ace996

Building/modding my new '01 Z06 for HPDEs and I'm at debating on the suspension. I'd like to do the T-1bars and either bushings or coilovers...yes, I"m sure ALL of them is preferred, but if you had to choose between the bushings or coilovers, which ones would it be?

I am an instructor with NASA/PDA and have a few years of experience with suspension set-up, so if coilovers are the route I take I am finding it tough to ignore the LG GT2 adjustables/LGSways package.

Thanks so much,
TomK

gkmccready

You'll want poly bushings whether you stick with leafs or go coilover. Just be prepared to lube them. Mine were great until the weather got cooler and now they're making noise all over the place.

lkelliott

You may not want to ignore the PFADT coilovers, sways and poly bushings. The sways are totally adjustable and the poly bushings come with all of the steel inserts in the kit. Check them out at: www.pfadtracing.com

Independent1

^^Personally, I would hold off on the bushings given all the issues with them binding. The LG coilovers look pretty nice and I plan to pick up a set soon myself. I think they are easier to adjust than the pfadts. So far they have received good reviews from people who have them.

The adjustability of the Pfadt sways is hard to overlook.

jlvink66

If you are doing the job yourself, the coilovers and sways combined will take about 25% of the time to swap out compared to that of new bushings. Bushings are a b#$*ch to install. I installed all three myself. You should take a serious look at Pfadt also.

John

Lan.Jet

I have the VBP bushings LG coilovers GT and T1 bars. If I had to do it over I would probably just leave it all stock and save the money. But if you really want to spend money I probably would do the coilovers.

AU N EGL

Interesting tell us more :

timd38

Ditto That's what I did and wish I had done it before I sepnt money on all the other bars and shocks I bought.

rfn026

VBP makes the stiffest poly bushings. Energy Suspension bushings are the softest.

Richard

blkz

I have coilovers and spherical bearings . Couldn't be happier but there is a trade off . Rough on the street but what a track monster .

Lan.Jet

I have tracked my car for four years now. I run a data logger so when I make changes I can tell if it really helped. A lot of times you make a change and fool your self into thinking it was faster. I have had many street cars and always started to modify them thinking it was better. They were only driven on the street though, big difference.
I now have a great deal of respect for the engineers on the Corvette team. It is a beautifully balanced car out of the factory. When you star to make changes most of the time you will disrupt this balance. I started with the Bushings this didn’t change lap time it did change the way the car felt it would now easily catch road imperfections and throw the car. If you want a combo track street car I would probably leave the stock bushings. I then installed the T1 bars. This made the car unbalanced I struggled for half a season to get the lap times back to what I previously had. I then changed tires to Pilot Cups this really hurt my time. At first I though it was me and my driving was getting worse but after having several Pros drive my car they all told me the same thing I had to get the balance back.One of them was very kind and went into depth on this. I then installed the LG coilovers. This has fixed the balance issue but I am pretty close to where I started. I will admit the coilover are better under certain conditions like when the suspension is rapidly unloaded it now is much smoother. If you are racing I can see experimenting if it's for fun “HPDE’s” save your money.

ace996

I appreciate everyone's comments, thank you so much.

I am hesitant to do the bushings due to the noise/binding issues that seem so prevalent with them. With the cost/work to install them, I'd hope they were a "do them and forget them" mod but it appears that they are not.

Coilovers - Having set up a few of my cars in the past with adjustable shocks/coilovers, I'm not shy about taking the time and dialing in a car. I've always been a believer that even small changes to a car's tire size, sway, and weight distribution have an effect on handling and having adjustable dampers helps. With that said, I also can't ignore the work that has been done by the "pros" with the "we valved 'em right already so you don't have to"...that certainly saves a great deal of time on adjustments. If my preference on "feel" of the shocks are similar to the "pro's", then that's awesome - but I've learned that isn't always the case.

A while back, I used to track Ducatis. My mechanic would set-up my bike to his liking and told me to "just leave it put". Well, he likes "his" bikes set-up on the soft side...I like them a little stiffer, gave me a better feel of when the tires were losing it. I wound up going faster on my settings and he went faster on his settings...same bike, same forks/shock...different preference on set-up. I also believe that setting up a suspension to one's tastes helps the driver/rider have more confidence in the vehicle. More comfortable/confidence = faster for THAT driver/rider.

So I'm left to debate the adjustable/non-adjustable shock/coilover delema now, much to my long-held belief that, in my hands for my vehicle, adjustables let me set-up MY car to behave in the manner in which I like.

Now where are those GT2 reviews????

Be good,
TomK

C5 LS7

I am running T1 bars w/ Bilstien sports. We installed poly bushings last year and the car now rides like a tank , a squeaky tank. If it wasn't such a beotch to change them I would change them back to rubber. NOT WORTH THE HASSLE. IMHO

Independent1

[QUOTE=ace996;1572285185]
Now where are those GT2 reviews????/QUOTE]


Here is a link to one. Street car but still informative.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...rs-review.html

AlwaysInBoost

I installed pfadt polys about 3 months ago. So far I've done two track days (over 300 track miles), one autox and drove maybe another 900-1,000 miles on the street in between, so about 1,300+/- miles on the bushings to date. as of last weekend I haven't heard so much as a peep from them...yet. I did however go the extra step and cleaned the bores to a mirror finish, drilled and tapped for zerk fittings & greased the ***** out of everything.

two weekend ago, before the last autox, I put the car in the air and there was no sign of binding that I could tell. when I jacked the car my wheels acted like they were glued to the ground if that makes sense, I don't recall the stock bushings doing that. From what I've read almost everyone who installed poly bushings noted the noises started to manifest in the winter time. I guess only time will tell if I fall into the squeaky bushing catagory...

WKMCD

[QUOTE=Independent1;1572287264]More miles on the setup and I realize I need to add some more spring preload and 2 or 3 clicks of preload in the rear and 1 or 2 more in the front.

FWIW: I spent 16 years on road courses on 2 wheels so I'm fairly sensitive to this stuff.

Independent1

[QUOTE=WKMCD;1572304274]^^Glad you posted in this thread. Still lovin' the LGs?

ace996

[QUOTE=WKMCD;1572304274]Preload or rebound? Are there 'clicks' on preload or 'threads'? I thought there was threads, although I know on some of the bike shocks, ride-height is set from notched collars that have 'clicks'.

Yes, thank you for posting here, it is very much appreciated.

As mentioned above, you still like them? If faced with the choice again would you buy them again?

Thanks,
TomK

WKMCD

[QUOTE=ace996;1572304505]These have a spanner nut on the shock body and another that locks it in place for adjusting the spring preload. The shock dampening has 12 click settings. I'm running them on the 5 position with 1 being soft and 12 being hard. I'm going to raise the rear to 7 and the fronts to the 6th position and I think I'll be good. The front is near perfect now.

Yes, I'd do them again.

Kevin