I've heard good things about coilovers for C5's in general. I'd like to hear from some of you guys that have actually installed and compared coilovers to the stock, transverse suspension. What are your impressions as far as, handling, ride etc. I realize you can infinately adjust your ride height and set corner weights, but what are the performance gains? I'm pretty sure you can set corner weights with the stock suspension too as long as you have the proper machines.?? Why would I want to spend $2000 on these? TIA.

 

BTW, the only thing you want to watch out for is pounding out the bushings that hold the parts in place. I have heard of people having problems with that.

 

If you are racing, coilovers give you a better selection of spring rates (for much less than replacing a transverse leaf $150/pair vs $500+ per leaf)). You can get all the ride height adjustment you need with a leaf style spring.

Some coilovers, like LGMs, eliminate the rubber upper mounts, which is a failure point if you add spring loads to the shock mounts.

 

We could not agree more that the rubber bushings are a big problem in coilover cars. There was one company out there that had many problems because of the design. Our setup still uses poly bushings for the upper mount with our custom top hat. After using this system in all our RSR cars as well as selling numerous mail order kits, we have never had a failure. In street/track cars the bushings are not harsh or prone to damage due to a completely solid nature.

Thanks
Randy
dougrippie.com

 

Randy,What's a set of your coilovers go for$$$ ?

 

Slammed Vette,

Coilovers are a whole new world when compared to the stock suspension on a Vette. I have the DRM coilovers and though we may have a bit of adjustment left to reduce some harshness, there's a world of difference. Active handling comes on less, the car grips the road way better, and you'll have more confidence driving. It will feel like your tires are clawing into the road much better and most of the sidestepping Corvettes do in corners because of the transverse springs goes bye bye. Long sweeping turns that I would do at 60-65ish mph became doable at 80ish mph to give you an idea...

The main concern in my opinion is the overall quality of roads where you live. If you're going from a stock suspension to coilovers, you will most definitely notice an increase in ride harshness. They're no joke. I'd advise to get away from the runflats first and then go from there.

It is my belief and perhaps not fact but it seems that a lot of aftermarket suspension folks evaluate the car's performance on the track which is relatively smooth compared to the street. If you want your car to be a dedicated track car, put on a set of DRM coilovers, your choice of sway bars and as far as handling is concerned, you're probably done--good to go. If you're primarily on the street, there are a few more things to consider and I think its possible to be too stiff on the street to a point that it's detrimental to overall handling. I'll be rid of my runflats in about a month so if you'd like, contact me then and I'll give you another driving impression.

Oh yeah, if you get them have them installed and then wait corner weight until after settling has occurred (I'd wait a few months). You'll have plenty of performance gain to play with in the meanwhile and there's no rush.

 

Ok guys. Thanks for the info. Hopefully more will continue. First off, my vette will not be a track only car. Maybe many years down the road but I doubt it.

I was under the impression when I purchased this car, there really wasn't much more I could do with the suspension to improve upon an already excellent setup. It looks as though I was wrong. I regretfully did not have time this year to attend any open track events. I purchased the car in late Sept. It will definately be overworked on road courses next season. I haven't had the opportunity to push the suspension to it's limits so I guess I'll wait until after a few events to evaluate how I feel about it.

Paras I would like to know how the suspension changes when you lose your run flats. I've been trying to decide on a tire for next year as well. Also, which bars do you have?

I'm not confident enough yet to begin matching bars with spring rates so I was hoping to get that ball rolling in this thread as well.

DRM what spring rates do your typical street car setups use? TIA

 

I have the Z06 bars and just send me a message in 4-5 weeks. I should have new tires on by then. =)

I also see that you have the Z51 suspension right now. I had the F45 suspension so I probably saw more of a difference than you would.

 

Yep, I got the Z51. This is why I want to know if they are going to be worth the money or not. I've got the Z06 front spring and rear bar thanks to the Z51 option. The front bar on the Z51 is slightly smaller than the Z06 so I don't know that using a front Z06 bar would make that much difference. Now a T1 bar, that would be more of a drastic change.

I did notice that the DRM c500/rs uses the T1 bars. Their site only shows the coilover package. No spring rates listed. Randy, can you fill me in on these rates??? TIA

 

Our kit sells for 1995 with bushings or 1895 without. The normal spring rates are 450 up front and 600 in the rear. Paras would agree that the 600 in the rear are bit much for the street. We can sent you up with a differnet spring rates for the street.

