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Timely thread
I am looking to speed up the steering just for fun on the street. I've done smaller steering wheel on previous cars but prefer not to lose the factory airbag on this one.
Do not want to mess with Active Handling system wigging out. Looks like I'm out of luck for the time being.
I'm looking into angle kits right now strictly for a faster ratio response on the road course. I don't plan on doing drift events, but I do feel that the amount of steering wheel movement compared to my other cars is too much for the desired steering angle on my C5. I've already installed a smaller steering wheel but would like still faster steering response/ratio.
How does the steering ratio feel compared to stock if you were going to autocross the car with your angle kit installed?
If these angle kits provide the results that I think they will, I'm surprised the companies making drifting parts aren't targeting these kits to all the C5 and C6 autocross and track cars out there.
I'd appreciate to hear your experience so to make sure I'm going down the right track in considering an angle kit for my C5 track car.
Do you have a Z06? Mine feels like it has quicker ratio steering, haven't confirmed it but I think it's 1.5 turns each direction to lock, when standard ratio's are more like 2 full turns each direction.
I've been thinking a lot about what angle kit to choose, shifting through various suggestions and online searches.
The dream is the Mantis kit from FDF Race Shop, but it's very pricey. The other option I was leaning towards was SLR, however I'm not a fan of cutting the steering arm.
BUT I just discovered the Mini Mantis Angle Kit from FDF. It looks like a new product, and exactly what I'm looking for: good angle, low cost, no cutting.
I'm very excited to try it out, I placed and order and will post my experience here. Thanks for all the feedback!
Still waiting, it's been exactly 4 since I placed the order. Apparently there's been a big influx of orders for this kit. Really looking forward to it!
Timely thread
I am looking to speed up the steering just for fun on the street. I've done smaller steering wheel on previous cars but prefer not to lose the factory airbag on this one.
Do not want to mess with Active Handling system wigging out. Looks like I'm out of luck for the time being.
Active handling may be an issue, I suppose I'll see after the kit is installed.
The c5 just turns like a bus, hah! After 6.5 years, that's the only real criticism I could make!
Still waiting, it's been exactly 4 since I placed the order. Apparently there's been a big influx of orders for this kit. Really looking forward to it!
nice.. I went ahead and ordered one up myself this morning for the c6. sounds like it will be a while before it shows up. haha. I did find a YouTube that showed on the lower setting it clears everything with stock rims and tires on a 05. so might just be perfect. if not, I'm sure there's a market for it on the drift boards.
Still waiting, it's been exactly 4 since I placed the order. Apparently there's been a big influx of orders for this kit. Really looking forward to it!
When you say "it's been exactly 4 since I placed the order", that's 4 weeks? Just curious because on their website it says "Please allow 2 weeks before for build/ship time until we have them in stock" https://www.fdfraceshop.com/products...ntis-angle-kit
if anyone wants to see their videos on them. seems you can easily switch back to the stock pick up for the drive to and from the autocross if the AH flips out to much without removing the kit.
I watched the videos the other night. It looks like a pretty decent option. Really curious as to what folks think once they actually start getting them in hand and on their Vettes.
I have a '98 with the SLR angle kit. No active handling. I rerouted the brake lines and wheel speed sensors. Drilled out the bracket that holds the wheel speed sensor wires. Shimmed the sway bar end links 1/4". And clearanced the control arms a tad.
Even with traction control OFF, the brakes seem to lock up during slow turns. This is NOT due to the caliper hitting the control arm. I have tripled checked.
The steering wheel seems to constantly 'fight' me while turning.
I removed fuses for ABS and traction control and the car drives great again.
But I would like to retain ABS and not have my dash lit up like a christmas tree.
Im at a loss what I can do to trick the ABS/TC so it stops fighting the extra steering angle.
I have a '98 with the SLR angle kit. No active handling. I rerouted the brake lines and wheel speed sensors. Drilled out the bracket that holds the wheel speed sensor wires. Shimmed the sway bar end links 1/4". And clearanced the control arms a tad.
Even with traction control OFF, the brakes seem to lock up during slow turns. This is NOT due to the caliper hitting the control arm. I have tripled checked.
The steering wheel seems to constantly 'fight' me while turning.
I removed fuses for ABS and traction control and the car drives great again.
But I would like to retain ABS and not have my dash lit up like a christmas tree.
Im at a loss what I can do to trick the ABS/TC so it stops fighting the extra steering angle.
pull the plug on your steering wheel sensor is going to be your best bet.
someone mentioned the wheel the steering wheel sensor reads off could be made with more tooth to compensate. I've not look at the sensor but that seems like a decent idea. someone better at math than me would probably need to come up with the % of angle more to the number of teeth. but honestly just numbing down that whole system with extra teeth might be nice. I just spend a week up in the mountains and even comp mode was fighting me on quick turn in most of the time. having such a slow steering ratio makes catching these cars so hard when they do step out even thou I've don't drift days in the past with other cars and am very comfortable driving a tail happy car, this c6 I'm just not comfortable turning everything off. hopefully this kit helps with that and I can just unplug the steering wheel sensor and enjoy tossing the car around. if not, I'll probably pick up a camaro or something more fun to drive freely.
