The C6 should come equipped with all the Z51 hardware from the factory, period!!! The fact that it dosent means that it should be a no brainer to buy it so equipped!! All this crap about ride harshness, I'll never track it, my road's are bad, etc.,etc., is just that, BULL SHI*!! Why wouldn't you want the best possible performing vette you can get??? Isn't that why we buy these car's in the first place!!!

 

A second test of my theory:

everyone that got the z51 likes it.....those that didnt get it dont like it...just like the last 10 times this question popped up.

The Z51 has better tires and awesome gearing in the first 3 gears making the car faster with the same driver...(gotta cover that last statement for the **** jerk-off that always points out a non z51 with a good driver is faster than a z51 with a bad one.)

And yes pretty looking holes in the rotors making the ricers jealous.

Hey: the resale value will be higher for the z51 car since everyone wants the 'better suspension' so its a wash in the end.

 

:o :o yes

 

As counterpoint, I chose not to get it. My car is a daily driver, and I rack up a lot of miles over all kinds of roads. In my opinion, the spring rates of the Z51 package are too high for a car of this weight. Coupled with the oddly chosen damping rates of the shocks, the rear tends to skitter on rough turns (and hop at the drag strip). The SC tires also wear out way too rapidly for a daily driven high mile car. OTOH, the Z51 sways are a must have, fortunately, they are only like $130 and easy to swap onto the car.

After driving all three suspension options, it was obvious to me that the standard suspension would be the easiest and cheapest to modify to give the handling characteristics I wanted. A set of Z51 sways and Bilstein shocks made it just what I wanted, compliant and controlled.

The standard GS tires are wearing well. At nearly 30,000 miles, they still have about half their tread left. They do better in the cold and wet than the SC tires too.

The only track use my car sees is the ocasional foray at the drag strip. Bracket racing is all about consistency, and the A4 is a proven drag race tranny, so that's what I got, along with the stand alone 3.15 rear ratio option. There's a large knowledge base for tuning and modifying the A4, so it is easy to set it up exactly the way you want it.

On the street, my last car was a MN6, and I was frankly delighted to go auto with this car. The broad flat torque curve of the LS2 complements the A4 very well. More gears are neither wanted nor needed. (Note that the A6 may also prove to be a good tranny. You can just ignore the two overdrives for performance driving, leaving you with a decent 4 speed, albeit with ratios that are a bit wider than ideal.)

The other bits and pieces of the Z51 package, the bling drilled squeaky brakes, and the various extra coolers, didn't hold much appeal for me. The coolers might be useful for those who run extended road course races, but are just extra weight for a drag racer, and are unnecessary on the street. The drilled rotor brakes frankly have no redeeming virtues. If you drift over to the road race section, you'll find most of the serious racers either swap in solid rotors for durability and economy, or go with aftermarket big brake packages.

The only place where the Z51 package makes sense to me is if you compete in a SCCA pure stock class. Then it gives you a small edge. But for any sort of competition where aftermarket modifications are allowed, save your money for parts that can make a bigger difference in performance.

 

Mr Dog - I'm not with you on this. I'm at 24k mi w/Z51 and still 10k left on the tires. @ 5'10" @ 250+, the ride is fine for me. I came out of a Lincoln Mk8 and the Bride has an Acura RL 3.5. I love the road feel & control it provides. Daily driver 4 me too.

As with all, it's a personal decision - gearing & oil cooler were the big selling point for me.

 

I was going to compile a list of OBJECTIVE pros and cons for each of the Z-51 package features, e.g.:

Goodyear Eagle 1 SC asymetricals:
* better dry grip
* worse wet grip, more expensive to replace

Oil cooler:
* more thermal capacity
* car runs colder longer during warm up, more costly to change oil, leaves dirty oil behind at change

Crosss drilled rotors & Z51 pads:
* 9% more swept area
* cracks, low OEM replacements, noisy, limit wheel choices, excess dust

etc, etc, etc,

But then I figured "Why bother" If you want it, buy it, if you don't don't.

But one thing I did want to share was the gear ratios, because there was a bit of slick marketing in GM's press information that was distributed at release. They claimed the Z-51 performance ratios made the car accelerate quicker. And let's give it that, I don't care to argue if it is 'real' or just theoretical.

But in the same articles it was claiming blah blah fifth gear blah blah 'better fuel milage'. Now wait a minute! I was going to list 'worse fuel mileage' as a negative on my little chart, but this seemed to refute that. How could that be?

