Fast Eddie I

Looking for some on-car evaluations of this shock set-up. I've searched the Forum and cannot locate anything about their real-life benefits.

I have a 2007 Z with minor cam/head/intake work [530rwhp]. The suspension is basically OEM except for Michelin SSs in stock sizes. I do 3-4 HPDEs/year and am looking for some upgrades to improve its on-track performance while still maintaining its street manners. With my driving habits, I cannot afford to lower the ride height appreciably.

I've known Eibach to be a good name from its SCCA, etc. involvement. My research and talks with Eibach tech lead me to think that much can be gained with the R2 installation. If you have any hands-on experience good or bad, I'd appreciate your feedback.

Thanks in advance.

el es tu

not 100% sure, but I think the eibach coilover kits retain the leaf spring setup... thats a lot of weight to keep especially for such an expensive setup.

Id look at coilovers from kw, hardbar/penske, drm/bilstein, lg/bilstein, pfadt, jrz, ohlins, or moton

good luck!

RX-Ben

If you only do 3-4 DEs a year, on street tires, keep the OEM suspension. Maybe change the sway bars if you want to tune something. What is wrong with its current on-track performance?

TorontoC6

Forget Eibach.

Talk to LG. Get their G2 Bilstein inverted coilovers but ask for the long bodies. They are still adjustable for height but don't drop the car as much. They are reasonably priced but are not adjustable in rebound. Also, change your bushings to poly kit. If you do coilover's then you should add bars as well. It's a slippery slope. Pretty soon you have spent $5k to $6k.

Pfadt are also good.

wstaab

Here is a set of Eibach C6 double adjustable coil overs designed for use without the stock transverse leafe springs:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...oil-overs.html

Zoxxo

Only if you want to. You can change out the "helper" coils for coils that will support the car without the leafs.

Z//

Fast Eddie I

I appreciate all the comments, but still would enjoy hearing from someone that has them installed.

You are correct; there is nothing wrong with the OEM setup. I keep reading [in the Forum] about the handling improvement that coilovers bring and wanted to give them a try. Most true coilover setups appear to lower the ride height which is not an option for me. That is how I ran into the Eibach R2 setup.

I guess that I should just leave it as-is... but everyone knows how long that type of thinkling lasts.

Thanks for the insight.

Zoxxo

I have them installed and I love them. That said, I don't track the car and I did leave the leaf springs in place. My reason was to give me the ability to adjust them and to eliminate the skittishness of the rear end when cornering over small bumps. They did that nicely.

Ride height remains unchanged if you leave the leafs in place (ride height is still controlled by the stock "bolts" setup) and if you go to the full coilover setup you can set the height any way you want (true of most (all?) coil over setups.)

I just replaced my four year old set with all new ones (the old ones will be sent in for rebuilding - one had a small leak.) That's how much I like them.

We have Pfadt coilovers on my wife's C6 and nothing about them would make me want to change my setup for hers

Z//

Fast Eddie I

Thanks, Zoxxo. These are excellent comments.

Question: Do you feel that the leakage you have experienced is abnormal or just a result of high/heavy use? Most newer OEM shocks seem to last forever..... so I am just trying to gauge whether all coilovers or the Eibach product specifically may be a higher manitenance item.

Thanks for your time and helpfulness.

Zoxxo

Well, both, actually. I've had them on there for close to 45,000 miles so having one of the four (right rear) develop a leak isn't particularly surprising. On the other hand, the other three seem to be fine (but I expect that there's no easy way to tell if a given shock is on the brink.) So I simply got a second new set, replaced them all with brand new ones, and will have the first set rebuilt by Eibach and either use them when the current set goes south or sell them if I need the space. :-)

Another reason I went with these is I like the remote reservoir idea that lets me put the shock adjusters where I want them (within reason.) Pretty easy to tweak at will. The rears still require a bit of a reach around the tire but even so, there's none of the "find the right allen wrench and a flashlight" bit - just reach in there and turn the easy-to-find and easy-to-grab ****.

Z//

Fast Eddie I

Zoxxo: Your under-hood look is really great. I too have the visible valve cover look.

I thank you again for your gratious responses and insightful comments. In two weeks, I am scheduled to attend a HPDE at Pocono Raceway. There should be plenty of "experts" there that I can bounce my thoughts and your insight off. Anyone with an Eibach decal is in danger of getting their ears talked off!

Feel free to PM me with any additional comments that you may think would be of interest.

Ed

cleanerPA

I have the Callaway/Eibach R2 setup, which is, I believe, the same system. I'm running stock leafs with the helper springs- I didn't know you can run this setup as a full coilover, as Callaway is completely useless as a company for after-sales support.

The handling is improved- the shocks have much better valving, so the car has more traction overall- skittishness over sharp, high frequency bumps is eliminated, as is the overall instability when encountering a mid-corner bump. The ride quality is much improved as well- I think this is a great setup for a primarily street setup. I don't know how well it is suited to track use, as I don't know how difficult it is to convert to straight coils and re-valve accordingly.

Zoxxo

The thing to do is have a conversation with the Eibach support folks. They know all about these things but for the Callaway deal they are just the OEM for a third-party product. Eibach will know exactly what you have and what to do if making it a true coilover (and a race setup, too) if that's what you want.

The Callaway setup is really quite nice for a street car (which is precisely its intent.) In fact, they can probably give you the proper setup with a direct-from-Eibach deal that bypasses the Callaway middleman altogether (since that's what Eibach is about.)

Z//