Harmonic Balancer and a question
05-01-2012, 11:58 AM
#1
Harmonic Balancer and a question
Last week I posted a thread about the repair on my '06 harmonic balancer. All's well but it took almost three weeks to get the part. The cost was covered by my third party warranty less my $100 deductable. The name of the warranty company is Universal Warranty Corporation and my policy (it is after all insurance) is the Vehicle One Premium package. As I said, the dealer contacted them and handled all the arrangements and the process couldn't have been easier. My question is about the ride of my '06 convertible. It is my first Corvette so I have no frame of reference, but it seems to ride very soft. It has 59,000 miles, non run flat tires with correct pressures and the nose goes skyward, maybe four degrees or so, when I punch the throttle. Is that normal? Are my rear shocks, or all four, weak and needing replacement. The dealer did a thorough check of the entire car when it was in for the harmonic balance and said the shocks looked fine. My wife loves the big car ride but I'm not so sure. My other sports cars, Miata, Boxter had a much different ride. I'd appreciate some feedback from some seasoned Corvette owners.
05-01-2012, 12:10 PM
#2
CF Senior Member
Member Since: Feb 2006
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Whether the suspension seems soft or hard is subjective...one person may think it's too soft while another thinks it's too hard. I've got a very stiff coil-over suspension (for track use) and it's normal for the front end to rise somewhat under hard acceleration. You may simply prefer a firmer ride. In the absence of any suspension defect or problem you might want to consider modifying your suspension.
05-01-2012, 12:38 PM
#3
Drifting
I have a Z51 car and I did not like the ride when I got it. I bought some Bilstein Sports and it made it better. I recently added the Pfadt JOC sway bars and now the ride is amazing.
05-01-2012, 12:56 PM
#4
Team Owner
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St. Jude Donor '13
Bob-
Your car is probably the softest riding Corvette you can find- base suspension (apparently), non-runflats, and 59k miles on the shocks. I too would probably find it too soft for a sports car.
First step in firming things up, if you want to do that, is replacing the shocks. Lots of choices; all of them claim to give a better ride, better handling, stop world hunger, and cure cancer. Three popular choices: Bilstein Heavy Duty will be moderately stiffer than what you have, Bilstein Sports will be a lot (maybe too much for your wife) stiffer, Koni FSD's are claimed to have a double valve system that is soft for bumps but stiff for handling- some people love 'em and others say they are simply a set of stiff shocks.
No sense in going to runflats unless you want the security they give, that's a very individual choice. The michelin runflats (PS2 ZP for summer, A/S ZP for winter) are excellent tires but made for different uses; we have both and like them. Firestone runflats are summer only but popular.
You can put the Z51 sway bars on your car for much flatter cornering, but they are meant to be used with Z51 springs and some people report nasty oversteer. If you add the Z51 front spring (~$300) then you have the proper balance, because your current rear spring and the Z51 rear spring virtually identical.
Enjoy!
Your car is probably the softest riding Corvette you can find- base suspension (apparently), non-runflats, and 59k miles on the shocks. I too would probably find it too soft for a sports car.
First step in firming things up, if you want to do that, is replacing the shocks. Lots of choices; all of them claim to give a better ride, better handling, stop world hunger, and cure cancer. Three popular choices: Bilstein Heavy Duty will be moderately stiffer than what you have, Bilstein Sports will be a lot (maybe too much for your wife) stiffer, Koni FSD's are claimed to have a double valve system that is soft for bumps but stiff for handling- some people love 'em and others say they are simply a set of stiff shocks.
No sense in going to runflats unless you want the security they give, that's a very individual choice. The michelin runflats (PS2 ZP for summer, A/S ZP for winter) are excellent tires but made for different uses; we have both and like them. Firestone runflats are summer only but popular.
You can put the Z51 sway bars on your car for much flatter cornering, but they are meant to be used with Z51 springs and some people report nasty oversteer. If you add the Z51 front spring (~$300) then you have the proper balance, because your current rear spring and the Z51 rear spring virtually identical.
Enjoy!
05-01-2012, 01:53 PM
#5
suspension question
Gearhead Jim,
Thanks for the feedback. That's exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. I think I'll try the Bilstein HDs and go from there. Really love the car and can't believe I've waited so long to own one. It is so different from all the other performance cars I've owned. And different in really good ways.
Thanks for the feedback. That's exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. I think I'll try the Bilstein HDs and go from there. Really love the car and can't believe I've waited so long to own one. It is so different from all the other performance cars I've owned. And different in really good ways.
05-01-2012, 02:19 PM
#6
Last week I posted a thread about the repair on my '06 harmonic balancer. All's well but it took almost three weeks to get the part. The cost was covered by my third party warranty less my $100 deductable. The name of the warranty company is Universal Warranty Corporation and my policy (it is after all insurance) is the Vehicle One Premium package. As I said, the dealer contacted them and handled all the arrangements and the process couldn't have been easier. My question is about the ride of my '06 convertible. It is my first Corvette so I have no frame of reference, but it seems to ride very soft. It has 59,000 miles, non run flat tires with correct pressures and the nose goes skyward, maybe four degrees or so, when I punch the throttle. Is that normal? Are my rear shocks, or all four, weak and needing replacement. The dealer did a thorough check of the entire car when it was in for the harmonic balance and said the shocks looked fine. My wife loves the big car ride but I'm not so sure. My other sports cars, Miata, Boxter had a much different ride. I'd appreciate some feedback from some seasoned Corvette owners.
We've got a package targeted at daily drivers who want to significantly improve the handling capabilities of their car without making it unsuitable for daily driving. It's our Johnny O'Connell Stage 1 pacakge. It includes sway bars, endlinks, sway bar bushings and replacement shocks which are all tuned together to work extremely well. We developed the pacakge with factory GM race car driver Johnny O'Connell with the dual use vehicle in mind, cars that may see occasional track time, but who are mostly daily driven.
Our Johnny O'Connell package may not cure cancer, but it certainly will help improve the handling of your Convertible!
