Since it looks like the aFe sway bars and coilovers are starting to ship out to all the resellers and members (like Higgs), and because I've received a half-dozen PMs asking how I like the aFe bars so far (after I posted a few pics in the generic sway bar thread), I thought I'd make a post similar to what I've done with other products in the past. If nothing else, it will free up some PM time I have answering questions about the bars - I know there's not a lot of info out there, and maybe this won't help much, but then again it might. I'm personally looking forward to what Higgs has to say about the coilovers. I've just not seen any other posts about these, so I thought I'd kick one off in my usual fashion.

I'm also going to address the elephant in the room - anybody that's been around the C7 section long enough knows that I'm the absolute last person that would ever say a positive word about Pfadt after what I had to go through with chargebacks, etc. last year. I spoke to aFe at length (Marvin over there took a lot of time to talk with me, which was appreciated) about how they were moving forward with production under that name, how the past financial issues were addressed, and so forth. I made the comment that aFe was putting its reputation on the line by selling anything with the Pfadt name, and I get the feeling they know the risks there. So, while I'm not eating my hat, I was willing to give aFe a shot on this as it would seem that they have everything back under control, and have been satisfying the C7 crowd here with the new intake parts, etc.

So, that's that part in a nutshell... To make the 'why go with these over brand X' question easier, I wanted something with a lot of adjustability to be able to get the feel I wanted since I'm at a stupid power level and have to be careful with going too hard/soft on each bar and end up mismatching causing something bad to happen. With the Z51 bars, I can really get out of control with the slightest error. For that reason, I generally drive with a LOT of assists enabled.

So, I'll just do this in three sections as normal - unboxing pictures/notes, installation notes, and final thoughts / updates after further use.

Fair warning, my camera and card were stolen out of my M a few weeks ago (I could go off on a tangent about that, but suffice to say they were dumb enough to leave prints, and somehow didn't notice/steal a V1 mounted on the dash - maybe they thought it was hardwired to an alarm or something ). The first set of pics were on a card that I had taken out with some of my sons pics, so those will be posted in the first section. As a holdover, I'll use my How-To thread on sway bars as filler - I'm putting it back up in the air for you guys and taking 'install' pics so you can see the deal. By now, we all know that sway bars are cake to install/remove, but still... There were a couple neat pieces with these bars that were worth mentioning.

For what it's worth, the front bar is listed at 35mm and the rear is listed as 32mm. The micrometer measurements were within the margin of error on that, so that's a plus.

These were ordered on June 15, and they shipped them on the 16th. FedEx delivered them that Friday (June 19) - they were coming from Bloomington, CA and going to St. Louis so that's not too bad. FedEx Ground tends to be about a day quicker than UPS Ground these days. No signature required for those of us who are not home during the day - I get why it's needed on some packages, but that's just something worth mentioning since half of us come home to a slip on our door instead of our toys. That always makes a bad day worse.

Also to answer the question asked a few times, I did not get the set with the lowering bolts. I am lowered on the factory bolts, and that's plenty low for me with the WeaponX body kit and a 1" diffuser under the nose for the SC intercooler. Also going lower would probably break my rear inner fenders since the 888s barely fit as-is back there.

Anyway let's start off with the comments and pics:

Oh look, a box. These are always the most exciting pics, as I know some of you are box aficionados.




They use those metal brads that you don't see until the razor blade hits one, so just an FYI there. I just bent and removed them all since they invariably scratch the hell out of everything if you don't do that.




Top layer of injection padding removed. Noted that the bars were touching/rubbing on the left and the box had a puncture on the right side where the longer bar had slightly poked through. No real damage to speak of with either issue, but I let them know about both and they said they would look into using foam wraps on the end of the bars moving forward.




Rear bar by it's lonesome, along with zoomed shots of the welds and adjustable positions:





Attachment 48366701




Now both bars together for some size comparison shots and more zoomed shots of the welds/positions (sorry, I should have put the fronts in the foreground here):



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Now adding the rest of the kit/hardware to the mix:






Admittedly, I nerded out on these next pieces (the CNC'ed aluminum rear brackets) - I really like the machining on these. For something you don't ever see, it's overkill but still appreciated that thought and time went into these parts. They actually packed these in a bubble wrapped bag separate from the other hardware, so I guess they're proud of them, too. Engineer ****...



Attachment 48366709




Poly bushings - have no idea what to say about these quality-wise. I wouldn't know a bad poly bushing from a great one, but they seemed well-made and fit perfectly, so I guess that's my answer. Sorry for not knowing about that one, but here are a few pics:

Attachment 48366711



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So, that wraps up this first part.

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Reserved for install pics.

Until these are uploaded, I'm just going to use the How-To instructions in case people are seeing that for the first time...

Front:

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Rear:

Attachment 48366691

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Last part here - the general notes and feelings/thoughts toward the product...

Overall, I have to say I'm much more impressed than I thought I'd be. Somewhere in my mind was the idea that these would fit the same as the 3/4 sets of headers I went through last year... But, that wasn't the case - these were made very well, and there was no issue with installation or fitment. In fact, quite the opposite - the time taken on making parts like the milled aluminum pieces shows an attention to detail which I'm frankly happy to see.

The paint job on these is incredible. I had to ask how they did it, but the better question is why... It's almost a sunburst color that looks like a powdercoat with a topcoat of gloss - apparently it's a proprietary finish. It's overkill on a set of bars you won't ever see, but again, I'll chalk it up to the attention to detail tab. Small negative is that the orange on a blue car makes one hell of an ugly contrast, but you don't see the bars, so that's fine. If they made a C7 in this color, I'd be tempted. It's right about the same color as Jeff Tomi's wrapped orange C7.

