sothpaw2

Well...finally went through with the modest suspension mod

Special thanks first to all those folks I asked questions of by pm...(screen names for privacy): andrewdonald1, CHJ_in_Virginia, gkMccready, Solofast, Froggy47, Joy of 6. Also Zanek's sticky thread...a great starting point. You were all a big help...many thanks!

Pfadt O'Connell bars:

Overall: Great build quality, easy installation, good instructions, incredible customer service, nice quite adjustable endlinks, good performance for the $ I choose these over the tried & true Hotchkis & T1 bars after much debate because they offer bigger front bars (35mm) than the Hotchkis plus poly bushings and adjustable endlinks for not to much more than the Hotchkis. T1s would be great but the JO bars should be fairly close in stiffness...about double as stiff in front as stock C5Z.

Specifics:

Build Quality:

All parts included and properly packed for shipping...paint and label on the bars gives a nice racy look to the underside of the car. Everything fits. Endlinks are rod-end type adjustable with hex jam nut in the middle which made adjustment easy so that zero preload of the bars was not a challenge. Just have to remind myself to keep these tight and I may coat with something to keep the dirt out.

Install:

These went in with no major issues and were fairly easy to install with the only minor challenge being my oil cooler lines. I did add shims under the bushings as advised here to make sure the bars were not binding in the bushings before the links were hooked up. The instructions(although most probably don't need them) had good photo illustrations and were well written and easy to understand.

Performance:
On the street at least, the supplied silicone grease works very well and on the street I do not hear the bars at all or the endlinks. Using the center position of the rear bar ( Curt!!) as with a Hotchkis kit, the car is more neutral than stock...I would say very neutral. It was hard for me in my favorite corner to get either end out but the rear did ultimately give a gentle sway...this is with gradual, smooth throttle increase. Stock, you could feel the car push much more. On my favorite ramp, (long, constant radius hairpin) with the same alignment and tires as 2 weekends ago, my speed increased about 4 mph Generally, the car just feels flatter (very flat...what little lean there is does not deter me from going faster as before...it's more the feeling I'm getting from the rear tires) in the corner which is IMHO the true mark of a sports car.

Bilstein Sports:

Overall: Quality ok, poor instructions, good performance. I choose these as a routine maintenance stock type replacement with the hope of a modest upgrade in performance...these are the tried& true HPDE shock for many folks it seems. Right now I want to concentrate on driving...so maybe later I will go to an adjustable.

Build Quality: shocks themselves have good appearance & fit but I was shorted hardware on for 1 shock (front). Have to fix that at some point...not sure it really matters though as I still use their washers to protect both fronts.

Install: Was my first shock install but really those instructions seem poor to me. Poor cartoon illustration far worse than IKEA, seems they use these same instructions for every shock they sell. Label on the front shocks I think may be incorrect, at least that's my interpretation. Broken English. They should charge $.50 more and do something decent. JMO

Performance: I need to do some more testing on the street and later the track but for sure these feel like they have a firmer rebound when I hit a bump then the stockers. Car seemed very composed when I hit a bump mid corner, where before it was not this composed. We'll see how they do on track...I wanted to concentrate on driving this year...if these don't seem to be much better than stock I will do the Koni's next year.

Hope this helps anyone considering an upgrade!

Andy

ptindall

Thanks. As you may remember, I plan on buying these as well, but also getting the matching shocks. Like you were, I am on worn out stock shocks. I am not really sure the extra $100 for the O'Connel shocks is worth it over the Bilstiens you got. I actually filled out my order online a couple nights ago on their website but it came back with an error and could not process. I need to call Pfadt.

Are you sure these sway bars need C-clamp spacers like the other Pfadt bars? Did you install them without spacers to see how hard it squished them and if it caused binding?

Looking foward to hearing your track impressions. I'm probably going to be doing poly bushings and tires at the same time so I won't have as much of a handle on what the shocks and sways alone have done for me.

uberC5

In for more info as you put the miles on this setup. Also for ptindall on the complete Johnny O kit. That is the future suspension for my C5Z.

Thanks for the write up!!

sothpaw2

Yeah I was torn on the shocks too. The O'connell shocks might be a better option but there so new, there's no one I know that has them on a C5Z. The Sports are the tried-and-true solution along with '04 shocks (very similar). Nobody says those are poor options...just that there may be better options for a bit more as with the Koni 3013.

Yeah I'm pretty sure they need a little shim. I did crank'em down first w/o shim...I wasn't even thinking about it but I noticed they seemed to bind. I took it to a shop for the zero-preload end link install (just so much easier to do that with the right lift etc) and he agreed they were too tight and provided the shims.

ptindall

CHJ In Virginia

Glad that everything worked out to your satisfaction. Now get that thing on the track to see how they really work !!!

0John@Trackspecmotorsports

Great to see another happy Pfadt JOC customer. As the weather continues to improve, we will really start to see more reivews on this awsome set up from Pfadt racing.

If anyone needs any Pfadt parts, shoot us a PM on what you are looking for as we offer FREE SHIPPING on all Pfadt parts with very competitive pricing!

Thanks Andy for taking the time to do a write up and bump for another happy Pfadt Customer!

Pfadt Racing

Thanks for the kind words about the bars and the install instructions. We really pride ourselves on providing top quality install instructions with all of our products.

For those of you looking for a shock upgrade for street and occasional track use, the JOC's were developed specifically for you. A digressive damping curve developed specifically for street cars gives you increased control and decreased twitchyness of the stock shocks.



Let us know if you guys have any questions about this setup. We are really excited to get feedback on the Johnny O'Connell package!