Aaron Pfadt

Special introductory price $890

Production parts will start shipping in mid-March.

-Aaron

Z06Fix

Anyone had a chance to use these yet? Aaron, how do these compare to some of the other shocks on the market? I'm getting ready to upgrade and have about talked myself into biting the bullett and going adjustable. I'm up in the air between the 04 Z06's and the Bilstein sports at this point. The more I speak with people about the upgrade I'm hearing.. "you will be wanting more as you get faster".

smellya

I am thinking of buy these when I get my uncle sam money....

Todd Z

Pfadt is GREAT stuff, you will be happy!

Aaron Pfadt

In terms of features, these shocks give up nothing to the competitive shocks on the market. They feature an inverted body for low unsprung mass. The adjustment **** is right at the bottom for easy on car adjustments without using any tools. Our single point damping adjustment give control of both compression and rebound damping. The importance of having compression damping adjustment is that it is the major determinant of ride quality. That allows these shocks to be 'turned up' for track or autocross use, and 'turned down' for street use. The ride quality change is very noticeable. Compared to the Koni 3013 Sport, we even feature a lower spherical bearing mount in the front rather than a soft bushing. As usual with Pfadt products, the kit comes complete with everything you need including polyurethane mounting bushings for the upper mount on both the front and rear.

In terms of an objective comparison with other shocks, we have tested all the major competitive shocks on our Roehrig dyno and feel that our damping curves are first class and the adjustment we provide gives a huge advantage over what is available elsewhere.

Subjectively, we have a customer that is out here on this forum that is testing some pre-production units on his C6Z. His input is valuable because he has run both QA1s and Koni 3013s on that car as well. His feedback has been favorable to say the least.

These shocks set the new standard for an adjustable sport shock. They are great as a stock shock replacement and a hardcore track shock and everything in between. They are definitely a shock you can grow in to. Give us a ring if you have more questions.

thanks,
Aaron

Z06Fix

Thank you very much for your time Aaron. These have just been moved to the top of my list. I may not be able to do them till some time in the summer. Do you have any idea what they will be priced at normally?

acrace

Just a question for clarification. There's one adjuster that controls both compressions and rebound. Not independent compression and rebound adjustments. Am I reading it correctly?

Thanks.

EvilBoffin

Aaron -

Those look VERY promising, but is there any chance I could see your dyno plots for these shocks?

My concern is that there is only HIGH-speed adjustability, which will do little for an autocross competitor.

A few years ago, I helped Moton prototype their 2-way adjustable shocks, with my use aimed exclusively to autocross. There was NO provision for low-speed adjustments until you went to a 3- or 4-way adjustable shock (which are $8000-12,000 dollar shocks!), and those are not legal in SCCA stock classes.

I learned quickly that LOW-SPEED adjustability is so important in an autocross situation, to alter the balance & response of the car to accommodate different style courses (tight, low speed transitions vs. high speed, flowing sweepers, etc.).

Any shock that I'd consider now for my '08 Vette would have to be a great compromise, that can handle autocrosses, street use and HPDE's equally well...

PM me if you'd rather not 'talk out loud'

0RAAMaudio

I have autocrossed on and off since the 70's and know a bit about setting up dampers for it.

These are not all out competition units, if they had seperate compression and rebound, as well as high and low speed adjustabitlity the asking the price would have to be a great deal higher, exponentially so.

I have Moton's on my Vette, 2-way and can make them work well enough, the 3 and 4 ways are just to far out of my price range(I would not of even bought the Moton's but the car came with a new set, to steep a price for me

For all but the most extreme all out competition effort these will do a really great job. I have seen prototypes, these are a really well made product for a very good price and do what the vast majority will need from them


Rick

stano

Here are my street impressions at the moment :

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100

Yes, I'm part of the "vast majority" looking for a street/track shock that performs great on the street and handles HPDE events as well.
I'll know about the latter in April.

Aaron Pfadt

You are correct. One ****, compression and rebound. They adjust at about a 3:1 ratio (rebound biased). It is similar to our coilover adjustment.

-Aaron

LOS ANGELES PI

Nice looking stuff Aaron!.

Great forum vendor.