The adjustability is as-advertised - I've not played with it yet, and I'm still waiting on the exact adjustability ratings. That's one downside - while sales has been great about giving the info they have on these, the engineers are still pretty quiet on the exact rates. Seeing posts from other manufacturers, I get it - nobody wants to be copied, but for now, all I can refer to the settings as is 'normal' and 'firm' on the front bar, and 'normal', 'firm', and 'extra-firm' on the rear bar. I feel like I'm selling mattresses.

I've not been able to really test these out on a track due to the massive heat wave we've been hit with. When it's not 95-100 degrees, it's storming like crazy. Back roads driving indicates that these are a substantial improvement over the Z51 bars. I am currently using the 'normal' and 'normal' settings, as I didn't want to start out too aggressive. These bars are already substantially thicker than stock, so I figured I'd get used to that first before playing around too much. I'll get there eventually, though.

I've been trying to come up with negatives (seriously, I really have... but they're bars - they either fit/work or don't) and I don't know if I have any yet. Aside from the packing suggestions that I gave them, what this comes down to is that they're a nice set of bars that do their job. They look pretty, and have pretty hardware, but at the end of the day they just work. The eye candy is nice, but it's nothing without performance to back it up. For me, I think the cost (around $700 unless they're cheaper from any vendors here) justifies the return - more so in my case due to my desire for adjustability. I may never move these from the current settings, but I might want to. Instead of moving to a new set of bars, I can just keep these and roll with the changes, so that makes me happy.

If others that end up ordering these want to post their impressions and/or the settings they're using for front/rear, that would be great. I'm not a huge suspension guy, so I tend to tread lightly into this area.

I will update this post with the rates if/when I receive them from aFe or a forum vendor, and with any other info regarding track days, general feel, etc. I'll try to do a follow-up down the road, too, to see if I'm still liking them over time. I get the feeling that if I get bored, I can always just change the bolt hole.

 

Had to quickly ninja-edit some of those pics that had the tiny label with my address un-blurred. Some of you might like me too much.

 

I feel the same as you about the bars, they appear to be well made and I like the adjustable end links. I have not installed the bars yet because I want to get the coilovers set up right (height, firmness, alignment, etc) first.

The stock sway bars come out easily but it's not my first try at it as I installed Z51 shocks and sways (which are now for sale) so I had an idea of the procedure. I pulled the bars out first, then the shocks. Again, I didn't reinstall the AFE bars yet.

So onto the coilovers.....I have no issues with their build quality, they are nicer than the Pfadts I had on my C5Z. There is one problem that is actually just annoying and that is the rear shock lower mount has a nut welded on that you simply screw the lower bolt into to hold it to the lower A-arm. The AFE coilover does not have this. It does not come with a nut and washer to secure the lower bolt. I called AFE and the tech said, "yeah we try to keep the hardware to a minimum." So minimalist that they don't even provide what's necessary much less replacements for the stock parts.

Anyways, it was just a 14mm nut x2 and a couple washers but the fact that I spent 3K+ on these really made the trip to Home Depot annoying and a time waste. Come on AFE, this is stupid.

The stock spring removal is not hard. After you remove the stock shocks you need to remove the two middle spring supports underneath. Then you will get a jack under the a-arm and apply some pressure. Now bring the spring height adjusters all the way up on both sides. Next, unbolt the 4 bolts at the top near the upper shock bolts (they are upper a-arm bolts, I guess). Be careful because each one has 2 washers behind the arm so you have to catch them with your third hand.

Let the jack down and wiggle the spring out, push from one side and pull from the other until you get it out from the A-arms. This works for the rear too.

I set the coilovers shock stiffness in the middle which is way looser than AFE recommends for the street, it's more of a drag setting. I set the spring height just tight enough so that it doesn't wiggle around. I installed the coilovers basically as a reverse to the shock removal.

I'll try and get some pics on Sunday. I drove it around the block and it's pretty soft, as I expected with loose shocks and no sway bars, but in my past experience with coilovers, it can be adjusted a lot and will be great.

 

Here's a phone pic in a dark garage as it sits now:

 

Do you have MSRC?

 

No I don't, I have a base model so the Z51 stuff I have for sale has about 750 miles on it and is not magnetic.

Not sure what Theta has.

 

Yep, I have a Z51 with MSRC.

You got those coilovers on quick!

 

To remove everything and get the coilovers back on it took me maybe 4 hrs. With a lift it could be done faster. Tomorrow I will get a couple pics and adjust the shock stiffness. I will align it maybe Friday and then put the bars on next Sunday.

 

Thanks for the thorough info as usual. Keep up the updates please.

 

I went ahead and put the bars on yesterday and adjusted the height and stiffness of the coilovers and drove it around.

It's ridiculous! corners flat, handles awesome, and power transfer to the rear is very direct. it's still early but so far, if you are in the market, there is no reason not to choose these products.

 

Those coilovers look sick - overkill for me, though.

You know, if you bottled some of your **** and vinegar to get mods done so quickly, I'd buy a case of it!

 

 

If' yer willing compare this setup to the Z51 shocks and sways. Why did you upgrade?

 

I always put coilovers on everything, I guess. I don't "need" them.

the Z51 parts were always meant as a stop gap.

if the Z51 parts improve the base from a 2 to a 4, the coilovers/sway bars from afe/pfadt bump it to a 7 or 8, IMO. honestly it feels like a whole nother car in a good way.

 

I'm thinking that just adding the larger front sway bar would increase understeer?

 

all else equal, yes it will tighten up the front end and can cause understeer.

 

Looking good!

As Higgs mentioned, yes a bigger stiffer front bar will increase understeer, or you can soften the rear sway bar to achieve the same effect

 

Love the way it is setting.