0Supervettes LLC

Easy answer is "Profit Margin". That's it. You don't honestly think GM uses the best of everything do you?

I don't want to go off on a tangent, so in order to stick to the thread... the best advice I could give is... ride in a Vette with both... then you'll understand. It's honestly what it took for me. It's a night and day difference.

LTC Z06

No, you still have anti-roll bars.

0Supervettes LLC

Sway bars are designed to adjust the balance, the under-steer or over-steer tendency, and control body roll. By increasing the rate of both front and rear sway bars you can reduce the tendency for the body to roll during cornering. This will make the car react more quickly to your steering inputs. By changing the rate of just the front or the rear sway bar you can change the balance of the car. This allows you to adapt the balance of the car to fit your specific setup, track and driving style.

laconiajack

This is absolutely correct. But keep in mind the other effects of sway bars. When your feft wheel goes over a bump the sway bar will try and lift your right wheel as well. This means in addition to the left wheel compressing the left spring half, the sway bar also trys to compress the right spring half, increasing the resistance of the left wheel to raise and retract over the bump, and thus increasing the tendency to lift the front body of the vehicle rather than allowing the left wheel to retract and not lift the body. This causes the car to be less compliant to absorbing bumps, and increase the tendency of the vehicle to skitter and dart while encountering bumps in a curve or on a washboard road when braking, and like-wise causes both wheels to loose contact with the road after encountering a bump on either side. A second effect of increased diameter sway bars will cause the vehicle to ride more roughly like a buckboard. These negatives often overcome any positive benefits of increasing sway bar stiffness, and cause loss of vehicle control.

mickeykelley

I'm only wanting to lift it to get into the sloped garage without dragging and then back to where it belongs. I only have about 3/4" before the paint scrapes the cement. Thus, if I go slow, I miss the paint but just a little too fast and suspension movement can cause the nose to drag. I have tried at an angle but it has to be too severe and then clearing the garage door opening becomes an issue. It is impossible to pull in without getting it and even worse backing out as the rear raises and front drops. We spent days working with the cement people trying to make the least angle but the ground is what the ground is.

ninjavette

I'm not sure the exact set up of your driveway and garage but would this be a possible solution?

http://www.amazon.com/BRIDJIT-Drivew.../dp/B002YQ2GXC

Timothy Barth

I am glad someone finally said something to make me feel good about owning a base c6.

ninjavette

You shouldn't need anyone else to make you feel good about anything you do in life. Least of all the type of car you drive. After all it's still a Corvette isn't it.

IMO the GM designed it that way argument is a cop out. Yes GM has more money and research abilities than we do but they also have a lot more compromises to make. As a private vehicle owner, we don't have to abide by the same regulations nor do we have to cater to a variety of needs. We also don't have to warranty our cars and we can choose to set them up based on our own personal agenda. That means we can ignore the compromises GM has to adhere to. Car manufacturers do not always use the best. The use the best to appeal to the most.

But since this thread seems to be more about driveway ingress and egress, the coilover discussion is no longer on topic.

KneeDragr

Now I know this entire post is BS.

This same argument has been made about tracking motorcycles for years, and I learned through my time racing and on track that it is false.

Just because somebody can go much faster than you with less, does not mean that you cannot go faster with a better car.

keyplyr

Getting back to topic...

I guess it's like a lot of things discussed on the forum, people who have (or had) coliovers love them and see them as well worth the money. People who have never had coilovers will argue they are not worth the expense, and find reasons why they are not needed.

My take - they are certainly not needed for everyday driving, but they sure are nice! In combination with other suspension and wheel upgrades, they make driving the Corvette a truly beautiful thing.

I bought the base suspension model, saving money because I knew I would want to upgrade at some point. The base suspension had too much *Cadillac bounce* for my taste. The transverse leaf springs gave too much cross-talk, and in combination with runflat tires, I got continuous wheel-hop and poor performance especially on tight, fast turns.

I upgraded and the car is unbelievable now. What made the difference for me was the combination of:

• Pfadt adjustable coilovers w/ poly bushings
• Z51 sway bars w/ poly bushings
• removing GM leaf springs
• upgrade dampers
• road tested wheel alignment
• 4 point balance
• lowering ride height
• steering adjustment
• performance wheels/tires

(see profile)

Major improvement in handling.

0Supervettes LLC

Anyone who argues that coilovers / sways are not worth the expense, is simply trying to justify why they haven't bought/installed them. It's a night and day difference, and most high end sports cars have them, standard. If you enjoy the rear end of your car feeling like it's going to slide away on you, during a mildly spirited drive... by all means, stick to the stock leaf springs... if you don't feel this way... then you haven't driven your car the way it was built to be driven.

Leaf springs are cheaper, period, end of story.

Here's what a GM rep had to say about the Pfadt product on a 2010 Camaro:

dads toy

So, please tell more. What difference? what improved handling? seat of the pants feeling, better butt dyno? Did you track your car before your upgrade and have timeslips to show the improved handling?

I want to know? I would guess for the couple thousand I would expexct to see a significant improvement in track times right?

keyplyr

It's in the handling. The cornering. The steering response. There's quite a bit of info in the forums already. Use the Search utility.

However, I have no interest in convincing anyone of anything. Do what you want to your car, you will anyway.

0Randy@DRM

There is adjustment bolts on the leaf spring ends. You can use a pry-bar and pull the spring up. Then use a metric wrench 10mm or 11mm to adjust the pads.

If you bought a used car, many people lower them. Stock ride heights are kinda of all over the place.

Posting a picture of the situation would help with suggestions. I use a couple wood sticks with 45 degree angles cut in the end and can get my car on and off my trailer. The $1500 carbon splitter is 2.3 inches off the ground.

Check out these also. http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/p-7...0-c6-only.aspx

Many midwest corvettes have these wheels. They do seem to help in some driveways, garage and other headache places for Corvettes.


Randy

2006c6keller

Absolutely correct! I have a 06 F55 and I changed out the sway bars to Z51's on it because of a tight and scary head on passing of an 18 wheeler on a narrow country road bridge. The base F55 had about 2.5" inches of back and forth steering wheel play. There was less than 2' of total clearance including both sides (truck and bridge railing). Because of the excessive body roll of the C6, I changed out the sway bars, what a different car, much more planted. This eliminated the EXCESSIVE body roll and steering play and you now have steady car compared to before. Because of the previous play in the steering, you could NEVER RELAX because of the play from the rolling, a very tiring drive. GM should not have put the base sway bars on the Vette unless you wanted a SLOW SUNDAY AFTERNOON CRUISE!

laconiajack

A slow sunday afternoon cruise is certainly preferable to passing an 18 wheeler on a narrow country bridge!

SilverScorp

...

This is pure gold. Thanks a lot for the info! I was considering this mod, but this really puts it into perspective.

dads toy

not asking you to convince me. I am asking if you have real time slips to show that they handle, corner better.

keyplyr

Never raced until I did the upgrades.

However the difference is so significant, you'll wonder why you ever thought you needed "proof."

VatorMan

BTW- Heated discussion is still going on.