Aaron Pfadt

We hold the dyno curves pretty close. That is the 'majic' of the shocks.

Just for clarification for everyone reading, I'll define a few terms and then answer your questions. When people are talking about shock damping, they often throw out 'high speed' and 'low speed'. A common misconception is that it refers to the speed of the vehicle. Actually it refers to the speed of the shock shaft movement. Low speed damping is when the shaft speed is low (0 to 4 in/sec or so). That occurs mostly when the car is getting steering, acceleration or braking inputs. This low speed damping makes the car feel firm and responsive. High speed damping is generally road induced. It occurs when tire hits a disturbance and moves the wheel rapidly, less high speed damping is sometimes desirable from a ride quality standpoint.

Our inverts adjust both compression and rebound with one ****. That means if you stiffen the compression damping (wheel moving up), the rebound damping (wheel moving down) also gets stiffer. That is a great arrangement that offers a wide range of adjustability without the complexity of independent adjustment. It allows even a novice to tune the suspension and balance of the car based on the car's behavior.

To address the high speed/low speed discussion our adjustment controls the entire range of the damping curve from low speed to high speed. Some shocks (3-way and 4-way) have an independent adjustment for the low speed and high speed regimes. That allows a user to change the low speed behavior without affecting the high speed behavior. It can be a nice feature (look for it on some of our future coilover products), but it adds a lot of cost and complexity.

So in summary, our adjustment is of both rebound and compression and the entire speed range. What our shocks lack (as with most anything you can buy without adding a zero to the price) is some complex independent adjustments that need real data collection and analysis to take advantage of.

As always, we're around to answer any questions.

thanks,
Aaron

Viscerl

Hi Aaron.

Is there a setting on these shocks that dynos very closely to the stock 08 Z06 curve?

I'd love to put them on if I knew that I could start from stock and adjust from there (for autoX). I also know that if I change the characteristics of the car (negatively OR positively) too much for street driving, the wife will believe "the modding has begun... the downward spiral...".

If there is a setting very close to stock and you think you have some data as to settings to start a Stock 08 Z on for AutoXing (on slicks... just a starting point), I'll be giving you a call.

Independent1

^^Thanks. That explanation was very helpful. I thought slow and fast had to do with the car's speed.:o

Aaron Pfadt

I just went back and looked at our dyno data on the 08Z shocks compared to our inverts. The closest curve is about a setting of 4. The 06Z shocks (rears) are closer to an 8. Overall however, you will find that even though the low speed damping is similar at those settings, the high speed compression is less than the Z06 shocks which accounts for our ride quality benefits over the stock Z shocks.

The nice thing about our shock package is that it really give a large usable range of adjustment (unlike some out there that have 3/4 of their adjustment range in barely tolerable region) that works around where the Z06 comes from the factory. There is enough 'upside' to work with stiffer spring packages and also springs that are softer than the Z car package.

-Aaron

Viscerl

Aaron,

If we buy some, can we either receive a dyno of the shocks with the shocks of them (for extra $$$, I presume).

Can you revalve the shocks yourself?

Thanks,
Chris

Aaron Pfadt

Chris,

I'd be happy to provide dyno data with a set of shocks for customer tuning use. I prefer to keep it out of the public and at least make my competition work for it a little.

You should not have to custom valve these shocks. The damping provided should accommodate any spring rates that a Corvette owner would encounter. These shocks are specifically developed to work with the dynamics of the Corvette in terms of masses etc... Our range of adjustment is wide and linear. Feel free to call me and we can discuss some of your particular needs and how these or other options might fit.

later,
Aaron

TheNick

Digressive, linear or progressive rebound valving? Assume linear compression valving? Same valving characteristics front and rear? Method of adjustment? ie needle valve or bleed windows? Can you estimate velocity/force at blow-off point for minimum and maximum settings so I can compare to companies who are willing to share their dyno plots?

Thanks

Viscerl

Well, my needs are generally a pretty digressive set of shocks for both Street Driving (ie high speed compression is approx stock with low speed compression and rebound stiffer than stock), and for Street Stock SCCA AutoX competition, ie I'll always have stock springs on, but I need repeatable low-speed adjustments that can be relatively linear without hysteresis.