Do You Need Adjustable Racing Shocks?

The advancement of automotive technology has always been hyperlinked to racing. Nearly every aspect of modern vehicle function can attribute its DNA to racing development. This is certainly true for Ridetech’s adjustable shocks. 

However, for some of you, using “racing shocks” on your project car or truck may not seem to make sense. After all, you want your ride smooth, quiet, and comfortable, and those certainly are NOT the first things that come to mind when thinking about race cars.

Spoiler alert: you DO want racing shock technology

On the other hand, if you are the person that wants to take your car on track (autocross, road racing, or drag racing), then perhaps you think that you can’t expect to get the performance you need from a shock that also promises a smooth ride and comfortable control around town on public roads.  

This is where a proper understanding of a shock absorber’s purpose is important. At Ridetech, we like to say the shock absorber functions as the “brains of the suspension”. To start off with, a brain is only as good as the body it is built-in. 

installing ridetech fox shocks and struts on a mustang

Ridetech adjustable shocks can make a good car great, they simply can’t make a bad car good. 

Proper suspension design, geometry, and most importantly, correct spring rates along with a reasonable amount of travel built into a suspension are absolutely critical to making a road car or race car work properly. 

This is why Ridetech focuses on building complete systems to provide a total solution for your vehicle. The shock is the final, yet critical, component to making this system work to provide the performance you seek. 

To do its job well, a great shock has to work at exceptional levels of precision, be resistant to fatigue, and be durable over millions of cycles. These criteria are exactly the same for either road applications or the most demanding racing environments. 

ridetech shocks with fox factory technology
Ridetech adjustable shocks are built with Fox Factory racing components. We include them in all our suspension systems for trucks, cars and hot rods – street or race track.

Ridetech partnered with Fox Shocks back in 2010 to provide the “brains” of its suspension systems. Fox employs translates lessons learned on the race track into advanced technology and precision manufacturing capabilities. We have taken advantage of the decades of Fox racing development to provide the best Ridetech adjustable racing shocks to our customers – racers and hot rodders alike.


The function of shock absorbers

the piston and valves inside a fox ridetech racing shock

The function of a shock on any vehicle is to control the timing of the transfer of energy created by the vehicle movement. Often referred to as “dampers” rather than shock absorbers, the shocks use hydraulics to control how fast or slow the suspension reacts to movement. The ultimate goal of all shocks is to maximize the ability of the vehicle to keep the tires in compliance with the road surface. 

The difference in a high-quality street shock and a premium race shock comes down primarily to one thing – valving. The differences in valving for race applications compared to road-going suspensions are based on surface conditions, tire grip levels, the forcefulness of driver inputs, need for feel of the road, etc.  However, high-quality valving makes it possible for a single shock to cover a wide range of force control. In many cases, the same shocks can function perfectly well on the street and at the track. 

At Ridetech, we don’t intend to provide a one-size-fits-all approach to suspension tuning. We know there are as many different preferences for ride quality as there are types of hot rods. This is why even our base model shock in most of our suspension systems are adjustable, to allow you to fine tune your ride to your personal driving style and vehicle preferences.


Single Adjustable HQ Series Shocks & Coilovers

Our single adjustable HQ (Handling Quality) Series shocks are designed and manufactured with high end racing quality technology:

  • Mono tube construction
  • Aluminum body
  • Presice valving
  • Wide adjustment range
  • Premium materials & components
smooth body ridetech stock mount shock and aluminum coilover adjusters
Here is the easy to use single adjustment knob of Ridetech’s HQ Series shocks. They are available in smooth-body and coilover configurations.

This means our single adjustable shocks will be right at home for track day, autocross, and weekend warrior drag racing — and they will never miss a beat on the highway. Ridetech is so confident they will hold up to whatever punishment you can dish out, we back them with a 1,000,001-mile warranty. 

HQ Series Ridetech adjustable shocks also provide enough adjustment range to allow most customers to dial in the ride quality and handling they need for their intended use and achieve the desired results. 


Triple Adjustable TQ Series Shocks & Coilovers

For customers who are looking to wring out every last bit of performance from their car, a single rebound adjustment might not provide enough fine-tuning, so we also offer our TQ (Track Quality) racing shocks. TQ Series shocks are full of racing technology and build quality, and just like the HQ shocks, they will take whatever you can throw at them on the track or the street. 

