Anybody running the RMS AlterKation? Was it really worth the cost?

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harrisonm

harrisonm

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I have been thinking about putting the RMS AlterKation front kit (and possibly the rear Street Lynx kit) on my 69 Barracuda for quite a while. I am just hung up on the price. By the time I buy new wheels and tires, I'll probably have at least $7,000 just in the front end. I was wanting inputs from people with first hand knowledge on whether it was an, "Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost," or was it more of a "It is a good improvement, I guess it was worth the cost." My car drives fine now, But I keep hearing things like, "It drives like a new Corvette." I realize that has got to be an exaggeration, but I assume they just mean it made a HUGE difference. I drive my car quite a bit, so I might really benefit if it truly is a jaw dropping improvement. Thanks in advance for your inputs.
 
harrisonm said:
I have been thinking about putting the RMS AlterKation front kit (and possibly the rear Street Lynx kit) on my 69 Barracuda for quite a while. I am just hung up on the price. By the time I buy new wheels and tires, I'll probably have at least $7,000 just in the front end. I was wanting inputs from people with first hand knowledge on whether it was an, "Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost," or was it more of a "It is a good improvement, I guess it was worth the cost." My car drives fine now, But I keep hearing things like, "It drives like a new Corvette." I realize that has got to be an exaggeration, but I assume they just mean it made a HUGE difference. I drive my car quite a bit, so I might really benefit if it truly is a jaw dropping improvement. Thanks in advance for your inputs.
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RMS is nice but it's not the only option. Check into Gerst Suspensions, I've got the front and rear kit and while I'm still working on the car, I am highly impressed with the quality. Plus the reviews from other Gerst owners have been beyond stellar. It's also cheaper than the RMS and 100 percent American made. To me it is WORTH EVERY PENNY. At least give Carl a phone call. He's brutally honest and an all around Mopar nut and won't steer you wrong.

www.gerstsuspensions.com



Also, Hemidenny is another option that has had great reviews as well.


However, I'd stay away from AJE and Magnum Force, lots of complaints on those two recently including structural failures.
 
harrisonm said:
I have been thinking about putting the RMS AlterKation front kit (and possibly the rear Street Lynx kit) on my 69 Barracuda for quite a while. I am just hung up on the price. By the time I buy new wheels and tires, I'll probably have at least $7,000 just in the front end. I was wanting inputs from people with first hand knowledge on whether it was an, "Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost," or was it more of a "It is a good improvement, I guess it was worth the cost." My car drives fine now, But I keep hearing things like, "It drives like a new Corvette." I realize that has got to be an exaggeration, but I assume they just mean it made a HUGE difference. I drive my car quite a bit, so I might really benefit if it truly is a jaw dropping improvement. Thanks in advance for your inputs.
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for my car it was "Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost,". it made it so much more fun to drive for me.. felt like a modern car after the swap..

mine felt great with the manual rack i used originally but the power rack took it to a new level.. i can't say enough good things about it..

i'm gonna start saving my pennies for another alter-k to put in jamies car.. i did the 1" bars and rebuilt everything up front and just don't like it.. i want the feel of the alter-k in this car too.. wish i didn't sell my other alter-k when i parted my dart out but **** came up and i needed the money at the time and that sold easy and fast...

the alter-k is easily the most proven set up out there right now. and in my opinion the best set up out there right now. do your homework if considering another set up ask a ton of questions and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. gotta watch, some are cheaper for a reason.
 
Call me old school but unless you are doing a resto mod I'd stay with a modified Mopar suspension. Cheaper way to go, maintain the stock look and you can spend that money elsewhere. MaMopar put a lot of R&D into that suspension.

Oh, FWIW, buddy of mine has an altercation and has been constantly having issues with the steering.
 
dart4forte said:
Call me old school but unless you are doing a resto mod I'd stay with a modified Mopar suspension. Cheaper way to go, maintain the stock look and you can spend that money elsewhere. MaMopar put a lot of R&D into that suspension.

Oh, FWIW, buddy of mine has an altercation and has been constantly having issues with the steering.
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Gotta agree here. But I am curious what issues he's having
 
abodyjoe said:
do your homework if considering another set up ask a ton of questions and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. gotta watch, some are cheaper for a reason.
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Completely agree with this ^
 
abodyjoe said:
has he been in touch with bill? its binding? not too much there to cause that.. bad rack or something??
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Not sure what he's done or who he's talked to. It's his gig so I'm sure he'll work it out.
 
can't stand the stock style suspension i put in jamies dart.. no where near as good feeling as the alter-k was in my dart.
 
abodyjoe said:
has he been in touch with bill? its binding? not too much there to cause that.. bad rack or something??
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Yeah I don't see what other than the rack being bad causing that
 
l went to a alter K when the torsion bars went from 89.00 a pair to 300.00 a pair. l also have a big block ln mine. and what do l think,"Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost," It is a great improvement
 
I've got one modern car with excellent suspension (BMW 330Ci with the sport pacakge, 18" wheels, etc.). Handles like it's on rails. We built my son's '67 Barracuda with huge bars (1.14" torsion bars and 1.25" front sway bar with 3/4" rear sway bar), home-built cop car steering box. With the exception of the greater power assist in the Barracuda there's not a lot of difference in handling. I'll stick with the original, especially for the money.
 
abodyjoe said:
yea they did.. 50 years ago..:)
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And when exactly do you think the Mustang II suspension was designed? Because that's what all of the coilover conversions are based off of. The amazing handling capability of a Pinto. Which was probably designed in the late 60's, so, do the math on that.

