Hi guys,

I finally decoded my RPO sticker, and sadly, I have the FE1 'soft ride' suspension.

What do I need to replace in order to get at least the equivalent to FE2 (or maybe FE3) suspension? Is it only the spring? Or is it shocks and sway bars too? Bushings? I'm not sure I understand the difference, and wondering where I might look to learn. Is there a recommended setup that I could start hunting down?

I don't want a REALLY rough ride, but something a little more fun to toss around than the soft ride would be great.

I've done plenty of suspension work on other cars, just not C6 Vettes!

Thanks for any help!


Paul

 

Hey don't knock it, I find the base suspension to be a total benefit here on the bumpy/choppy roads of New Jersey where compliance/gliding over the potholes is preferred over skittering across the road in the turns LOL.

The base suspension is still a great place to start and build upon, you might want to look into some of the offerings from Pfadt and LG Motorsports as they both make some great stuff for C5s/C6s.
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I wouldn't spend money on any GM suspension "upgrades". The suspension on the C6 is the worst of any "performance" car I've owned. I went aftermarket for shocks and got rid of the leaf springs. I replaced the sways as well. PM if you want more info as I don't want to offend others that think GM parts are the answer.

San

 

the base (fe1) rear spring is stiffer than the z51, in order to balance this out to roughly z51 spec, you can go with a front z06 spring - it will be significantly stiffer than the fe1 front spring but not harsh. the upgraded spring will also help stop the car from bottoming out when you are going at full throttle and hit bumps (like transitions from road to bridge).

as far as the sway bars go, you can either opt for the z51 setup (31 mm front and 25.6 rear) or zr1/z06 combo (33mm front 27.9mm rear) these will both have approximately the same balance

shocks - bilstein sport, z06, grand sport (tailored more to z51 spring rates than the z06 shocks), or z51

I drive primarily on twisty backroads that are in pretty rough shape and this setup keeps itself happily planted - even with the junk factory tires.



aftermarket - pfadt sells an adjustable kit thats similar to factory bars called their johnny o connell kit. you can get it with matching shocks.

If you want to step up to coilovers the only ones Id recommend are the pfadt one piece or lg bilstein.
(this will likely be overkill for what youre asking)

If you want coilovers to do some racing then lg bilstein, moton, penske, or pfadt featherlight (which is gm licensed)



money - you can spend roughly 800-900 for the setup using factory parts or 2+ grand on coilovers.

If you dont mind me asking - What other performance cars have you owned? -Not asking to try and start a stupid 3 page argument- just want to get a comparison.

 

Just so you know, we are running a group buy on our complete Johnny O'Connell kit right now. It's made for folks who want to increase the handling capabilities of their car, without getting too deep into suspension tuning or breaking the bank.

The package includes matched sway bars and performance shocks, and with 20 people involved in the buy is a SCREAMING deal at 800 bucks. It's not a full on competition package, but we do have the parts for those customers who want more flexibility.

Be sure to check out the group buy thread here: Johnny O'Connell Package Group Buy

 

I'd do Z06 swaybars and Bilstein HD shocks...cheap and completely updates the handling of the car.

 

I have been tracking my '08 Z-51 this year, awesome car. The right answer depends on what you plan to do with the car. Basically, Street, Autocross, or Track - they all have their requirements which are mixed with your abilities and once you start modding, you have to make changes everyplace else to keep the car in balance, so the other part not mentioned is brakes. Higher speeds means bigger brakes. The Z-51 handles pretty well, but I can see I will need to make upgrades as my abilities and speeds increase. Just figure out how far you want to take it all.

Pfadt products are great though too. Given the group buy opportunity, I would go with the JO suspension components. Personally, I would buy a kit now except I just spent 2300 on street tires and want to go to R compound tires mounted on wheels for track day use only.

This brings up another question for Pfadt and GM, what is up with the F-55 suspension? The ZR1 now has it in the 2012 models. Is it better going with mag-shock technology over the more conventional stiffer shocks and springs? I've read the report where a GS was supposedly faster with the F-55 than the Z-51, but really? If the F-55 is really that good, is the C6R program using it this year?

The reason I ask is I was very tempted to buy a new GS this year but didn't like the options/configurations available (why can I only get the dry-sump motor with the manual transmission?) and didn't like the colors (my '08 is CRM, a color not available for 2012).

 

I'd do the ZR1 bar up front if you go with a Z06 rear swaybar for better balance.

I was thinking of doing that combo but was dragging my feet because I wanted the JOC swaybars but didn't want to pony up for them. Now I'm hoping the Johnny O'Connell group buy goes through as I know that will really make the car flat and well planted in turns on the street. I'll probably do the whole package even though I originally committed to just the swaybars.

 

The video of Tadge Juchter (sp?) at Sebring shows him saying that the A6 is not designed for the high lateral G loads that require a dry sump engine oil system. He then mentioned high temperature warnings.

So, it sounded to me that he was saying no sense in beefing up the oil system if the tranny immediately becomes the weak link.

One could infer that the A6 works ok with the G you can generate with a Z51 car on street tires, but the wider tires on the G/S are, in a sense, "too good" for the tranny.

 

About the F55 - From a technological standpoint the F55 is pretty neat, and with some development could yield some really exciting results on the race track. It's certainly something to hang your hat on from a cool gizmo standpoint, and therefore should be in the ZR1 since it's your top of the line model. The system is functional for street cars, albeit not as well as say a coilover setup, and in it's current form F55 frankly isn't nearly good enough to put in an actual race car.

We feel there is major room for improvement on all of the OEM Corvette suspension packages. That's why we're in business! Take a look at the cost of replacing the F55 shocks down the line, then take a look at the cost of going to say our coilovers which are lighter, stronger, more durable, better performing and offer much more adjustability.

About the dry sump, it's not the weak point in the system for tracked automatic Corvettes. Like mentioned previously it's more likely that the Auto tranny will give up the ghost before the engine oiling system will, so there really isn't a reason to put a dry sump on the car since it's not the first major point of failure you will likely see.