- CNC plasma torch cut, hand fabricated box style construction, no internal gusseting or strengthening.
- Has unique aftermarket look and styling.
- Limited to 10″ wheel width, 275 mm front tire, 12″ wheels and 345 mm wide for rear.
- Suspension geometry is similar to brand D and in line with industry standard average improvement over factory stock.
- Transmission cross member adjusts forward and back for variances in transmission length only.
- On Camaros and Novas rear frame rails have suspension mounts that protrude heavily up into the passenger compartment, requiring modifying the rear floor pan and rear seat.
- Full frame design center frame rails protrude through the floor pan on Camaros and Novas, modifying the floor pan is required.
Suspension Design
The Speedtech ExtReme suspension was born from a goal of developing a totally new modular suspension design that could be grafted into most any car’s platform, keeping component design, geometry numbers and performance goals consistent through all platforms.
Suspension and steering mounting points were relocated and optimized for the best geometry and handling, not for the individual car’s packaging.
Our competitors mainly hold to the opposite philosophy, designing unique suspension systems around factory packaging parameters which yields inconsistency and variances between platforms and often sets limitations on components, geometry, and performance.
A comparison of suspension components is below while a spindle comparison will be found in the next section and geometry number comparisons are further down the page.
Speedtech ExtReme suspension
Front Suspension and Steering:
- TIG welded tubular 1.25″ .120 wall upper and 1.50″ .156 wall lower control arms. Thicker wall 1.50″ diameter lower arms allow more clearance with larger tube strength. Ultra High Clearance design allows 30 degrees of turning radius with up to a 315 mm tire on an 18×11″ wheel, tucked with no outer fender modifications required.
- Lower tubular control arms are also boxed for additional added strength, allowing heavier spring rates in race applications.
- Greasable Delrin bushings don’t deform and flex like polyurethane.
- Upper arms have CNC machined billet stainless steel cross shafts with adjustable caster slugs.
- Includes modern 7, 8, and 9 degrees high caster slugs for tuning your suspension to your needs.
- All arms preassembled with XRF heavy duty ball joints and powder coated gloss black.
- Standard equipment Custom valved single adjustable coilovers with Draco 9000 series super springs in your choice of spring rate. A myriad of other mild street to full race shock options are available from Viking, Ridetech, and JRI.
- Includes adjustable, splined front sway bar available in your choice of 5 different rates to custom match to your car’s suspension strategy and driving style. Easily adjustable design allows 2 rate options for a single bar. We recommend one setting for street and autocross and switching to the other for road course track days.
- Tie rod end and steering arm design yield increased Ackermann for more aggressive turn in and faster cornering speeds plus tunable bump steer for your specific needs and driving style.
- Race bred Sweet brand dual power rack and pinion steering is custom built by Sweet specifically with internal components and Sweet developed valving for extreme applications. These racks are Sweet’s in-house design rather than a rebuilt OEM unit and are hand assembled and blueprinted with race quality internals that are intended to withstands the abuse encountered with wider stickier tires in all driving situations, street to full race. The result is incredible street and track performance. Custom internal tuning is also available.
Rear Suspension:
- 3-Link style Torque Arm is standard for all applications including trucks. Second only to race suspensions in the amount of available suspension travel range without bind, torque arms handle incredibly well, ride incredibly comfortable, and are a much better alternative to leaf springs or 4-link suspension systems.
- Installation in Camaro and Nova unibody cars takes on average 10 hours labor time, requires no modification to factory floor, seat or frame rails and only about 30 minutes of minor welding time. Installation into full chassis applications is a simple bolt into the frame process.
- Articulink lower trailing arms are a two-piece design that rotates within themselves to free up suspension bind. Much better performance over solid arms used by most competitors and won’t wear out like Heim joints. Articulinks also allow adjustable wheel base for centering the suspension in the body’s wheel openings.
- Standard equipment custom valved single adjustable coilovers with Draco 9000 series super springs in your choice of spring rate. A myriad of other mild street to full race shock options are available from Viking, Ridetech, and JRI.
- Double adjustable panhard bar keeps the axle centered laterally and allows an adjustable roll center to tune the car’s grip & balance, slotted on both sides for accurate balance & fine tuning. Lower roll center than competitors for higher rear grip.
- Optional adjustable rear sway bars available for balancing our higher rate front sway bars for autocross and track days applications. Rear sway bar is not required for street cruisers.
- Full frame applications include Dutchman custom built to your specs 9″ Ford housing with pre-welded bracketry, big Ford style housing ends, Timken Set 20 tapered roller bearings and 31 spline axles. No additional charge for custom widths. Optional custom built center sections are also available. Leaf spring car application rear suspensions can be used with your existing GM 12 Bolt, or we have optional Dutchman 9″ Ford axles available.
Brand “D”
Front Suspension and Steering:
TIG welded tubular upper and lower control arms designed with clearance limited to 10″ wheel and 275 tire.
Lower control arms are only gusseted for added strength.
Non-greasable Delrin/aluminum bushings don’t deform and flex like polyurethane.
CNC machined billet stainless steel cross shafts with adjustable caster slugs.
Includes caster slugs for 4.5 degrees of positive caster. Optional caster adjuster slugs for up to 5.5 degrees are available at an additional cost.
All arms preassembled and powdercoated.
Standard equipment economy level non-adjustable JRI coilovers with in-house valving. Single adjustable and Double adjustable JRI shock options are available upgrades.
Brand D spec splined sway bar.
Non-adjustable factory style tie rod ends.
OEM style replacement power rack and pinion steering.
