Been reading everything I can find here on brakes, suspension, and hp options to transform the '08 coupe I just ordered into a ZR1 (or Viper, 997tt, etc) beater. After weeding out the ego thumping and flame wars, it looks like there are 3 broad categories of drivers:

1) The racers, who love to advise guys considering coilovers or BBKs to pay for track time instead of brake/suspension mods, and frequently say that stock is fine until you learn how to drive. Racer's have a hard time understanding the motivations of the 3rd category and tend to view coilovers and BBKs as a waste of money.

2) The stock-is-best gang, who many times argue that GM has invested major bucks in a suspension design that works very well, so why would anyone want to change it. I've read many posts saying that the poster can't use all the turning or stopping capability of their stock Vette, so why increase those capabilities, e.g. 'My stock brakes can engage ABS, so what good can a BBK possibly do?' The stock-is-best group has a hard time understanding the motivations of the 3rd category and tend to view coilovers and BBKs as a waste of money.

3) The I-want-better gang, who enjoy twisty canyon runs and maybe a few HPDE days each year, and maybe even a few passes at the drag strip. They probably want their car to be more responsive to steering inputs, better able to handle bumpy turns without skittering sideways, be able to launch from a standing start without wheel hop. Maybe they want that intangible handling "feel" to be better than stock because they enjoy sharp, accurate reflexes even if their lap times don't decrease all that much after the mods (skill-limited, IOW).

I am squarely in group 3. I replaced my 996tt's factory coilovers with a Bilstein PSS9 kit and was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the new coilovers were less harsh on the street in addition to eliminating the dreaded front end bob on fast sweepers with a bump or two. They performed the miracle of improving both the daily driving ride and the twisty canyon road handling. I'm hoping to achieve the same results with the new C6 when it arrives in February.

In the end, I'm leery of following advise given by guys who fall in categories 1 and 2. I've been a passenger in single purpose race cars and certainly wouldn't want my car to ride like one. And I believe there are better solutions out there for my preferences than the one Chevy bolts in. I realize this is a vague statement that will likely be translated differently by the 3 groups, but I want a street car that can perform well on the track, not a track car that's driven on the street.

Finally, I think many of the threads that devolve into flame wars instead of useful discussions get there because the particular guys involved in the war fall into different groups.