Thanks
Randy

 

Agreed. 600 lbs. is harsh but find a smooth road and oh my God what level of grip...

 

As much as I think coil-overs rock... learn to drive the car to it's max at the track, then worry about mods. The best performance gains will be had by tweaking the nut behind the wheel.

 

Randy, what bars do you suggest running with your stock rates?

 

Us at DRM like running the ZO6 bars front and rear with our coilovers. That is for a street setup! Now for the track the T-1 bars are going to work out better. With T-1 bars and coilovers you might have a better ride with my go-kart because it will be stiff.
Thanks
Randy

 

It is very important that springs and shocks work well together. Shocks that are too stiff or soft will give you a bad ride and bad handling.

If you buy a set of coil overs from DRM or LGM, you can expect everything to work well right out of the box. At least I would hope so.

If you like to be able to tinker with your setup, make sure you get good adjustable shocks. You have to be willing to make adjustments, and you have to have the ability to understand what is going wrong, and what changes could improve that. It's not all that hard, but you need to spend some time on that, and you need to go to some kind of track for the testing. You really can't test if you get over- or understeer on public roads, at least you shouldn't.

Also note that different people experience ride in very different ways. What may be fine for someone else, may be too harsh and uncomfortable for you.

I would go with Cobra's recommendation, and drive the car on the track a couple of times before you start changing the suspension. The stock suspension is much better than some claim. (Only situation the leaf spings are bad is when accelerating out of a turn and going over a bump, the C5 with stock suspension likes to spin. But this can be compensated by experience and quick reactions.)

Also, camber adjustment will have a tremendous effect on handling. Practice, better tires, and proper alignment should be first on your list.

I have Penske DA coil overs with the Eibach ERS spring system. This is a soft tender spring on top of a hard main spring. The tender springs are fully compressed most of the time, so they do not contribute to the ride quality. If you go over a bump, they help keeping the tires on the ground. The main springs are 700# front, 800# rear, and I am very happy with ride and handling.

Till

 

I have rippie coil overs shortened by WCC for increased travel. I have 500lb front and 650lb rears, T1 sway bars, poly bushings, bump steer kit, etc. The car rides REAL ruff but the cornering will make you drop a lung!!!!!!!! I'm sure the little 20" tires in the back aren' helping with ride either. It just depends on what you are willing to put up with!

 

As Till said, adjustable shocks would be great but I think that they would be cost prohibitive for most of us... I'm guessing that the roads in Germany are much better than ours if Till is running 700s and 800s unless the shocks are absorbing bumps just right... And then there's that thing he's doing with the other springs to absorb mid corner bumps...

With regards to Till's comments as follows,
"(Only situation the leaf spings are bad is when accelerating out of a turn and going over a bump, the C5 with stock suspension likes to spin. But this can be compensated by experience and quick reactions.)"
*I think that a good sports car suspension in this day and age should be past becoming unsettled on mid turn bumps (I've stepped sideways even without accelerating on mid corner bumps on turns). I don't believe that I should have to deal with that--true, I could learn to take care of this by being a better driver but why should I have to worry about this? THAT'S ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS I WENT TO COILOVERS. Its postively **** scary to have that happen as a new Vette driver going around mountain roads.

This said, I think Till's experiments with suspension are awesome--its very interesting to see what he's doing.

 

Thanks Paras.

I have the Z06 wheels on my car. Those are extremely light, and the tires have a lot of sidewall, which helps the ride.
I recently drove a C5 with huge Z06 reproduction wheels, 19 and 20 inch I think. Those wheels are cast in China, chromed in the States. By the time they are shipped to Germany, you could buy BBS wheels for another 1000 bucks, and those are in a whole different league. With those huge and heavy wheels, the ride with the Z51 suspension wasn't any better than in my car, but the handling was really scary. I wanted to test his new Vararam on the Autobahn, but the car felt so unsafe, I didn't even dare to go really fast.

Till

 

Till,

Don't know if this is too technical but do you have any sorts of numbers or measurements on how your shocks are valved at the settings that you use on the road? Perhaps I can compare them to the setting in my fixed shocks. Thanks,

-Paras

 

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This is exactally what I'm looking for!!