I am running into almost a dead-end with the Z06 - totally understand this is a great car in its own terms, but I've found myself feeling a bit muted with the car on the road - I am looking for ways to get more feedback to my hands and my butt. There are couple options I've seen so far.

1. Adding Monoball kit (Spherical bushings) to take out the stock factory rubber for more direct feeling for the car.
2. Lightweight wheels (less rotation force)
3. Weight shavings with stock seat replacement + battery replacement (about 100 lbs
4. Adding Z51 sway bar to the rear for better rotation.
5. Go aftermarket with the coilovers and forget stock magride.

Anything else I should try before giving up?

Thanks.

 

Those will all help. Add to the list a track alignment with 8-9 degrees of caster. It helps a great deal with off center weighting. Inflate your tires. Get a tire with a stiffer sidewall.

I have heard from people that I trust that simply switching to a set of Eibach sway bars will significantly improve the creativeness of the car.

I don’t really understand what feel people are missing from the Z06. As the current owner of a 992.2 Carrera T and a C8 Z06, I find the Z06 to be every bit as communicative aside from the brake pedal. However, I will admit that the Z06 communication from the road can be a bit more rubbery in its feel.

 

 

Quick question.

What year is your car? If you still have the voucher for Ron Fellows school and have not used it. I would highly recommend it. I come from motorcycles (Ducati) and its all feel on those bikes. The RF school taught me more then I would ever learn about the capabilities of the Z.

 

There is a 90 Ford Taurus for sale near me and the guy only wants $1500 for it but says he is firm, he knows what he has. Should do all the things you are missing on the Vette. Sell the disappointing Vette and pocket the change, win-win.

 

you know that's a great question -

On the more primal side, the 5 senses we have, basically gave me a rough idea on how the car is doing; In this regard, I felt the car was too muted and I have trouble gauging the speed and road condition, which is crucial for driving consistency. I wish the steering feedback is more direct, I need to feel the road and what the tires are doing. Right now I rely more on my eyes rather than my body to feel what's going on, and that's very non-intuitive. I actually went back to drive the same roads in my Honda S2000 to confirm I was not imaging things in my head.

In other words, the car was just trying to do everything by itself. While it's super magical, it feels like I am more an operator, rather than a driver.

I even went down the path to see if we can tune the Electric Power Steering Module - so far looks like it's a no go - service department can reflash it back to stock but doesn't look like we have access to the tuning software anytime soon. I also do know the Z07 carbon fiber wheel package has a slightly different tune on the car since their wheels are lighter, but I don't know how much would that help.

 

Went a bit further down the rabbit hole and learned a few more things.

Spherical bushings
From what I’ve gathered, the front bushings are already fairly stiff from the factory. The bigger source of compliance seems to be in the rear, so replacing bushings there would likely do more to help rear stability/power-down than chasing the front first.

DSC controller
Apparently DSC now has a controller for the C8 platform, which replaces the stock MagneRide controller and gives you much more direct control over damping behavior at all four corners. For my use case, this is probably the most interesting path so far.

My current theory is that a big part of the car feeling a little floaty or muted on the road comes from the stock calibration still preserving some comfort window even in Sport/Track, especially under lower-G driving. That’s great for street comfort, but it also means less butt-feedback and less chassis communication at road speeds. A DSC controller seems like a really nice middle ground since it keeps Tour/Sport/Track functionality intact without forcing me straight into coilovers.

One thing I do want to note: if adding more aero later, I suspect the stock spring rates may eventually run out of range for holding the platform up consistently under aero load. At that point, stiffer springs may be necessary to keep the car stable and in the right operating window.

Brake-by-wire
Doesn’t seem like there’s much I can do here beyond better pads, fluid, and general brake setup. This one feels more baked into the car.

EPS / steering feedback
The last big area I dug into was the K43 Electric Power Steering Control Module (EPSCM), mainly because a lot of my complaints come back to lack of feedback through my hands.

A few interesting things came out of that:

• GM appears to have different steering tuning profiles depending on configuration. For example, Z07 carbon wheel cars reportedly have a different EPS tune because the lighter wheels change how the car responds.
  
• The EPSCM is VIN-tied, so even if a dealer reflashes the module, you generally only get the calibration profile that matches your car’s original configuration.
  