Jim Lusk said:
I've got one modern car with excellent suspension (BMW 330Ci with the sport pacakge, 18" wheels, etc.). Handles like it's on rails. We built my son's '67 Barracuda with huge bars (1.14" torsion bars and 1.25" front sway bar with 3/4" rear sway bar), home-built cop car steering box. With the exception of the greater power assist in the Barracuda there's not a lot of difference in handling. I'll stick with the original, especially for the money.
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Exactly. In fact, there's a nice little video about the Hotchkis Taxi, a 4 door plymouth satellite, putting down better lap times at the TireRack test track than the 2012 3 series BMW's they usually use. With the same driver, and same tires on both. Make it handle like a new Corvette? Yes, you can do that without a coilover conversion. Heck the new corvette's use a transverse leaf spring. Calling henry ford... But seriously, Tim Werner's "red brick" Valiant was turning faster lap times at Portland than a C06 and the red brick has torsion bars and leaf springs. The only thing you can't beat is the traction control. But, turn the traction control off and you can absolutely do just as well with a torsion bar suspension that has been set up properly.



Hotchkis Challenger vs a 2010 SRT8 Challenger. The SRT8 lost on the skid pad to the Hotchkis Challenger.
2010 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 vs. 1970 Dodge Challenger
 
harrisonm said:
I have been thinking about putting the RMS AlterKation front kit (and possibly the rear Street Lynx kit) on my 69 Barracuda for quite a while. I am just hung up on the price. By the time I buy new wheels and tires, I'll probably have at least $7,000 just in the front end. I was wanting inputs from people with first hand knowledge on whether it was an, "Oh my God this is frigging incredible; I am so glad I did it regardless of what it cost," or was it more of a "It is a good improvement, I guess it was worth the cost." My car drives fine now, But I keep hearing things like, "It drives like a new Corvette." I realize that has got to be an exaggeration, but I assume they just mean it made a HUGE difference. I drive my car quite a bit, so I might really benefit if it truly is a jaw dropping improvement. Thanks in advance for your inputs.
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The money part I can't answer you would have to look at your own banks account...but the Alterkation is a really nice driving front end, everyone that I know who has one really likes them and would buy one again given the chance. Although I might try the Hemi Denny version if I was going to do another car.
Serving the car is also much easier with all the extra space...if that matters to you.
 
I can't comment on how they handle, but I purchased a street lynx and I am very impressed on the quality of the parts, Bill doesn't charge you until it is built and then sent out and when I had questions , which was more than once he was a phone call away and very helpful . Every review of his suspension I have seen is nothing but positive. Seems when ever this topic on suspension comes up on this forum on anything but stock there is a bunch that want to tell you how nothing but stock makes sense.Yet I have never seen anyone that has put an rms suspension setup on talking about how they miss the stock suspension . I am going to guess they missed the part about first hand knowledge.
 
I have the RMS front set up on my 68 Barracuda. I don't have a lot of use on it yet but I will point out that I had to alter the Milodon oil pan to make it work. It hit the passenger side rack mounting bolt. I also have a power rack in the car.Here is a before and after of the oil pan.

oil pan hitting rack.jpg


Milodon pan after mods.jpg
 
I am one that hears you. I came on here to answer his question and not get into a pissing match with stock suspension guys. I have been a mopar fan since the early sixties. I've owned mopars since the early seventies. I drove a,b,c,m etc. bodies and know how they drove. I also drove my barracuda for ten years before I took it apart. There is no comparison, that is just my opinion. If you never had a chance to experience other suspensions there shouldn't be any comments. Also I could never afford a alter k so I just went up to Bill and asked if I could on payments. He let me pay that way. if you want one I would just call Bill and talk to him. Mark
 
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SGBARRACUDA said:
I have the RMS front set up on my 68 Barracuda. I don't have a lot of use on it yet but I will point out that I had to alter the Milodon oil pan to make it work. It hit the passenger side rack mounting bolt. I also have a power rack in the car.Here is a before and after of the oil pan.
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Those pans often require you to cut the k member on the stock suspension...

IMG_0893.JPG
 
When I called and talked to Bill at RMS, he told me that Milodon had asked for a few of his front K-members and that they were going to make some pans for SB and BB that will work with the RMS system. That has been almost a year ago so they should have the pans available.
 
I have never really liked those pans... by painting it black helps.
Now if the original poster is winning again I hear XV Motorsports is releasing their front suspension for the A body cars ... no word on price.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I have done a lotf f thinking and research and I think the AlterKation and Street Lynx is the route for me. All I need to do is do a little more powder coating to build up my stash.
Thanks.
 
If you want to go fast, you modify a torsion bar suspension, if you you want to blow thousands of dollars, you buy aftermarket, and if you think steering "feel" has anything to do with performance other than band-aiding your lack of driving skill....well...just know the fastest auto x, circle track, and oval track Mopars have torsion bars
 
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