A couple of months back I purchased a 2002 EB Z06 from my father who was in the process of moving to the Quantico, VA area. I had raced the car the previous year with SCCA and NCCC, and a couple other quick Corvettes the previous years before that. The car was bone stock, but the sale included two sets of race tires and wheels, so I should've been set to go racing.

Not me! Last year I had the pleasure of attending a SCCA divisonal race, and got my butt thoroughly handed to me for the first time in a class where the cars were basically identical... (the other cars were set up for racing, our car was still set up to drive on the road... with positive camber in the front!)

I vowed to never have something like this happen to me again, so when I purchased the car, I did some research on what shocks were the best for my car. I was especially interested in the Pfadt sport shocks. I contacted Aaron at Pfadt, and explained my situation. I had to stay with shocks and leaf springs instead of going all out with coilovers since I wanted to stay in my class in both NCCC and Scca. I had picked up a set of T1 swaybars as well, and made the decision to purchase the Pfadts.

I had the car lowered, the shocks and swaybars installed, and the car aligned after a week or so of driving. WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

EVEN with the T1 bars on the car, when I set the shocks to the softest setting, the car drives MUCH more smooth on the road than the stock hardware did! The car does not follow the grooves in the road like the previous stuff, and the car soaks up every bump the road gives it. It was unbelievable, I expected a harsh ride because of the bars, but was more than pleasantly surprised!

I must say though, I bought the shocks and swaybars for the track, not for the road. So this last weekend I had the opportunity to test them in a racing environment at our "low speed" event. I can't put into words how great the car felt, only on the #6 setting all around.

Previously in slaloms, a guy would toss the car around, and a slight correction on the steering wheel was necessary to plant the car, and get set for the next gate. With the setup I'm running now, I would flick the car to one side, then the other without correction, the car just STUCK to the road! I was running slaloms and gates flat out in third gear, where last year I would run the same course in second gear. The car never felt out of control, and even encouraged me to go faster! The results were astonishing, I won overall FTD the first day by a second. The guy who was second to me was one of the guys who whipped me at the SCCA race last year, so it was nice to see my new setup was working well! The third place car for comparison was 4 seconds slower than my pace!

The second day, I changed to street tires as I had to leave early. I was originally going to run a 2008 Z06 the next day, but that fell through with rain threatening, so I ran my car on street tires. I turned the shocks down, and attempted a run. I will admit, I won't ever race on street tires with this car again. It sure didn't help that my street tires are darn near bald, but I did everything I could not to spin the car out at each gate. Needless to say my times suffered significantly, but once I got the shocks set to a level that made the car more comfortable, it wasn't too bad. I referred to the Pfadt adjustment sheet, and softened the rear shocks. Worked perfect, and I was able to get down to a full second quicker than any other car on street tires.

Pfadt has made it soo easy to adjust their shocks as well. No need to jack the car up, take the wheels off, and mess around. There is a dial at the base of the shock mount, just reach under the car, find it, and turn it as many clicks as necessary! Takes less than a minute for all four shocks!





All in all, my Pfadt experience soo far has been great, and I would highly recommend these shocks to anyone and everyone who is looking for more compliance in their street ride, yet wants the option of tuning the car up for a little racing! Thanks again Pfadt!

 

very cool ima probably end up buying these shocks because of this review

 

I heard a lot of the same talk this weekend after I would get out of the car and express the joy of racing it! A lot of people advised they were seriously considering purchasing these shocks! For the money, they honestly can NOT be beat!!!

 

Do you have a link for these shocks (and the rest of your setup)or does a Forum sponsor carry these?

 

http://advanceddyno.com - They are supporting sponsors, contact Dallas@advanceddyno on this board for more information

or

http://www.pfadtracing.com/catalog - Contact Aaron Pfadt on this board for more information. Aaron can tell you the specifics about the shocks as well. He provided me with the answers that I needed!

My setup:

2002 EB Z06- stock motor!
Pfadt Sport Shocks
T1 Sway bars front/rear
Lowered on stock bolts
2.0 degrees negative camber front
1.5 degrees negative camber rear
zero toe front and rear


edit: Aaron's handle on this board is Aaron Pfadt, sorry for the confusion!

 

^^^ thanks

 

I'm glad that your experience with us has been "great". We work very hard to make sure that everyones experience with us is nothing short of excellent.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we can help you with!

Enjoy your new suspension, drive safe and happy motoring!

 

Another thumbs up for the Pfadt crew and products. I have had my coilovers for over 30k miles and love them.

 

FYI, I just won the autocross at the Year One Experience at Road Atlanta with the PFADT coilovers. The best shocks I have tried yet on my car!

Don

 

i love reading things like this. I am ordering the full deal from PFADT as soon as i get back from leave and i have only read good things about them!

 

To Anyone,

For Street use, what are your CoilOver settings...? I have 10 up front and 8 in the rear...

 

I don't know what mine are exactly, but I think it was 9Fr and 8Rr

 

Mine are 8 all around. Pfatty's also.

I didn't like having the rears set softer than the fronts, at all.

 

I've exchanged emails w/Robbin @ Pfadt in regards to finding a local distributor & he was also extremely helpful in his advice for my daily driven/non-autocrossed C5. I'll end up w/the coilovers ( overkill for the street, I know, but I just CAN'T help myself!! ) & F/R sways. Couldn't talk Robbin into a Group Buy ( they protect their dealers ) but still extremely knowledgeable. He said he'd like to see pics of mine when I have the suspension done.

Gene

 

I have my stuff set rather soft for the street, as we have some seriously rough roads here in town. Plus, I ran street tires for a couple events, and found the rear of the car to be very twitchy in transitions, so by softening the rear, and bumping the rear tire pressure, I was able to find a happy medium.

I think right now I'm rocking out on the street with 4 in the rear and 6-8 in the front!

For the track, I stiffen both front and rear, and depending on the course design or the track, I can easily play with shocks and tire pressures! It's great to be able to adjust these shocks soo easy!

 

I did the whole Pfadt thing, coil overs, sway bars, etc. and have had similiar experiences--my car is so slammed you could never get under it, so my shocks are adjusted thru holes in the rear compartment, and in the engine bay. They adjust from the top side. Also, I am a NASA instructor, so Pfadt credits me $25 for each event in dollars used at their web-store. I just display their decals, which look great anyway.mddpm