Ordered a Hotchkis front/rear sway bar set this morning. The major issue is finding the Z51 front sway bar. Most distributors are out of stock/backordered and Cultrag tells me that its been that way for over a year now. So I went with the Hotchkis. Thought of just ordering the front and going GM on the rear, but decided it best to do a 'matched pair'. Also thought of just putting on the rear Z51 bar and leave the stock front, but Cultrag advised me not to do that, either. I ordered the misc. hardware pieces from my local dealer. Z51 shocks arrived today, as well. Once everything arrives and is installed, I'll give a review on the results, as well as my online purchase experience.

 

I started this thread almost two years ago and have not made any changes to my FE1 base suspension yet. Still not happy with the float feeling at speed over road undulations, but appreciate the ride and handling on typical sh*tty Western PA roads. Anxious to hear how you like the Hotchkis and Z51 shock set up. Hope it works out for you.

 

For anyone looking to buy sway bars and end links, i suggest reaching out to Dane at LGMotorsports. They replace a lot of stock sway bars and they might be able to sell you a used setup for reasonable price. I got mine from Dane a few years ago and he got me exactly the parts I wanted and they looked like new.

 

Thanks for reporting back! I thought you might be happy with just the shocks. Adding the rear sway bar is a much more noticeable difference in terms of harsher ride quality. It also is not really going to improve anything if you do not track or autocross your car.

 

I don’t like the floaty ‘mid-90s Caprice Classic’ ride of the FE1 suspension, and I can’t stand th body roll in corners. Previous C6 w/z51 and then a Porsche Cayman S have groomed me to like a very flat-cornering vehicle. Bars should arrive tomorrow!

 

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Why did you go the mag ride sway vs the non-mag ride sway? I'm interested in a similar upgrade of shocks and sway bars. After reading your comment, im debating if I should also keep my existing front sway (I have a base 2015 with FE1)? Most places I go say I should get a matched set of sways, but I also would prefer a naturally balanced car . I haven't driven my c7 hard enough to know if it understeers, Im still not comfortable with how much float and how unstable in feels in turns. For having fun, I have occasionally been able to let the back slide out in turns, but more under hard acceleration vs high turn speeds.

 

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How are you liking the ride with the new shocks and sway bars?

 

The stock base setup has a tremendous amount of mid corner understeer. You will not experience this unless you are at the limits of tire grip. You really cannot get there on the street (at least not safely). I do autocross my car and this is where I found the understeer to be a problem. This has nothing to do with the tail coming out under power. Mid corner understeer is when you are at neutral throttle and just steering the through the corner. Because of how bad the understeer was, I decided to try the mag ride rear bar first and if that resulted in mid corner oversteer, I was going to buy the smaller rear bar. It turns out my guess was correct and the big bar was just right. I have a friend who went with the smaller bar and he complains that the car still has significant understeer during autocross. The Z51 shocks eliminated the floaty feeling and the big rear sway bar made the car balance perfect.

If you have no plans to push the car to its limits, you probably do not need to add a rear bar at all. Just the Z51 shocks will fix the floaty feeling. The car will also roll less with the added rear bar if the roll bothers you. Be warned that the rear bar makes the ride a lot rougher. It is a much bigger impact to ride quality than the Z51 shocks. It still rides smooth enough for me - it feels like a sports car now where the base setup was more like a Camry.

 

DevinC7, If you are near St. Louis, I would be happy to give you a ride in my car. We actually have an autocross this sunday (Sept 24th) so you could even ride along and feel how the car is at the limit.

 

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did you use the non-mag rear sway bar (26.5mm) or the larger mag rear bar (31mm). I understand the performance, turn in and roll have improved, but wondering how the ride quality was affected? thanks

 

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Racerrik, I really appreciate your detailed observations and points. Based on your feedback I'm kind of leaning to do all 4 shocks and maybe the smaller rear z51 bar in the back. Seems like since I wont track the car, this might be a good spirited road driving set-up with a little understeer while keeping things comfortable. I do like spirited driving.

