I test drove a C6 Z51 MN6 on mountain roads the other day, and I came away a little surprised.

First, I should mention that I am a longtime European sports car guy new to the world of Corvettes. The C6 is the first new car in years (from any manufacturer) to pique my interest enough to consider buying it. I like a lot of things about the car, including of course the looks and the spectacular LS2 and even the much-maligned interior and T-56 gearchange, so don't think I'm trying to pick a fight here.

The thing that surprised me was the Z51 suspension. It was a let-down. The car yawed on turn-in, and floated over road undulations as if it were slightly underdamped, and the steering was a bit vague as if the rack were mounted in too-soft bushings.

I'm not saying the C6 can't go around corners. There was plenty of grip, I just found it a bit of a chore to toss the car through the switchbacks.

My other surprise was how cushy Z51 was (which may be part of my problem). After all these debates about whether Z51 was too harsh for day-to-day driving, I figured it would be very stiff. Not so! The C6 Z51 seemed about as stiffly sprung and dampened as a Lexus IS300.

I really want to like the Corvette, and I know that these are the kinds of things that are often easily fixed. The yawing sensation could be just the rear toe. Perhaps there are some firmer rack bushings available. Maybe the runflats are bugging me. Can anybody with a similar take on the stock Z51 setup tell me what they did to improve theirs?

 

 

I had the same impression until I replaced the stock Sachs shocks with Bilstein Sport shocks. Wow! what a difference in the corning and handling! It not the tires!

 

I had the same impression until I replaced the stock Sachs shocks with Bilstein Sport shocks. Wow! what a difference in the corning and handling! It not the tires!

 

The corvette was built to appeal to a broad range of user's and I think that they have accomplished exactly that. It is a road car which can be tweaked to your particular needs as required, but for the average driver, it achieves a perfect balance between road and race....

 

 

The Z51 has a bit of rear end yaw to provide more understeer to keep the average corvette user out of trouble; I changed out the rear bar from the Z06 and that yaw is now history. I have never felt the "floating feeling", to me the car sits fine at speed. I gotta agree with the vague steering insofar as at center position, once the car is in turn, there is good feeling.

 

The Z51 C6 will always deliver the best performance, and the fastest lap times. It is marginally faster even than the Viper SRT-10. Sometimes, however, the feel of the car is more important than the raw numbers. 1st rule pf pwnership is that minor dislikes become big pains later. So if you don't like the Corvette's feel, then don't buy one.

There are many other cars out there. Test drive them all and see which you like best. Buy that one.

 

I too came over from Euro cars, went with the F55. Unless you need/want the other package elements of the Z51, the F55 is a far superior suspension.

 

I was also dissapointed with the Z51 compared to my slightly modded base suspension. I drove them, back-to-back on a rather cold night and found the Z51 very NERVOUS at speed. It hunted all over the road and followed every bump (terrible bump steer). Then I hopped into my car and what a difference. You trade some steering response with way better straight line stability. And I can go thru corners faster on a cool night with the base setup. Z51 plus cool weather = SNAP OVERSTEER! Those Supercars just don't get warm enough. I almost got killed in a bend that I took 10mph slower. Active handling was on vacation (even though it was on) so I had to save myself. Those tires can beat the AH system in cool or cold weather so be prepared!

 

I drove an F55 convertible. It felt too soft for me. I went with the Z51 Coupe. It just felt better to me. I like the more agressive feel.

If you need to depend on AH and TC to keep the car under control, you may be exceeding your own comfort level with that car. I have driven my Z51 on a skid pad (big smooth open blacktop) up to .92 Gs on a fairly cold day, on fairly cold tires. Of course the tires warmup very quickly with that kind of friction. To date the only trouble I've had with my Z51 AH/TC was forgetting to turn it off, and almost having the rear snap over to the right because TC cut the power enough to let the rear tires grab sooner than I expected.

If the AH isn't working you should take it to a dealer to get it checked out. If you're depending on AH to save your butt, don't drive a Vette! They have the best track performance with ALL safety measures turned off.

If the Z51 feels like it has too much yaw, you can always change out the shocks for Bilstein Sports. The rear swaybar can be changed out for a stiffer one.

If you think the Magnetic Selective suspension has more control in corners, it only feels like it because the magnetic suspension will isolate the driver from the road more than the Z51. The result is a more stable feel for the road even though the tires are reacting to the road in the same manner as the Z51's.

I guess the bottom line is...If you don't like it, don't get one. And please quit wining about it!

 

I am a first time vette owner...The car is awesome.

 

 

F55 = SOFT
Z51 = HARD

 

Sorry, don't mean to whine, but since I've owned 8 Vettes, I feel qualified to give my impressions on one. Thank god I don't need to depend on the AH, if I did I'd be dead. The Vette has never had a problem with steady-state, smooth road grip, It's when when you add some bumps and transient maneuvers that upsets the chassis. Read the reviews of the new Z06, same problems, just magnified.

 

Correct. The high rate Z51 springs have less compliance, so the tires lose contact with the roadway when you encounter rough pavement, ie the car skitters and hops. The greater compliance of the base and F55 springs allow the suspension to work over the rough stuff, keeping the tires in contact with the roadway. Throw in the adaptive shocks of the F55, and you get better control when driving over real world roads than the Z51 offers.

The one thing the Z51 offers over either of the other suspensions is better sway bars. Both of the other suspension setups will benefit from the Z51 sways. They keep the car flatter in turns without compromising the overall suspension compliance very much, and that's generally a good thing. Fortunately, the sways are a cheap add on.

 

Which euro sports cars are we discussing here, specifically?

 

It can use a bit more shocks; fortunately this is easy to change. Also, the feel depends a lot on the alignment, and that's often not too well set up from the factory.

 

Z51 is designed; as I experience for smooth, but tight turns. I run a road that is pretty hard on the car and coming out of a switch back that shoots uphill I can get the rear-end to yaw. I wish it would stick to the road better; but it takes off. The front steers just fine. This is a rather smooth road, so I expected the car to stick a little better. In the case where the tires are really warm/sticky the turn is sharp/crisp and I experience little yaw'ing.

Z51 feels really good on most roads; but it can be harsh with several little bumps (accordian style road rash). I maintain that the F55 setup with Z51 sway's or maybe Z06 sways (if they fit) is the best suspension setup. However, the cooler setup in Z51 is nice. Considering the only thing added is a PS cooler (bolt on) it's probably pretty easy to get the tranny, oil and PS cooler lines. With Z06 adding diff cooler; might as well go full monty. In short, F55 with better sways and cooler setup would be a good way to go for ROAD weekly and RACE weekends.

JK

 

Just curious, what euorpean cars are you comparing the handling to? I've owned a handful of euros... an M3, a 928, an S4 ... and I really like the stock z51 handling.