Suspension mods for C4s
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
From: St. Michael Minnesota
Suspension mods for C4s
What are the options for lowering a C4 and trying to make it handle as well as possible. (tubular A arms?, shocks/springs?, coilovers all around?, air suspension?)
What do you have?
What do fully modded C4 race cars have?
Any web sites so i can get a rough idea for price?
What do you have?
What do fully modded C4 race cars have?
Any web sites so i can get a rough idea for price?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 848
Likes: 1
From: 1992 LT1 6 speed Cayman Islands
All you need is the lowering kit which has the longer bolts for trhe rear and a thinner pad for the front springs.
Stock control arms are race quality and coilovers are good but very expensive.
You could include poly bushings.
Stock control arms are race quality and coilovers are good but very expensive.
You could include poly bushings.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 14,674
Likes: 751
From: NEwhere Ohio
In the cars Ive messed around with, nothing has ever provided a better bang-for-buck seat-of-the-pants improvement as thicker swaybars with polyurethane bushings.
Unlike stiffer springs and shocks, they do not degrade ride quality either. The onyl downside is they make the car more darty - meaning it changes direction more quickly so highway drives might require more steering input to keep going in the same direction.
I do not have any race experience before/after making a sway bar change. I believe sway bars simply allow you to make the best use of your tire grip. Your tires become the limiting factor after that point.
All this said, ive never done a sway bar upgrade on my C4.
What I have done is the R&D camber brace which stiffens the front frame. Where Ive noticed a difference is in my vert. With the top down, I cant corner as hard (its a small difference, but I notice that I cant get as high lateral g's) as I can with the top up.
However with the RD camber brace, I can corner the same top down vs. top up
My only complaint is its weight. Its heavy steel and adds a good 12 pounds weight to your car.
Unlike stiffer springs and shocks, they do not degrade ride quality either. The onyl downside is they make the car more darty - meaning it changes direction more quickly so highway drives might require more steering input to keep going in the same direction.
I do not have any race experience before/after making a sway bar change. I believe sway bars simply allow you to make the best use of your tire grip. Your tires become the limiting factor after that point.
All this said, ive never done a sway bar upgrade on my C4.
What I have done is the R&D camber brace which stiffens the front frame. Where Ive noticed a difference is in my vert. With the top down, I cant corner as hard (its a small difference, but I notice that I cant get as high lateral g's) as I can with the top up.
However with the RD camber brace, I can corner the same top down vs. top up
My only complaint is its weight. Its heavy steel and adds a good 12 pounds weight to your car.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,036
Likes: 13
From: Edmonton AB
What year is your car? Does it have the base suspension? What
are you aiming to use the car for mostly -drag racing, track days,
autocross?
Tubular control arms and air suspension don't really figure into the C4
picture. Coil-overs have their proponents, figure on say $1,500+/- ?
Starting out, money spent on alignment, shocks and tires pays off.
Take care of maintenance items like ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel
bearings as required. Braces from R-D Racing help stiffen the car
making the suspension do more of the work. Depending on your
existing parts, sway bars and possibly springs may be worth considering.
For aggressive or competitive driving, look for ways to increase
negative camber at the front.
For vendor sites, there is R-D, Doug Rippie Motorsports, Vette Brakes
& Products there for you to browse.
.
are you aiming to use the car for mostly -drag racing, track days,
autocross?
Tubular control arms and air suspension don't really figure into the C4
picture. Coil-overs have their proponents, figure on say $1,500+/- ?
Starting out, money spent on alignment, shocks and tires pays off.
Take care of maintenance items like ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel
bearings as required. Braces from R-D Racing help stiffen the car
making the suspension do more of the work. Depending on your
existing parts, sway bars and possibly springs may be worth considering.
For aggressive or competitive driving, look for ways to increase
negative camber at the front.
For vendor sites, there is R-D, Doug Rippie Motorsports, Vette Brakes
& Products there for you to browse.
.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,169
Likes: 0
From: Manhattan
Originally Posted by Slalom4me
What year is your car? Does it have the base suspension? What
are you aiming to use the car for mostly -drag racing, track days,
autocross?
Tubular control arms and air suspension don't really figure into the C4
picture. Coil-overs have their proponents, figure on say $1,500+/- ?
Starting out, money spent on alignment, shocks and tires pays off.
