Danny318

why not answer the question instead of lecturing the guy about what he should do. He asked about what parts you can put on the car to make it (the car not the driver) handle better. Sure we can decide what the best way for him to spend his time and money, but this is not a self help forum.

With that said, coil overs seem to be a bit stiff/extreme for the street. Most people seem to go with upgrading the shocks to koni or bilstien shocks.

Another thing to do is sway bars and end links. this will help the cornering of the car a lot.

JLMounce

I'm glad I post on these things for no reason at all.

Without spending gobs of money you can greatly improve handling characteristics with the stock componants.

A proper corner weight using the stock bolts will improve turn in and rebound. Adding a bit of Toe in to the rear tires will help rotation, and placing a bit of negative camber at all 4 corners is going to give a bit more grip in the corners without any significant reduction in tire wear.

You could do this for a couple hours of your time and the price of an alignment...

EDIT: Pickup the lastest coupe issues of Grassroots Motorsport. They are detailing a lower budget buildup of an FRC C5. Every single principle they have used in the first couple reports can be translated over to the C6. So far they are besting their class in auto-x. Without only a set of decent tires, and suspension tuning using the stock parts.

Good read for anybody looking to improve the handling of their C5/C6 without spending big bucks.

shopdog

If you have a high dollar racing team, coil overs may make sense. The only advantage of coil overs is it is very inexpensive to change the springs for different rate springs. So if you race a different track every week, you can afford springs customed tailored to that track. Even the big buck teams couldn't afford to have custom composite monoleaf springs made for every track. But for a street driven car which has to handle all sorts of surfaces, coil overs make no sense at all.

The standard stock spring rates of OEM Corvette springs are nearly perfect for the weight of the car (note, standard, not Z51). What really sucks is the shocks (standard, Z51, or even Z06). They're underdamped in rebound, which tends to make the car hop and become unsettled in rough turns. Only the F55 shocks offer better balanced dampening, but they're bloody expensive. The best bang for the buck shocks for a Corvette are Bilsteins. For those willing to spend more, Koni offers a good shock for the Corvette too. You will immediately notice the improvement from better shocks.

You already have Z51 anti-sway bars, and those are very well matched to the car. There's no good reason to change them. You could install stiffer suspension bushings. That would tighten up chassis response a bit, but they conduct a lot more road noise, so think hard about this marginal improvement.

The most significant real change you could make to the car is tires. While the runflats aren't awful, there are much better tires out there for the hardcore enthusiast, and you'll immediately notice the improvement in handling and ride.

Tommy D

I have no idea what the best way is to improve your handling ......... because you never stated how you intend on driving you C6. (track, street, auto cross, drag racing & etc.)

Sometimes the best modification is an instant modification to the nut behind the wheel

clockworks

I was about to write a long post, but you pretty much summed up everything that I want to say.

Enough with the driving school, not that I don't think it's good, in fact, I'm heading to Motorsport Ranch soon after I take delivery of my 08, but dang... what's wrong with wanting better handling for the feel of it?

clockworks

Interesting, thanks for the info.

What about steering feel and connected to the road feeling? Honestly, I care less about actual performance than a certain "feel", and I've read in a bunch of places that the C6 is lacking in that area.

Ok, maybe that comment about caring less isn't really true, but I do care very much about the steering feel and feedback.

I don't actually have a C6 yet, so who knows, I might think it's perfect when I take delivery in a couple of months... but for the sake of discussion...

Levitating_Llama

Exactly, I could care less, too, about handling numbers, track handling and handling 'at the edge' but hugely care about handling 'feel' just tossing it around corners (which seems to be the C6's weak spot).

So, how can handling feel be improved, and greatly improved, if it's even possible?

AFR VETTE

Thank you this is exactly what i meant, i don't know why i didn't say that from the beginning.

Wayne O

I agree with others about HPDE. I hadn't been on a road course in 20+ years but a while back I joined Professional Auto Sports, took their new driver program and I run their road course events as often as possible.

I don't claim to be any expert but for the car itself...I beefed-up the tunnel plate and I installed Z06 sway bars. I got with an experienced C6 racer who helped-me setup the car....getting it balanced properly. He also suggesed I run 1-2 lbs higher air pressure in the front tires. He suggested I have my car aligned and gave me precise alignment specs for the car. I have new, wider wheels and Z06 rubber arriving tomorrow. I also plan on getting some Hoosier track tires for when our season resumes in earnest this fall. For me, I'm still doing well-enough (at my present skill level) with the F55 suspension. I'm also looking-into possible improvements to the F-55 suspension itself...possibly through an 'upgrade' re-flash. Going to a coilover suspension is an option, however, others tell me it isn't advisable unless I have a dedicated track car.

Certainly improvements to the car help but for me, the main thing is seat time....being able to practice on a track and consistently work on improving my skills.

Anomir

The car can and should handle better, and yes I have been to driving schools.

AU N EGL

Suppension upgrades, alignment, dont lower the car more then 1", better tires, and YES lots of driving schools.

A suppenions system can feel bad or not working when tires are over driven. The tire may have lots of tread on the it, but the grip is really gone for performance use very quickly.

shopdog

You're correct about steering feel. Magnasteer, the huge turning radius, steering wheel size, etc all tend to make the Corvette steering feel like it belongs in a bus or large truck. There's not a whole hell of a lot you can do about this short of replacing the entire steering system. The other issue is that you sit behind the center of mass in a Corvette. That alters your perception of handling and steering response. There's not a whole hell of a lot you can do about that either.

Realize that the stock car handles well, and can be driven very quickly, but you have to adapt to the feel of the car, not the other way round. It would require major changes to the design of the car to significantly alter its handling feel.

Buffy

The short answer is it can't. Not much, at least. the car is too big, the polar moment of inertia is too high, the driver assist and control systems are too much a part of it. The design philosophy of the C6 seems to be to make the car go where its pointed rather than have a discussion with the driver about where we want to go today.

But perhaps the best thing to change would be the driver's seat, along with adding a harness bar and real seat belts. That would at least help couple the driver to the car better than the La-Z-Boy that comes from the factory.

JVM225

mikeyc6

Want to improve how you handle the car, go to driving school. Want to make the biggest improvement in the car's ability to handle, get rid of the run-flats!

Mike

Levitating_Llama

Ahhh...finally. Thanks for the answers. They make sense.

clockworks

Not what I wanted to hear, but good info none the less. Thanks, guys.

ScottJ03

I have a 07 C6 Z51. I changed PS2 Tires, HRE wheels, Pfadt Coilovers and Swaybars. The coilovers have shock adjustments.
Handles like a racecar. 1.2G on onramps. Tighter ride. The stock suspension would wash out. Not now. Sportscar = Spirited Driving
So I would start with Tires and go on form there.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/images/smilies/smile5.gif

68roadster

Pfadt swaybars?

shopdog

I disagree that the car is too big. It is almost exactly the same size as a 350Z, which has a much better handling feel, though actual handling is no better. I disagree with the seat comment too. The biggest single thing that drove me out of the 350Z and into the Corvette was the seats. The narrow little pinch you in seats of the 350Z were actively painful on any drive lasting over 30 minutes. By contrast, the C6 seats are good for 1,000 miles a day, as I just proved driving 2,000 miles in the last two days without becoming a cripple.