I have the F55 suspension. I don't even wnat to think about coilovers.

But there seem to be a possiblity of doing a Zr1 upgrade if we can some how get a hold of the upgrade algorithems, Swaybar, springs are cheap. Thoughts.

 

Expensive. Would the gains (if any) justify the cost? I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig.

San

 

i just finished doing a z06 upgrade to mine, easy very easy and cheap. zr1? not sure

 

You do realize the ZR1 uses an F55 type suspension and the Z06 does not, right? They aren't even close to being the same. Apples to cocunuts.

San

 

Other that the upgrade to the computer I don't hink it would be very expensive at all. As far as gains, it would be huge. Assume you go to ZR1 sizr tires you skid pad improves to 1.10g.

 

You're assuming the suspension is identical. You know what they say about assuming.

San

 

Yes i do, i also realize that a Z06 suspension is superior to a an F55 when it comes to cornering, that being said it looks to me like the ZR1 is the best of both world, being that my car didn't have F55 i went Z06 parts.

 

Nope that is why I am asking. Coilovers are around 2k plus the cost of upgrading sways. If I go the wide body route in a year or 2 I would much rather go the ZR1 route with my F55. I think overall it is the superior suspension for a multipupose car.

 

So if you're going the route of the ZR1 suspension, you need the suspension parts, which includes wheels, tires, body parts to accept said parts, brakes, rotors, sways, ECU, etc. blah blah blah. See where this is going? Until you've driven the ZR1 and your car back to back, you have no idea if the ZR1 is the route that is advantageous. 2K sounds cheap now, right?

San

 

Did you miss the part of adding a wide body kit? So most everything you have listed is already in the cards.


Of course there is the possiblity of just buying a ZR1 but that really is probably not in the cards.

 

You're joking right? The wide body kit includes only body parts, which are well more than 2K. Hell, the front fenders alone are probably that.
You were balking at coilovers. The widebody kit will easily run 5-6K, and probably more for genuine ZR1 parts. The suspension components will be in the stratosphere. Mind you, the ZR1 brakes alone are around 14K. Seriously, decide what you want and don't pretend that the parts will justify the cost.

San

 

Not to rain on anything, but why not ask someone like Katech, Lingenfelter, DRM how much and how compatible the regular F55 is to the full ZR1 treatment? Seems like this is so relatively new and "unobtain-ium" by price that few here have even bought the parts let alone converted a car to ZR1 specs.

 

I doubt anyone will "convert" a car to ZR1 specs. I think you'll spend less on a ZR1, but I could be wrong.

San

 

I am totally aware of the cost of doing a widebody conversion. What I asked in the begining has anyone looked into putting the ZR1 supsension in an F55 equipped car. I did not ask for speculation nor did I ask what was cost effective. I preffer the technology provided by the mag suspension. If it is as simple as changing the program, upgraded sways and springs, all the better.

 

I've spoken with Darin Dellinger (one of the lead Delphi engineer's who developed the F55 suspension for Corvette) numerous times about upgrading the F55 suspension. In regard to the ZR1 suspension, besides other suspension and drive-line components, the ZR1 dampers have "slightly different internals" than the F55 dampers you have. As referred to, the ZR1 'contoller' possesses different calibration sets (algorithms) with such features as launch mode and track detect.

At one point, I thought I was going to get a ZR1 controller to try out. Darin said I would lose some of the 'street' functionality of the F55 suspension but I would gain certain benefits on the race track. Long story short I did not get the ZR1 controller and I didn't pursue the matter (I finally moved to coil-over's for more serious track performance). ZR1 controllers are difficult to come-by if you don't own a ZR1....GM would rather you buy the ZR1. Even with a ZR1 controller you're not going to have a ZR1 suspension.

I don't know specifically what you're looking to gain by changing the suspension. I found using larger wheels/tires, beefing up the tunnel plate and by adding Z06 sway bars the C6 handled surprisingly well on a road course with the F55 suspension. You also maintain the great 'F55 ride' on the street. IMO trying to convert your C6 to an 'almost' ZR1 suspension may not be worth the effort or expense in consideration of what you stand to gain.

 

Thanks Wayne that was what I was looking for. Tunnel plate is already upgraded and this year I am just going to a more agressive but same size tire to stay in class. Last year I was trailing the stock Z51's by about 2 sec's. Will see what the tires do and maybe get a set of Z51 or Z06 sways if I am still not there.

 

Wayne the biggest thing I was looking at was if I changed spring size the current F55 controller would not be tuned for it. The ZR1 controller seemed like a good solution.

 

It's not that simple. The suspension is tuned for the weight of the sprung and unsprung components. That gets complicated fast.

San

 

Thanks, Wayne answered my questions.

 

For the past couple of months, I have also have been researching various options in hopes of upgrading my '08 C6 that has this same F55 suspension. My hopes are to come up with less cornering roll while spending time on the tracks @ Infineon, Thunderhill and Laguna Seca. But I know I must be careful. GM has had > than 55 years to make this great car what it is today. I want to be sure that what ever I do will not throw the cars balance off during hard braking and excelleration through the corners on these raceways. And with this in mind, I am not surprised GM's new ZR1 has incorporated our magnetic shocks. These things are great! Fortunately I have a pretty good base to make this comparison, so let me explain. 13 months ago, I spent 10 hours on the track driving a new Z06 during a two day Bonderaunt School of High Performance Driving event. 5 days after my return, the pre-ordered C6 had arrived. Shortly there after, I was able to take this through some local corners at speeds that were well over 90 mph and I was happily surprised to discover how much more responsive they were than the suspension on the ZO6. Just the same, there was too much roll while cornering.

So here I find myself looking into upgrades. What I don't want to get myself into is a corner where I have no room for adjustments. If I go with either the Z06 or Z51 roll bars, there is no room to adjust. So I just ordered the Pfadt street sway bars. These have 3 different settings in both front and back. I feel I have done my homework, but they have not arrived yet. The word is that they should be here next week. Shortly after that I plan to install and should know how good my research has been.