Pfadt Racing

We get asked all of the time for customer reviews of the Johnny O'Connell suspension package. We are starting to phase in these types of reviews on our website, as well as facebook comments. But in the meantime, we figured it would be beneficial to post the most recent one that was emailed to us yesterday. If you have a review you want to send us, please do so. We would love to hear from you.

Gery from California wrote to us:


From: Gery
Date: Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 9:05 PM
Subject: Enquiry from Pfadt Race Engineering
To: Pfadt Race Engineering <orders@pfadtracing.com>



I bought a Johnny O'Connell Stage 1 kit for my 2006 Z51 Convertible a few weeks ago. I installed the kit in about 2.5 hours and after a few weeks of driving with it I'd like to share my impressions.

This kit is awesome! I thought my Corvette handled well before I put on the kit. The improvement after installing the kit was amazing. The car is flatter and much more stable in cornering. I drive a twisting mountain road every day to work that has a few bumps in the middle of corners that used to upset the car a little. Now, the car is rock steady and seems to follow dips and bumps in the road without giving up any grip. Minor expansion joints and bumps also seem to be a little smoother. The ride over larger bumps may seem slightly firmer, but it isn't excessive and the overall feel is more of what I would expect from a Z51 handling package.

Here is some information on my car:
2006 Corvette Convertible with Z51
Firestone Firehawk Run-Flat tires
Stock Alignment Settings
44,000 miles
Rear Bar Setting: Center Hole
This car is my daily driver.

Thanks for putting together such a great kit. I'm really enjoying it!


Thanks GERY! We appreciate the feedback!

madmax4499

i want it, i do not want to pay list price!

Pfadt Racing

madmax4499, you should have gotten in on the CF group by a short while ago!

Unfortunately it won't be on sale again for a while, as that is a very rare thing for Pfadt products. But you should cheek out some of our vendors, sometimes they will have install specials.

Pfadt Racing

we lied.

This is ON SALE now over at www.pfadtracing.com for more than a hundred dollars off! Part of our Black Friday Sale!

Pfadt Racing

bump for the lat day this sale is on! You can save literally hundreds of dollars on your order. Take advantage!

757missy

I have a 2010 GrandSport. How much bigger are the sway bars with the Johnny O'Connel Stage one? Going to VIR in June and thinking about upgrading but want to ensure it is worth the $. Thanks Brian

Pfadt Racing

Hey Brian. Bar stiffness isn't really just about bar diameter. For a better look at the differences between the Johnny O'Connell Sways and the factory pieces take a look at our Sway bar comparison chart. You can click the photo for a larger version.

You can see that the front is significantly stiffer, and the rear being adjustable you will be able to make adjustments from Z06/GS levels to slightly higher. The GM bar packages tend to be a little more rear bar biased than we would like, so the increase in front rate is to make the car overall easier to drive. Coupled with the Johnny O'Connell shocks the change in balance tends to make the car handle closer to neutral than the oversteer that you typically see with the Z06 sway bar packages.

rwillitt

I've got a base C6, 2007, that I put the JOC shocks and sways on last year. Did some track time and noticed just a bit of understeer, which, from what I have read is what should have happened. I have since switched the springs to Z06 springs front and rear and just got back from a track day where I found oversteer rather than the understeer from before. Especially noticable exiting turns and trying to get back on the gas. My thought is that the much stiffer springs on the rear essentially stiffened the rear and created the oversteer. (that and probably my less that professional driving technique).

I'm currently running stock tire sizes, PS2 run flats. I'm thinking that adjusting the rear sways to soften it should help take out some of the oversteer. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated?

Pfadt Racing

I shot you a PM with some solutions to look over. Let me know if you need more help!

rwillitt

Thanks, got the PM, appreciate the help.

zeps7784

Will these ever go on sale again? Looking to pickup the sway and end link package.

Does the State 1 suspension kit lower the car or keep it at factory height?

KnightDriveTV

AFE Power bought Pfadt after their....situation. Look to AFE Power for all of Pfadts former products.