I just installed the Vettenuts kit and am very happy with the feel. Full disclosure, I've previously done delrin bushings, a 350 mm wheel, double checked the steering box preload, and dialed in the alignment. I'm also having the Active Handling engage when I take a turn more than about 45 degrees at more than a couple mph. Has anyone figured out a way to keep AH happy or a way to keep TCS enabled while disabling AH?
Last edited by Prop Job; May 17, 2021 at 07:03 PM.
Reason: Edited to remove address from picture.
I'm not 100% sure about how AH and the c5 but there's a huge thread on it in c6. it is a bad at track days, it's thrown a few guys off the track and scared the hell out of others. most of theirs comes from the tire pressure sensors plus also a tsb on the plug itself failing and locking up random wheels on the interstate. c6 AH is down right dangerous
from that long thread which they do mention it works on c5's too but if you disconnect the steering sensor it defaults the AH to off, but you will have abs like normal and traction control still works off the switch. you can have it on or off. I'm guessing there's not much you can do about the warning light besides dismiss it every time you get in the car.
if you search active handling on this board I'm sure it will come up to read thru. I've hard soldered the wires to mine since I was getting the plug issue on my c6 even though the tsb was done before I got it. I never got the lock ups but did get the error messages. I was making mountain trips and didn't want it throwing me off the road at all the wrong time. but with the faster steering if I have issues I'm just going to snip those wires haha. I'm sure traction control alone is enough. I've driven tons of cars up there without any aids and had a blast tossing them all around. just this c6 with its horrible 16:1 steering and no angle, I never felt I had quick enough hands to catch a slide like in the other cars.
just to follow up, cause it's always annoying for me searching old threads to read thru pages and no conclusions.
mine is the c6 but same kit, got it all installed and fits nicely, I have stock wheels and tire size on my 08 and at full lock maybe just a touch of rub, can't even hear it but looks like some dirt knocked off up by the brake duct but no wear showing after driving in circles full lock. I'm on the lesser angle hole, the kit has 2. the inner is more aggressive.
as for the active handling, on normal mode it does kick in, feels like a bit of abs while breaking and tuning. put into competition mode and it doesn't seem to do it around town driving, I might have felt just a touch once has a braked and tuned into a side road I almost missed. haven't noticed it kick in any different under power thru corners.
the biggest difference for me had been in full active handling off mode, I usually left the car in comp mode on wet roads, now it feels more like a normal car and no need for the nanny help. if it does step out it's a quick flick of the wrist to catch. it actually will self steer now if you have any experience with drifting you'll know that's a big deal, stock these cars will just got around in circles with no mechanical help, you have to stay ahead of the car at all times which is exhausting, they fully rely on the AH and while it basically works, it does numb the whole driving experience down pretty drastically.
I'm going to test out the unhook the steering wheel sensor trick all the track day guys have to do next. they say the tc and abs still work correctly with it unplugged. I know a guy that has a clone tech2. would like to see if I can turn the service ah code off with that once it's disconnected. either way, this has been fun, definitely completely reverseable if you decide to the sell the car. but the steering doesn't feel twitchy or anything. if you'd not driven it before and after, a normal person used to a sports car would jump in and not even notice the mod. these really should have came with a 12:1 rack stock.
it's a shame the body control module has never been tune able in these cars. my buddy has a newer vw and man some program called obd11 can change everything handling and breaking wise in the bcm, can completely adjust how it feels on turn in before it all comes on to keep the rear from rotating to far. since his has the open dif in the front, how much brake is given to the inside front wheel on exit to keep it from spinning. I was impressed with the amount of stuff that could be changed, non of it having to do with the engine management. that's a whole other problem
but that will probably never happen for us, best case would probably be like the engineer suggested is to get the reluctor wheel off the column and change the number of teeth to match the % of increasing steering rate. I think it would require pulling the steering column, which is probably more than most corvette owners would feel comfortable even having someone else do.
hopefully it happens some day, seems auto cross guys are very interested in doing this too.
Hey everyone! So, after my work schedule calmed down I finally had time to install the FDF Mini Mantis this week... WOW, these are great!
The ONLY modification I had to do was filing down a bit of the casting seam from the knuckle to allow the Mini Mantis to fit. (The FDF install video on youtube also mentions this.) I also took the time to replace the front wheel bearings, since the entire knuckle had to come off anyway.
Lastly, I installed rubber boots over the new tie rod ends that came with the kit (I wouldn't want grime building up in these new joints.) If you go that route, you'll definitely want the boot install tool. I could only find it from a couple places online, but that made everything a piece of cake.
The wheels do just barely touch the stock upper control arm at full lock, but it looks like a spacer on the front wheels would solve that issue.
The result:
The car turns GREAT! No more swinging the wheel around just to make a normal turn. It's very responsive, and turns like a go kart. I would highly recommend this kit!
After thoughts:
I can tell why Chevy didn't opt for this sharp turning radius, the rear tires will squeal a tiny bit on normal driving occasionally. But who doesn't enjoy that sound, right?
Thanks for all your thoughts along the way. Hope this is helpful for anyone looking to do the same in the future!