Rear Suspension:
4-link suspension, typically more limited suspension travel range in street applications.
Installation on leaf spring cars takes on average 40 hours labor time for just the rear suspension, requires major modification and welding to factory passenger compartment and trunk floor, and some modification to internal seat structure to retain the stock rear seat.
Swivel link lower trailing arms are a two-piece design that rotate within themselves to reduce suspension bind. Better performance over solid arms used by most competitors and won’t wear out like Heim joints.
Standard equipment economy level non-adjustable JRI coilovers with in-house valving. Single adjustable and Double adjustable JRI shock options are available upgrades.
Single adjustable panhard bar keeps the axle centered laterally and allows 1″ of adjustable roll center.
Suspension system is designed for optional 9″ Ford housing, sold separately
Brand “R”
Front Suspension and Steering:
TIG welded tubular 1.25″ upper and 1.625 lower control arms designed with clearance limited to 10″ wheel and 275 tire.
Lower control arms are “larger diameter” and gusseted for added strength.
Greasable Delrin bushings don’t deform and flex like polyurethane.
Corvette based upper control arm mounts allow some caster adjustment based on GM limitations.
All arms preassembled, powder coating is an optional upgrade.
Standard equipment single adjustable Penske coilovers, no mention of spring rate options. Double adjustable Penske shock options are available upgrades.
Non-adjustable 1.25″ splined sway bar.
Non-adjustable factory style tie rod ends and Corvette spindle based steering arms.
OEM style replacement power rack and pinion steering with “in-house” valving.
Optional upgrade to race bred Woodward rack and pinion for more serious race applications, $2500 additional charge.
Rear Suspension:
4-link suspension, typically more limited suspension travel range in street applications.
Suspension mounts require major modification and welding to factory floor and some modification to seat structure to retain the stock rear seat.
Solid tube trailing arms reduce articulation capability.
Standard equipment single adjustable Penske coilovers.
Double adjustable Penske shock options are available upgrades.
Adjustable panhard bar keeps the axle centered laterally and allows an adjustable roll center.
Full frame applications include 58.75″ track width 9″ Ford housing and axles. Custom width axle housings available as $250 upgrade.
Spindle Design
Our incredibly strong, aircraft quality 7075 T73 rated forged tall spindle design was developed from scratch specifically for the geometry numbers and handling capability we wanted to achieve, maximizing the best scenario in both high and low travel suspension strategies.
It is not based in any way on factory GM geometry design parameters. To see the process involved in the spindle forging process click on the link found on our ExtReme suspension page for your specific application.
Speedtech Spindle
The ExtReme spindle design is extended in both the upper and lower ball joint pick up points and includes a raised hub center to achieve a very low ride height and optimal geometry throughout the entire suspension travel range and in all driving situations.
Steering arms are a completely unique proprietary design that reduce measured bump steer change to under .010 over the entire travel range, but that’s just numbers.
What they really do is with 6 degrees Ackermann at 30 degrees of steering angle they achieve a 100% correct Ackermann angle for inside tire slip angle increase which leads to 20% more inside tire grip than other suspensions.
Our djustable tie rod end kit allows tuning so you can set them up for calculated bump-in or bump-out to suit your car’s intended use. Now that’s numbers applied in real life situations.
Hub assemblies are genuine GM’s latest version C7 Corvette hubs which offer a heavier duty bearing assembly over previous GM versions, better handling the abuse of wider, stickier tires in hard driving situations.
Brake caliper mounts are based on C5/C6 Corvette caliper parameters, allowing any brake package that will bolt to a C5/C6 Corvette spindle to bolt right on to our spindle.
Brand “D”
Forged in-house version of Corvette spindle.
Corvette C6 hub assembly.
Corvette C6 brake caliper mount configuration.
Brand “R”
Corvette C6 spindle and hub assembly. SKF Racing hubs available as $350 upgrade.
Corvette C6 brake caliper mount configuration.
Geometry Numbers
Below is a straight forward comparison of our Geometry with the other guys. We hope it makes you carefully choose your parts in the process of your build.
Speedtech ExtReme
Nominal Camber- -0.5 to -.75 degrees, adjustable to required spec.
Nominal Caster– +7-+9 degrees, adjustable according to suspension strategy.
Total Suspension Travel- 5″
Bump Steer Adjustability– Adjustable for bump-in or bump-out according to suspension strategy and vehicle use.
Turning Angle– 30+ degrees.
Ackermann angle– 7 degrees/ 100% Ackermann.
Roll Center– 2.89″ above ground.
Anti-Dive– 44.5%
Motion Ratio– .78
Tuning Services– Specific vehicle coaching, tuning and custom setting services available.
Brand “D”
Nominal Camber– -0.5 degrees.
Nominal Caster- +4.5 degrees, adjustable to +5.5 degrees.
Total Suspension Travel– 6″
Bump Steer Adjustability– Not adjustable.
Turning Angle– 30 degrees.
Ackermann angle– 2.5 degrees/ 35% Ackermann
Roll Center– not published
Anti-Dive– not published
Motion Ratio– not published
Tuning Services– no indication it’s available.
Brand “R”
“In-house” geometry numbers, not published.
Tuning Services – no indication of what is available.
Performance
Enter the Speedtech ExtReme chassis, subframes and suspension, designed from a clean sheet of paper to be the very best handling, period. Once again Speedtech has put innovation to work and completely redefined front suspension geometry.
Race after race our Performance was underligned and our Racing team and competitors running Speedtech parts are often if not always on podiums or top 5.
The reason why is starts with our design and products we make.
Period.