The advantage of the TQ shock is additional adjustment of compression in both high speed and low-speed ranges. This extra level of adjustment can turn a good handling car or truck into an amazing handling car or truck. Do you need the extra adjustment? Well, that is one of the trickiest questions we have to answer around here at Ridetech. 

triple adjustable remote reservoir coilover from ridetech / fox racing
3-way adjustable TQ Series shocks from Ridetech provide more adjustment
but also require more forethought to dial-in correctly. For racer’s chasing that extra 5%, TQ Series shocks are the way to go.

Typically, the driver who “needs” triple adjustable shocks has reached a point on the car or truck where they have maxed out the performance in every other area – and we don’t just mean the hardware. Driver experience and understanding of suspension control is the most important factor when determining the suitability of a triple adjustable shock. In fact, until the driver has reached a point where they are skilled at diagnosing and tuning suspension dynamics with shocks, they may very well find themselves struggling with the additional adjustments and actually making things significantly more difficult to dial in a car or truck to where they want it. 

For the drivers who are willing to invest the extra effort of utilizing the high and low-speed compression adjustment, the Ridetech TQ Series triple adjustable racing shocks can dial in the car or truck to the next level of performance – either on the track or on the road. By isolating the high and low-speed compression, the driver gains the ability to adjust how the car reacts to both bumps and road irregularities (high speed), as well as cornering forces (low speed) separately. 

the on track race performance of ridetech shocks
The TQ series triple adjustable remote reservoir shocks provide all the tuning and adjustability for even the most serious racer – yet still can be tuned for great on-road ride.

So at the end of the day, what shock is right for you? Well, we are confident you will be happy to have our “racing shocks” on your car, and we would like nothing more than to help you figure out how to dial them in to get your car or truck to ride or handle exactly how you want it to. 

Here’s a set of TQ Series Racing shocks being built in Ridetech’s Jasper Indiana Shock Lab.

In fact, if you are the customer who finds yourself trying to extract that extra thousandth-of-a-second on the track, and you think more adjustment or a different kind of adjustment (i.e. more digressive or linear valving) would get you there… Ridetech can handle that, too.  Ridetech builds shocks right in Jasper, Indiana and can cook in all kinds of special / race-specific valving to get your ride exactly where you want it to be.

To learn more about Ridetech coilovers, click HERE

16 thoughts on “Do You Need Adjustable Racing Shocks?

  1. Cagin says:

    Hi. I’m searching for 1974 Corvette adjustable suspension “in the car” option ? Do you have a electronic or manual adustement gauge or something in the car, for the driver who don’t want to get out the car for stiffnes or comfort options ? Thanks .

  2. Duane Hussey says:

    We are currently building a street/road racer. It started with a 50 business coupe sectioned 4.5″. We removed the frame and replacing it with a new tube frame. TCI provided the modular IFS Suspension optioned for your air bag set-up, in the rear is a triangulated 4 link. We have chosen to use the 69-70 Mustang Fastback as the modeling base case. Our dual purpose use seems to be working in conflict, I want the ability to set frame and yet be competitive on the track. What can you suggest? I can send pictures if you think they can help, but I believe now there is still time to make any changes if needed.

  3. Robert Daniel says:

    I’m trying to decide whether to purchase the single or tre Adjustable shocks for my 66 chevy Impala. I will not be racing but driving the car as a cruiser. I do plan to put a big block in it with at least 400HP.

    What do you recommend based what I told you.

  4. Ernesto Mota says:

    I’m building a street car and am shopping to get some of the best performance parts for it build I would rather overbuild if it’s within a budget for future mods. I have an 86 el camino and am doing an 6.2 ls3 swap with wheels running within 18”-22” range what package best suits these upgrades . Thanx

  5. Manuel A zavala says:

    Hi good morning I’m interested on a complete suspension kit for my 1970 c10 currently drum brakes.. my question is❓ the drop spindles that come with the kit what kind of rotors will the accept ? Could you provide me a link of front disc brake options that you recommend and know for sure they will fit stock and after market…oh is there a front brake kit that you sell for this suspension kit ..thanks in advance…

  6. Will Ledbetter says:

    Hello,
    I have a 65 Olds 442 with a 455 engine and am looking to seriously upgrade the suspension. When I had the engine built, I put on a big 8 quart oil pan and I bottomed out once and punched a hole in the oil pan on a old country back road with somewhat raised center road. Since then I have been leary of driving hard. The car has also been wrecked once before I got it so the geometry in not factory perfect on the passenger side front. I had to drop to a smaller wheel to keep the tire from hitting the fender when turning to the left and the car weight shifts. I don’t like the old body roll and want to upgrade. What turnkey package do you suggest?

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