Pedders Suspension is a Performance Suspension for your Performance Car.
The Challenger shares the same suspension as the Charger, this is good because we've had a lot of experience with the Charger, that we can now apply to the Challenger.
There are a number of weak points in the LX (Challenger/Charger) suspension, and i'll touch on a few of them.
#1, The LX comes from the factory with excessive
bump steer.
We have nearly eliminated bump steer in the LX by relocating the steering rack.
Click here for more detailed info
This is cured by replacing the stock Steering Rack Bushings with the Pedders Kit
EP2113 Front RWD Bump Steer Correction Rack Bushings
#2, The LX has a number of bushing weaknesses, but the most serious is the front Radius Rod Bushings, that are weak, allow a lot of play, and are known to crack, sometimes to the point of allowing the radius arm to contact the sub frame. We have had a number of cars with the radius rod bushings ripping and tearing under normal driving, nevermind under hard driving. We fix this by replacing the stock bushings with the Pedders #
EP6567 Front Radius Rod Bushings
#3, The LX rear suspension is designed to be on a removable subframe, so that every rear suspension part attaches on to the subframe, and then the subframe is bolted to the car. We have found on nearly every car that we've done, that the rear subframe is being allowed to move so much that it is contacting the unibody of the car. This will in turn cause some noises over certain bumps, and with that much slop in the bushings, the rear tires in turn are not being held in line with the body of the car.
This amount of play at the foundation of the rear suspension is very problematic to a good handling car. The play give a disconnected feel of the rear suspension, and in a performance application it is not something that we like to see. The replacement Pedders bushings take care of all of this, and provide a ton more support, with virtually no loss of comfort, or added noise.
#4 Excessive Sway, and no, replacing the sway bars is not the best fix for the problem, Pedders believes that the foundation needs to be fixed before sway bars are added. This includes replacing the dampers and springs, as well as a number of bushings. The dampers (shocks) that we use are the GSR line of shocks that are speed sensitive and give you a comfortable ride, handle bumps much better than stock, as well as increase the dampening and thus increase the ability of the spring to do it's job. Replacing the springs at the same time with an increased dampening rate, and lowered stance give you the best of both worlds in looks and performance.
#5 The LX uses 9.4 million bushings in the rear of each car. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. The picture below shows the left rear suspension, keep in mind, it doesn't show the sway bar bushings, or the sub frame bushings, and you start to get an idea of how much improvement can be made with a Pedders Suspension Kit
This post will be updated continually and linked to various important suspension threads, While this is not a complete list of the LX suspension, it will give you a bit of an idea of the possibilities of your car!
