I wasn't exactly thrilled with my Z06's handling at first (was 2yrs old and had 12k). I noticed during my canyon runs that the backend would jump out sideways on me on loaded corners if I encountered a bump or break/crease whatever in pavement. In general it was an untrustworthy car to drive fast on my favorite haunts.

But after getting coilovers and larger sway bars I was amazed with the difference it made. Just way better controlled in-general and the crazy backend sideways hop went away.

These cars are all over 10 years old now, so they're going to not be 100% most likely. I suggest going over your car's suspension with the tires off on a lift.

 

Its hard enough to keep all four planted and run against a 4 whl drive with a 6-800 lb weight advantage.
Your shocks are how old?
Your running mixed matched tires?

Seriously tires and shocks would be where you should start.



Might want to get in on the GP for a set of Doug Rippie tuned Bilsteins $425 Linky
A complete set of NT-05's another $900

 

4whl drive?

brz is a rwd sport coupe

 

Yup, the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S are front-engine/RWD sport coupes weighing about 2600 pounds. Definitely not 4wd and definitely no 800 pounds lighter (Z06s curb at 3118).

 

They weigh 2750lbs.

 

Oops, guess I missed the weight they gained in translation; the Toyota 86 weighs in almost exactly at 2600 pounds (2596 in UK spec)

So there you go: there's about a 350lb weight difference, stock for stock, between the US-spec BRZ and the C5 Z06 not nearly as huge a difference as it was made out to be, regardless

 

but, they also have a much more narrow tire which helps in making them easy to drive. traction will break more gradual and at lower limits. the car was designed to be very easy to drive at the limit for anyone.

the c5z not so much. it has much larger tires, much more power, will get upset on uneven terrain easier, but, if you learn the quirks of the suspension you'll have a really fast car for it's price category

one of my old roomies bought a brz and that's why. he can go drive it 100% on the backroads and have great control of the car. there is something to be said for having a car that's easy to push to the limit. try that with a c5z, especially on good tires and you're WAY above the speed limit, and, have to be a lot more careful. that increase in speed means an increase in your driving skill required. physics are physics

 

True, it requires more skill to push a Z06 to it's limits, but the Z06 can be pushed much further than a BRZ unless the BRZ has some major, major mods or the Z06 driver is well, not really a good driver.

Good tires are essential though. When I had the Pirelli P Zeros on (which are expensive and suppose to be top of the line), I had a hard time keeping up with bud's 01 Z06, with about 55 less HP (he is totally stock). It wasn't that his car had more power or that he was that much of a better driver, it was all about the tires.

With the Michelin's on, no way he can walk or pull ahead of me. The problem with the P Zeros was traction. They would break way too soon, without even trying to push the car to it's limits.

With the right rubber, I can take corners about 30% faster than I could before. I also have much more comfort in doing so. It makes that much difference.

I can spin her up between the gears much quicker, without having to worry about wheel spin and/or wheel hop.

I cannot even imagine trying to push her with the tire situation that the original poster stated he had. With slick tires, consisting of two different brands and tread patterns, if you were to try and go anywhere near the limits of this car, I bet it was feeling kind of squirrelly.

I suggest that the original poster get it up on a rack, go over it, and if all checks out, go and get the best tires he can afford. The Pilot SS are the top of the line now for overall performance, but are really high. Hearing very good things about the Nittos, the Continentals, and the Vredestein Tires. They are much cheaper than the Michelins and seem to perform very well, according to others who have used them on this board.

Here is a Car and Driver Supercar top ten report done just recently.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...omparison-test

Shame the Nittos were not evaluated.

Seeing that they rated the P Zeros at # 9 and the Michelin Pilot Super Sports as #1, having owned both on the same Z06, I would say that the article is pretty trustworthy.

 

I think the DW is under rated. I love the things, just can't get them in my sizes.

 

The DWs did extremely well in the dry, not as well in the rain, according to the report.

 

Which is not true of the experiences that I've had with them, although I'll have to admit that was with a much smaller and lighter vehicle.

 

I got a look at a good bit of my buddies telemetry and I can pretty decisively answer this now.

So my car last year was on 7 year old front and 6 year old rear 265/295 ps2 setup with plenty of tread all clean. I couldn't hit 1 lateral g on telemetry to save my ***. I think I did see it for a rare instant here or there but VERY rare. That was with AH on as when the car lost traction it got hairy fast.

He is on 245 pss on his 13 brz and had his active handling off but its doesnt go 100% off without doing the "pedal dance" which he didn't do. It does allow you to take advantage of some slipangle, and he was, so its something like comp mode. He was regularly seeing 1g lateral peak but almost never 1.1.

This year i have a 255/295 rival setup. still original 03z shocks/bushings/sways. With AH on i was seeing 1.1g in specific spots regular laterally when i was on it. With AH in comp mode i saw 1.1g in almost every corner i was able to drive open.

So in my experience it goes: all original c5z with old tires<brz with good tires<original c5z with good tires.


oh yeah my car has 38k miles on it so the shocks aren't miles old just age old.

 

Goes to show you how much a difference the rubber makes. The original Goodyears allowed the C5Z06 about .92 lateral Gs. Modern supercar tires like the MPSS, have been shown to allow the same car to get to 1.2 lateral Gs, coming very close to the C6 Z06 terrtitory in LGs. All because of one variant, tires.

 

age of your tires is why, well, that and the ps2 isn't as good as the pss

i've blown past 1.2g on the pss in my c5z seeing as high as 1.27g and that's on the street with no warm up. was a really warm day though so i had some really outstanding bite and the pavement was nearly ideal. i'm certain on a sticky track the pss could do 1.3g on a tight 90deg low speed corner

if you want to see the high g numbers and really have bite you can't run tires past 3 years old. 4 absolute max

when i first bought my c5z it had almost 3 year old re760s on it, i had to get the car sliding to see 1.0g on the gtech. lot of .92, .93 corners and it would start getting floaty.

with the 04 shocks and pss tires it's a dramatically different car, one i can actually drive in anger and put the hammer down on with good lines and good brake points

 

OK I missed the boat on this one. Like IGAS about Subaroos.

The point is what racebum reminded about tire age that has nothing to do with tread depth. Once the tread rubber has lost its elastivity, the grip is gone. Compounding the problem with running old shocks. If you want a Corvette (or any car for that matter) that handles great, tires and shocks are the most important parts to achieve that goal.

 

So the 04 shocks made a big difference?

 

Those were the only year that the general got it right.

 

tires shock

85/15

shocks helped with stability under hard driving but the tires are what really really pushed up what the car could pull and drastically aided recovery

the pss is literally a perfect fit with the stock c5z suspension. i'm able to put the car wherever i want it, recover from slides with ease, it's just a really fun car to throw around now

with the 760s the car came with it was a bit scary, hard to recover if you made a mistake, especially on corner entry and it generally wasn't that great to drive

on the pss i can hit sections of street in a heavy downpour faster than i could on the 760s in the dry

if you've ever raced karts, done scca autocross or really like a car that's fast, not a hot rod, but a car that behaves like it should, use the 04 shocks, the 295 30 19 and 265 35 18 pss, set your alignment to neg 1deg camber in the front, neg .8 deg out back, front toe to .02 in each side and rear toe to .04 in each side. lower the car 1/2 from stock, no lower and you will have a car that you can scare passengers with on the street even stock

 

Pretty sure the car was rated at least 1 G back in 2002.