I recently purchased a 68K mile 94 coupe. This is my first Corvette and I am very pleased. Having never driven a C4 I am not familiar with the handling feel. The suspension feels a little "softer" than I anticipates. Should the steering be as tight as that on my wife's 09 Mustang GT?

If something needs attention I want to give it the love but not throw money at something that is not broken.

This newbie appreciates the brain trust here.

 

Look under your center console lid, and look for the RPO codes FE1, FX3. Those both and some VERY soft springs as part of the suspension setup. 94MY had some of the softest springs. In fact 94-96MY's are the softest.

What do you mean by the steering feeling tight? Hard to turn?

Normal steering feel in my 93 is a tad heavier at lower speeds but nothing crazy. Kinda dead on center, but this is good for highway travel. Builds in resistance as speed and corning forces build. Feels more accurate with speed and turns. At the limit of adhesion the steering feel is much better than when puttering around town.

I would never describe it as heavy. My steering is very accurate and responsive. That being said, my car has MUCH stiffer springs/sway bars/and aggressive alignment settings.

 

Ok, im gonna write a book about what ive learned...

First thing I did to my 93 c4 vert 6spd (had 26k when i got it) was ditched the bilstein shocks. The rear end felt 'bouncy'. It did not feel good, nor achieve its goal of riding comfortale(as I was 'bouncing' all over the place).

I installed bilstein z51 shocks and this made a world of difference. Changed the character of the car. Best suspension mod I had ever done.

Then I added a welded 6point cage to make car legal (vert) for road course events. I thought id notice a great chassis improvement in stiffness/response, but did not feel as big a benefit as I thought.

Next, I did the Z07 front swaybar and installed solid end inks. I expected a big improvement, but only noticed a small one.

I did a banski rear trailing arm kit. Essentially replacing all the rear bushings with rod ends. This improved the ride quite a bit by forcing road shock to go thru spring/shock instead of thru the bushing and intothe frame.

I replaced batwing(on differential) and steering rack with polyurethane. I didnt notice anythng. If I could do it over, id replace them with solid (aluminum) bushings).

Recently, I replaced lower control arm bushings with Del-Alum bushings. That made decent difference. Contrary to what I expected it did not hurt ride.

On final note...I am not a fan of 'stiff' transvers leaf springs on c4's. This is not the place to enhance steering response...You want spring to allow front to rise and rear to squat for traction.

 

I looked at the RPO and my suspension is FE1.
I will have to take the car out this weekend and drive it while paying close attention to what I am feeling and expecting. My points for comparison are my wifes Mustang and my now departed 88 IROC.

I will do some driving and make mental notes of what I feel and what do I expect to feel from the car and then compare the information y'all have provided to what I bring back from an attentative test drive.

 

FE1 is going to be soft feeling. My buddy has a 94 FE1 my 93 had the FX3 setup on it stock, and it rode harder and was more responsive than his 94. I put Z07 springs/bars on my 93, NIGHT and day the handling difference.