Trying to get my sea legs again after a long absence. My recently-acquired 2011 base 6-speed coupe (Cyber Gray) is what I went to when I was obliged to consolidate my fleet (turning an '03 E39 BMW 540i 6-speed and an '09 E90 328i 6-speed into a single C6). Last 'Vette was a C4 ZR1 (a '91) that I swapped in the spring of '94 for a Lexus SC400 (I was working on a broken something-or-other on the ZR1 every weekend, couldn't afford the time with my worklife--the SC400 was the right car at the right time, no apologies). The new C6 is, ironically enough, Corvette ownership experience #6 for me: an '82 CrossFire, an '84 auto, an '86 4+3 Z51 (aluminum head version), a '90 L98 auto and the '91 ZR1. Feels really good to be back, even though I did love the ride/handling balance of the BMWs.

Anything that I need to look for right away? After the first 700 miles, the car seems WAY underdamped (compared to the BMWs that I had), especially for larger body motions. Car seems a little "stinky," too (catalyst/exhaust-system burnoff?), with a bit of fluids-on-hot-surface smell. For settling out the body motions, I'm thinking about swapping the base-suspension shocks for the standard (passive) Z06 shocks. Any thoughts on that? Also, RickT has already let me know that the Z06/Z16 rotors/calipers won't fit within the base wheels without spacers; anybody know how thick a spacer a feller would need to make that work (don't want to go too far for fear of bearing life)?

Any experience would be appreciated. Again, feels good to be back.

 

The base cars are indeed terrible on bodyroll. The same is true for F55 suspension cars. The culprit at the swaybars; a set of Z-51 sways will go a long ways towards making the car feel more planted. I wouldn't run Z-06 sways unless you plan on getting much sticker tires on the back.
Shocks wise, the Bilstein Sports are very nice and would be my choice instead of Z06 shocks. Not sure how much I'd want to mod a car that new though.
Z06 brakes? I'd never do it with a spacer, it will look weird as hell. Get some proper wheels to fit them if you must, although as I am sure you realize, the brakes on your car are perfectly capable of stopping it from its rated 190MPH top speed. The Z brakes are great but completely unecessary for most people.
As far as exhaust, I can't relate to that.

 

Hi,

Congrats on the new c6. In regards to the burning fluids
smell I have been down this road a couple times now.
GM puts tons of grease in the spark plug boots.
The grease gets hot and drips down onto the exhaust manifolds
and of course the smell. Pulling off the spark plug wires and removing
the excess grease will solve the problem.

Gary

 

For shocks & maybe sway bars, you might want to try the Pfadt adjustable sport shocks & sway bars. Check out their website.

 

Thx 2 all for the quick replies and welcomes. Thx in particular to DialInCorvette (intel on the smell) and PowerLabs (suspension ideas) for their specific guidance.

BTW, body-roll about the car's longitudinal axis isn't my major complaint after having come out of the two BMWs that I had; rather, what I've noted about the base C6 is how poorly-damped the car is on large-displacement vertical body motions. The car manages small displacement vertical inputs reasonably well; it's the big body motions that give me that good ol' Caddy DTS feeling. BMW masters this like no other manufacturer in my (considerable, because of my job) experience; especially with sport-package-equipped cars like I had, BMWs allow one economical pump and then the motion is damped out. Done. Plenty of things to whine about with BMWs, but suspension tuning is usually not one of them. I'm just looking to button-down the new C6 a bit better than the base shocks provide. I may choose to increase roll stiffness while I'm at it (and yes, the Z06 bars, which increase overall roll stiffness but which also move the roll couple rearward, would require more potent rear tires such as Michelin PS2 ZPs).

Many thx 2 all. Keep that intel comin', guys. Again, it's great 2 B back.

 

Welcome back, and congrats on the new Vette.
You have probably noticed a few threads on alignment problems, so keep an eye on those expensive tires.

Larry