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The car is street driven. I want to switch sway bars to whichever ones that will improve the cars handling the most. I am considering the Z51, C6Z, C6 ZR1 swaybars but am open to suggestions.
Ultimately, what I want is the sway bar that best compliments my current setup.
In an information vacuum and assuming it's a street driven car, I'd say factory C6 Z06 bars for your car to account for the tire sizes. Proletariat is correct, that assessment is meaningless without knowing more about your car and how you drive it.
In an information vacuum and assuming it's a street driven car, I'd say factory C6 Z06 bars for your car to account for the tire sizes. Proletariat is correct, that assessment is meaningless without knowing more about your car and how you drive it.
I updated the first post. It is a street driven car.
A few years ago after a lot of track testing Aaron Pfadt of Pfadt Race Engineering said this about the rear sway bar: “Even if you’re not looking to do a major suspension change, consider at least replacing your stock rear sway with the rear sway from the Z51. The Z51 rear sway has about half the rate of the stock Z06 sway. We feel this set up is better balanced. This setup might be slower for the Nurburgring but it will be better for autocross events.”
His input would make me believe nothing more substantial than a C6 Z51 rear sway bar is what you need for a street car. If you really want to start tracking it you may want to look at the coil overs Bill Curlee suggested, as well as an adjustable rear sway bar matched to a comparable front sway. Several of our vendors could help you with very competitive suspension set ups. Just remember the old racing adage: "Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?"
Those components shold be fairly optimal. I'm assuming you have metal end links. If you're looking for a big step up from what you have, coil overs is your best bet.
Now if you want to fine tune to your driving style and comfort zone here's a general rule. If the car is rolling too much you need stiff bars all around. If the car is flat enough for you but you're having understeer then a stiffer bar will help. However stiffer rears are less forgiving and can cause over steer. Like wise if the back end comes around too easily then a lighter rear sway bar will help. Here's a graph from pfadt with the relative rates of common sways.
To tag along with the post above, look at how the rear rear swaybars are stiffer relative to the front for the widebody C6s. How large you want to go is a personal preference thing with the ride stiffness you find acceptable and what feels like over or under steer to you.
Keep in mind spring rates also impact balance of the car.
At the end of the day I only want to change the sway bars. I know my current sway bars are likely not the optimal ones even if the only reason is the wider tires.
I simply want which ever sway bars will be arguably best with my current setup as I am not changing anything on the suspension other than the sway bars.
Do you feel like your car is pushing a little in the turns? C6Z bars will help balance over/understeer on your car a little better I think, but it won't be a massive change. If you've got a couple extra hundred bucks in your pocket, that's the route I'd take. Make sure you're using the metal end links.
I'm not sure there are any aftermarket options that would help any more without also changing at least the shocks.
Do you feel like your car is pushing a little in the turns? C6Z bars will help balance over/understeer on your car a little better I think, but it won't be a massive change. If you've got a couple extra hundred bucks in your pocket, that's the route I'd take. Make sure you're using the metal end links.
I'm not sure there are any aftermarket options that would help any more without also changing at least the shocks.
First off, I know there is a sway bar that is better matched for my setup. With that being said, my thoughts are that the car has a bit too much body roll and like the car is pushing a bit in the turns.
Based on my reading the sway bars below are my best options but I can't decide which one to go with.
Do you feel like your car is pushing a little in the turns? C6Z bars will help balance over/understeer on your car a little better I think, but it won't be a massive change. If you've got a couple extra hundred bucks in your pocket, that's the route I'd take. Make sure you're using the metal end links.
I'm not sure there are any aftermarket options that would help any more without also changing at least the shocks.
if you're planning on retaining those width tires, the C6Z sways should flatten you out.
Use C6Z sways.
Have them on my 98 with stock springs, C6Z shocks and the aFe/Pfadt poly bushing set.
275/35 19" and 305/25 20" tyres on 9,5x19 and 11x20 rims.
I have no noticeable body roll at all even on the track.
And put teflon tape under the rubber. sway bars WILL rust under the rubber and you'll get a second rear spring. Sway bars are supposed to move freely.
Doing just the rear bar would do the most to dial out push. The big rear C6 rear bar helps make up for the softer rear C5Z spring, and a 265 is a narrow tire to run with the 325 which makes sense with your feel of understeer.
The car is street driven. I want to switch sway bars to whichever ones that will improve the cars handling the most. I am considering the Z51, C6Z, C6 ZR1 swaybars but am open to suggestions.
Ultimately, what I want is the sway bar that best compliments my current setup.
We use a calculation called roll couple to assign a number to understeer and oversteer, and have a rear sway bar that works very well on the C5 Z06 for autocross. A roll couple of 0 is neutral, positive is understeer and negative is oversteer, and our combination is in the -8.5 to -14 ranger depending on the rear bar setting for the C5 Z06 with 526 and 714 lb/in front and rear springs with the stock Z06 front and our rear bar. It makes the car turn for you, so you don't have to force the car into the corner to make it turn or wait for the understeer to stop before getting on the gas. The car makes the rotation early in the turn so you can get hold a tight line and on the gas early. It makes it fun to drive.
The T1 setup is -3 to +3 and works very well on the road course, so if your road racing a larger front bar is needed with this rear bar.
We have a good worksheet to calculate roll couple, and have different sway bars available, so if we know the spring rates (leaf or coil-over) we can give a good recommendation for your combination.
Thank You,
Scott
Please help me pick Sway Bars
if you're planning on retaining those width tires, the C6Z sways should flatten you out.