Well here are the ratios, with a chart below.

Those sleasy marketers took the fact that the fifth gear is barely barely numerically lower for the Z51 than the coupe for that gear only and used that out of context to claim better fuel milage. Sheesh. If you look at the OTHER five ratios (including sixth) you see the reality. What makes thes scuzzy people do this?

RPO
Z06/coupe Z51
Final drive ratio 3.42 3.42
First gear 2.66 2.97
Second gear 1.78 2.07
Third gear 1.3 1.43
Fourth gear 1 1
Fifth gear 0.74 0.71
Sixth gear 0.5 0.57
Reverse 2.9 3.28
(Blue line is coupe, purple line is Z51)


[bold added]
Typical article, but found in many similar press pieces:
http://www.blackpressusa.com/news/Ar...ts&NewsID=3708


http://orig.app.com/jerseyautos/stor...045661,00.html

Wrong . [edited to remove my OWN error]

 

I think if you drove mine you might change your mind. I'm really pleased with the way the suspension turned out, and hitting the nitrous bottle on the drag strip makes for a fun ride. But as you say, everyone has their own ideas. I went with the standard setup knowing I'd be modifying it to suit me. It was simply easier and less costly to do that than to modify a Z51 equipped car to give the same results, ie changing springs is harder and more costly than changing sway bars. The shocks had to go in either case, and the other froofroo bling bling in the Z51 package didn't matter to me.

 

Mr. dog

If you have the 2005 model and have the 3.15 performance differential, then am I correct in saying that your car is the same as a Z51 optioned C6 but without the suspension components, tires, coolers and drilled rotors?

 

Oh for the love of God! Moderators please take the longest thread that has the Z51 debate and make it a sticky. Then lock it so we can't add anymore to it. So anyone who has any questions about the Base/F55/Z51 options can be refered to that and still get the opinions of everyone who decides to chime in on these usless little threads. There are countless posts saying the exact same thing. Get it if you want it, don't if you don't. The Z51 crowd will boast the advantages and the "non-Z51" crowd will boast it's disadvantages. It's just endless posts of and and whatever. Please for the love of God just drive your f*cking Vette and shut up. That includes me too.

 

OK. Ship it here I'll drive it for a week & get back to you

 

I was completely with you until you posted top speeed is in 6th. Top Speed is achieved in 5th gear. If you redlined 6th gear you would be going over 300 mph with either trans. Z51 is a great option package, you should really drive all three versions of the suspension and decide which one you like best. The quality of roads and your driving style/intended use are the biggest factors in picking your option package.

 

No, I 'm afraid thats incorrect. Top speed is obtained in 5th gear in these cars.

 

I agree with Todd. I'll probably swap my shocks out next year.

 

I was misinformed. I think I took these type of comments from Road and Track forum into my subconscious, but clearly did not consider the source:
and did not look below where this poster is called an idiot
http://www.roadandtrack.com/idealbb/...ageNo=2&num=20

I'll add to this post as I find more info.....
[edited to add]

http://www.automedia.com/2005/Chevro...s20050701cc/1/

I can easily accept that higest speed is obtained in fifth. No problem there, I mean that sixth overdrive is 0.50! But, sorry, but my flag goes up on it getting better fuel mileage, too, which was my original point of contention. Whew. Can't trust all you read.

 

Not wanting to argue (see post below from me) I am perfectly willing to accept that fifth gear is optimal for max speed, but what it would do (by calculation) at redline in either sixth or fifth is immaterial. Without other limiters (like electronic ones) what is important is when the drag overcomes whatever available power you have. Fifth will have more torque multiplication (or actually less torque division as an overdrive) than sixth, so if it will do 186 without exceeding redline, then that will indeed be your gear, assuming beyond 186 you are aero limited for available power. So I wonder what the power adder guys would find out if their nerve held to go to sixth.... or is there an electronic nanny somewhere up there...

 

THose who have it will say buy it, those who don't have it, say I don't miss it . The car still handles like a dream and stops on a dime w/out the z51 pkg.
IMHO,
Gene

 

...or with it...

 

That's right. The only part of the Z51 package it has is the 3.15 rear, which was available as a standalone option in 2005. For 2006 and newer, there isn't even that part to worry about since the final drive ratios of the standard and Z51 packages are the same (2.56) anyway.

 

Worth it for me.

 

It's worth it to me. No Z-51, no C6.