Wondering, did you ever consider coilovers vs shocks/sway bar? My other car, a tesla model 3, most discouraged use of a sway bar and coilovers was highly recommended. I ended up with coils and im very happy and the tesla has very little roll (maybe the low center of gravity and the fact that the batteries add rigidity to the car)? Id love to get my c7 to handle close to as good as my tesla handles.

 

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whoa, what an offer. Im in SF bay Area, and have been trying to find someone with the upgraded suspension or a z51 that I can ride along with. If I was in your area, Id take you up on the offer. Really appreciate it!!!

 

I would suggest doing the shocks first. You can then see how the car drives without messing with sway bars and maybe you will like it with just the shock upgrade. The base car with no mods is already very capable of spirited driving on the street. Sure the car will wallow around a bit and roll a bit, but it will still out handle everything on the road except pure sports cars.

Your Tesla may feel like it handles better to you, but it really does not. I have driven Model 3 Teslas in autocross and they struggle to go around corners at speed. They accelerate faster than your Corvette but then you have to brake way early to make it around the corners. The low center of gravity makes it feel good, but the tires and soft suspension just are not up to the task of hard corners.

I strongly suggest you stay away from coil overs. GM has designed a very well handling car with the C7. Adding Z51 shocks and sway bars will get your car to where it is meant to be in terms of performance. GM took that Z51 baseline and backed away from it to make the base car setup by compromising ultimate handling in a trade off for a smoother ride. Going to coil overs will most likely result in poor handling, poor ride and a noisier suspension that will not have the reliability of OEM parts over time. Not to mention it will cost a fortune to get a reasonably good coil over setup. If you were using your car for racing and you had a good company to properly setup a coil over suspension to meet your specific needs, it might be a good option. But for a car that is only used on the street (spirited driving and all), coil overs will be a big mistake.

 

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OK RacerRik, Im sold on getting the shocks and then possibly swar bar(s) and skip the coilover route entirely. Really appreciate your thoughts on this. And yes, the tesla is heavy, so it does push, but with the sport coilovers I have, it more balanced and composed, and it has the advantage of awd. I will hope to get my vette shocks/sways done very soon and will post updates here. Thanks again!

 

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Wanted to ask what wheel/tire combo you are running for daily driving? I am on the larger z51 wheels (19"/20") on some summer Falken tires. I plan to keep this wheel, but will be looking to replace the tires soon (eg michillen pilot super sport, pilot sport 4s or conti DWS extreme contacts. Any thoughts on a good daily driver road tire? Im in ca, so mostly sun and probably wont drive this car in the rain.

 

I have two sets of American Racing AR 924 wheels in 18 x 8.5 front and 19x10 rear sizes so one inch smaller diameter than stock but the same width. I use Falken RT660s for summer driving and autocross. I have Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate All Season tires for winter use - I do not drive in snow but I do take it out when it is cold so summer tires are no good for that. The Goodyear tires have been great. Excellent grip even in rain. I have driven on the DWS Extreme Contacts (on a friends C6 Vette) and they were alright. Based on TireRack tests, the Goodyears have better grip than the Contis and they were less expensive. If you want run flats, you are stuck with Michelins.

 

Very much. It was what I was looking for when I started looking at C7's. The ride is 'controlled'; not stiff but controlled. The mushy, floaty feeling is gone (shocks took car of that). The body roll on turn-in is gone too (thank you, sway bars). The Hotchkis rear bar is adjustable and, due to them being fairly stiff to begin with, I put them in the 'softest' setting to begin. And so far I've left them 'soft', but it is much stiffer than stock.

 

Did you replace shocks and sway bars at the same time? I did shocks first and did not think the ride was too much rougher than stock. When I put on the rear bar, ride got much rougher - especially pulling into my driveway going across the curb at an angle. It will almost give you whiplash from the side to side jerking.

 

Did you only replace the rear bar? I got the fr and re Z06. I also got the new matching factory end links.. I may install them next weekend.

 

I did just added the 31mm rear bar. SCCA rules only allow me to change (or add in this case) one sway bar in Street Class. Not that much difference in the base front bar and the Z51 / Z06 / ZR1 front bar anyway.

Plus I was trying to reduce understeer. A bigger front bar increases understeer. End links are the same for all models of the C7.