Take care of maintenance items like ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel
bearings as required. Braces from R-D Racing help stiffen the car
making the suspension do more of the work. Depending on your
existing parts, sway bars and possibly springs may be worth considering.
For aggressive or competitive driving, look for ways to increase
negative camber at the front.
For vendor sites, there is R-D, Doug Rippie Motorsports, Vette Brakes
& Products there for you to browse.
.
are you aiming to use the car for mostly -drag racing, track days,
autocross?
Tubular control arms and air suspension don't really figure into the C4
picture. Coil-overs have their proponents, figure on say $1,500+/- ?
Starting out, money spent on alignment, shocks and tires pays off.
Take care of maintenance items like ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel
bearings as required. Braces from R-D Racing help stiffen the car
making the suspension do more of the work. Depending on your
existing parts, sway bars and possibly springs may be worth considering.
For aggressive or competitive driving, look for ways to increase
negative camber at the front.
For vendor sites, there is R-D, Doug Rippie Motorsports, Vette Brakes
& Products there for you to browse.
.
Here is what I have done (in suggested order):
good street tires (Kunho MX)
lowered (longer bolts in the back, thinner shims up front)
aggresive alignment (-1.75* camber, 0 toe Front, a little toe-in Rear)
poly-urethane bushings (Energy Suspension master flex kit + Doug Rippie shock bushings)
rebuilt and revalved FX3 shocks by Bilstein (one was leaking)
My next planned upgrade is sway bars. After that, it's springs or coil-overs. A C4 race car will have a full cage that will greatly stiffen the chassie, allowing the suspension to work more effectively. I'll probably just add a 4-point bar in the back.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,253
Likes: 2
From: Castro Valley CA
Here is what I have done for a track driven 94 LT1. It is reasonably competitive with a lot of more expensive and newer machinery including the C5's. 32 mm Front Bar, 26mm rear Bar, Poly bushings everywhere, RD Camber Brace and Cross Brace, heim jointed end links(these are new and I will try them out at Thunderhill next week), heim jointed toe control rod kit, FX3 controler chip(electronically changes the shock settings to more aggresive programs), track alignment and of course the most important change Hoosier GAC's(275's all around.)By the way, I bought these through Merle at Exotic Muscle and despite all the controversy, I was very satisfied and would recommend him.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 804
Likes: 5
From: Fresno CA
http://www.guldstrand.com/Here's the guys to talk to-I've got their heim jointed camber rod kit, toe rod kit, f&r sway bars w/heim jointed end links, poly trailing arm bushings, front control arm bushings, front sway bar lowering brackets and of course front lowering wedges and rear poly spring bushings, and long bolts..do all that and you won't believe how your car will handle...have Guldstrand send you a catalog, they have alot of useful tuning info on these cars...talk to Bobby there..really great guy...tell him Evan sent you.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,389
Likes: 10
From: Jacksonville FL
I have done coil overs, ZR1 front and rear sway bars with heim jointed end links, and all poly bushings. Nothing will make as much of a differance as tires, so run the stickiest ones you can tolerate. I got all of my parts from Exotic Muscle as well.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 937
Likes: 0
From: Bedford Tx
I would recommend that possible spring-swaybar
changes be simulated with a suspension
analyzer program, before making willie-nillie
changes.
also,
does anyone have a suspension analyzer
program file, for the C4?
changes be simulated with a suspension
analyzer program, before making willie-nillie
changes.
also,
does anyone have a suspension analyzer
program file, for the C4?
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,286
Likes: 2
From: Stamping Ground KY
for autox swaybars and revalved shocks can get the job done. Coilovers are best if you can buy multiple sets of springs and change them out for each track you run (tune the spring-rate on a per track basis).
Pro
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 590
Likes: 0
From: Boynton Beach, FL
In response to original post, you cannot discuss modifications unless you specify intended application. A track, race or autocross car all require different set ups. So, what do you plan to do with the car??
I've done all with a C-4 so I've been there.
Larry
I've done all with a C-4 so I've been there.
Larry
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 8,683
Likes: 6
From: Phoenix AZ
Doug Rippie and Exotic Muscle have TONS of upgrades available for the C4 suspension, give them a call or check out their websites to get an idea of what you might want
www.dougrippie.com
www.exoticmuscle.com
www.dougrippie.com
www.exoticmuscle.com
