It was suggested for me to move this from C5 Tech to Autocrossing & Roadracing, so sorry for the double post:

I have a set of Silver's NEOMAX coilovers for my C5 Z06 on the way, planning to install as soon as they arrive. Removing the old leafs/shocks and bolting the new stuff in seems straightforward - however, there are a ton of different settings on these things, and I've never had coilovers before. I'm doing mainly Autocross and lighter road course events at Summit Point, and while I don't mind some rough feedback on the street it should still be at least street drivable for backroads on the weekend. Does anyone have a good resource on a starting point for where to set everything for the first few runs? Damping should be easy enough to tweak on the go since I got the remote adjusters, and I assume ride height will be obvious during install, but what about pre-load? What's a good "middle" to start with?

Also, forgive me if this is a really dumb question, but I'm reading a lot about corner balance when setting up coilovers. Does that not apply to a Z06 because it has near 50/50 weight distribution? Or is individual wheel balance different, should I grab a set of scales and learn that skill?

 

35 years racing Corvettes and I've never heard of Neomax. Anyway, if they are valved properly start in the middle and adjust based on performance.

If you aren't scaling the car you are guessing. Your call. I set rough ride height based on where a car comes in and owner preference, they the scales tell me where to go. It's not about being 50/50 front to rear or side-to-side, it's about cross weight and then neutralizing the bars.

 

Thanks for the info. I think most people just call them "Silvers", they have fantastic reviews and seem to beat out the BC Racing ones at that lower budget price point. Not a fancy expensive set by any means.

Good to know to just start at the middle, simple enough. I would hope that they're valved properly out of the box.

For the corner balancing, I might start with just guessing and measuring without the scales for now but thank you for clearing up what the intention is with it.

 

Is there shock dyno data available?

 

As a guess on corner balance. Count how many threads are exposed beyond the adjuster collar and make the left and the right equal. Fronts generally are different from rears but also make their lefts = the rights. If you get the thread counts equal before you install them, from then on, as you adjust height and rake, just always turn the left adjuster the same amount as the right.

 

Not that I've seen. I tried to get mine dyno'd before they were installed, but the shop's dyno broke while I was waiting for them to arrive, and the owner was not particularly interested in fixing it.

It's a little annoying because given the price-point, I figure there's about a 50/50 chance they're good vs crap.

Only two track days on mine so far, and one was in the rain, but they seem fine to me. But I was perfectly happy with the stock suspension (possibly with new shocks courtesy of the car's previous owner) and I've never experienced high-end dampers, so I'm not the best person to judge.

 

Did you get the standard ones or Litech? With/without race valving? I have the Litech DA with reservoirs and race valving. 550/650 upgraded springs. Talking with the Silver rep and others, it was agreed to start in the middle for strictly track and move up or down as needed. That said, I left my compression dampening in the middle range and tighten rebound a bit based on the track. Yes, there's a lot of clicks and you'll need to move them quite a bit before it makes an obvious difference. I'm sure there's a lot more I can get out of it with testing n tuning with data but the car just works well now so I leave it be. More driver adjustment needed before I get critical on the perfect shock settings.

 

No point to corner balance without adjustable end links. So might as well add those too.

Not many will have a suggestion on those particular coilovers as they are not normally the go-to for serious racers. They are as you said on the cheap end along with BC Racing which are more "in" with the stance crowd and drifters.

Generally speaking there is a minimum ride height to maintain to not kill the geometry of the stock arms/spindles (before going to drop spindles). I have kept to a ride height of 2 finger tire/fender gap in the front and a 3 finger tire/fender gap in the rear to keep a rake. Obviously VERY crude method but is a starting point before actually measuring at the jacking points for ride height.

Toss the shocks on in the "middle" settings and adjust from there. HOW much you adjust is based on how the shocks react to each click and how you like the car to feel.

Cheapest options I like are the Viking Performance setup. I got into mine for ~$1800 Warrior valving triple adjustable (to maintain some street manners) with 550 fr 600rr springs and was very happy with them. Before those were Ridetech HQ's but the adjustment method was irritating.

 

Update: I got them on the car 2 weeks ago and then after a quick shakedown on the road I immediately took it to autocross. My event was super rainy and I was sliding all over the place, but I ended up getting one completely dry run and they performed fantastic! 1st place in CAM-S, albeit with just three people in the class. I really like how these things feel, although I did upgrade to the SCT-1 sway bars kit with poly bushings and adjustable end links at the same time and I'm not experienced enough to know which feeling are from each kit.

When I installed them I found a "rule of thumb" online for preload which was to hand tighten as much as possible and then add 1/4" with the wrench - this seems fine but I'll find a friend with some scales at some point soon to get it really dialed in after I'm happy with the height. The height setup I eyeballed looks really good, and performs great on a flat road, but I took it to work on Tuesday and there are way too many bumps and holes for it to be practical long term, so I'm raising it this weekend. If this ever becomes a track-only car, I'll drop it again.

Same thing with damping, it feels perfect until I hit a bump, but luckily the rears have extensions that I drilled through my trunk carpet and the fronts are fairly easy to get to, just have to take the wheels off. So, I'll keep it softer until I'm doing AX/track prep and then I'll harden it. If something ever breaks on these I'll probably look at a fancier kit like the Penskes but for now, especially for the price, I think these are fantastic.

 

The nice thing about Silvers, and many of the other non-bougie brands is they have true ride height adjustment. You can corner balance and change ride height without changing the bench preload or stroke orientation of the shock. Some say it doesn't matter, I disagree. It's especially nice when you lower the car and you don't have to worry how close you're running to the bump stops or if the spring is going to bang around on suspension extension.