• From what I can tell, the module/software stack is broken down into things like Configuration/Setup Version, Operational Software Version, System Calibration Hardware Version, and Calibration Version. My guess is that the actual “feel” lives mostly in the calibration side, not the setup side.
  
• Since the Global B platform has now been cracked open further, it looks like module swapping/VIN spoofing is becoming possible, which is probably related to how people are now getting deeper access to ECU/TCM tuning as well.
  

In an ideal world, we could dump the EPSCM ROM, map the variables, and tune steering behavior directly based on preference. Realistically though, that feels like way too much work for a safety-critical system. Best-case scenario, there may be some opportunity to swap in a different factory calibration — for example, something like a Z07 carbon-wheel tune into a non-Z07 car — but full custom EPS tuning still looks pretty unrealistic for normal people.

So where I’m landing right now:

• Sphericals: probably not the first place I’d spend money for a street-driven car
  
• DSC controller: most promising path so far
  
• Brake-by-wire: mostly baked in
  
• EPS tuning: theoretically possible, practically cursed
  

That’s where my head is at for now.

 

My only complaint is the brake pedal feel

Once in a while there is a slight clunking feeling in the steering wheel over bumps but I’m figuring it’s the fact I have the lift option. I’ve never test driven a c8z without front lift option to compare

 

I think if you remove some of the sound deadening under the carpet, it will make the car feel more raw/alive like c5z

 

Interesting... street feel not track.
Reasonable changes the OP listed.
Feel is so unique to every driver.

It may be the inherent design of the electric/ power steering rack.

Whether front or rear is the area of improvement to accomplish your goal, I do not know.
Sure, you have a large expenditure of money with the list/ budget.

I would try adjusting tire pressures first.... experiment and report.
I am an advocate of the rear chassis X-brace.
A custom 4-wheel alignment may also be a good first step before part expenditures.
Swaybars, spring rates, bushings, et al, even tire carcasses and compounds... "kind of a rabbit hole".. as again feel is so personal.

Good luck.

 

What about adding Hyperco springs, the claim they are 30% stiffer then a stock Z06 and 20% stiffer then the Z07 package, plus they drop the rise height by 1”. That may give you a little more feedback...

 

The best sounding bike there is, but god do they roast you. I hear Aprilia Chassis is even better with feel, but I've never had a chance to ride one.

 

You brought up a good point - one thing I haven't really looked into yet is the tire profiles - obviously with a thinner tire wall you shorten the distance between the road and the driver - but that's not something I really want to touch right now given the stock tires are already pretty thin 275/30ZR20 (Front) and 345/25ZR21 (Rear)

 

Definitely. Not really into the idea of dropping the car - I need some clearance at load to make sure the fenders don't rub. Ideally stiffer springs but no lowering.

 

The DSC controller shows as back ordered and it appears to be 1 unit for all C8s. I have used them in several Porsches I've owned and found they had a positive affect. The difference being Porsche GT cars had 2 setting extremely firm and ungodly firm which was fine for the track but did nothing to make them better street cars. I'd love to hear feedback from someone who installed one.

 

Another option is to change your rotors to Carbon Ceramic ones. That is assuming you have the Iron rotors from stock. This will improve performance all around, weight loss, suspension, handling and of course better stopping power. I chance my stock iron rotors to carbon ceramic and lost 10 lbs of rotating mass per wheel. Love them!

 

The DSC Controller was a game changer in the C7 days, I'm not sure how far off the c8 is to where DSC is now that it would make as big of a difference. Thanks for the heads up that this is around, I'll be watching for reviews.

 

All the new cars do everything so well , even the lowest of skilled drivers feel like race car drivers.
the old school C6 Z06 with manual felt the best connection to driver.
But I like my new Z06, and the sound , it’s still a visceral experience.
at least for me. Love driving it.

 

Carbon fiber seats were a game changer for me. No padding tillet seats . Comfy yet you know everything the car is doing . I LOVE them and might be my favorite upgrade .

 

I second the seat change. Stock seats provide no information. Get a proper seat that hugs you and is stiff and it will communicate everything about the car to you.

I have a Sparco Circuit seat and it’s the best investment ever.