Srkegler

I've had my 13 C6 about 3 months. Base 1LT. Previous was an 04 C5, 3LT, Z51 suspension. Continental tires.


My C5 "seemed" to be more stable, didn't have to make as many steering corrections.


Of course it may just be my imagination, 150K in the C5, only about 5K in the C6.


Dealer put new Firestone RF on which I'm stuck with for a while.


I could justify changing the suspension, to cheap to throw away good tires.


Anything else I could try, check.

Dano523

From the start, check the car to make sure that someone did not lower it on the ride height adjusters, and screwed up the corner balancing on the car. Yes, you can lower a vet, but part of lowering is to make sure that the car is still corner balanced during lowering, that most guys neglect to do isntead.

To see if someone lowered the car, park it on level ground and using a measuring tape from the lip of the fenders to the ground, you should have

Fronts fenders lips to ground around 26 1/2"

Rears fenders lips to ground around 28 1/8"

If you end up with the fenders lips to ground lower than this, then go find a shop that can corner balance the car, as well as change out the after market ride height adjusters back to oems. Hence bank that the after market ride height adjusters failed in the first year they where installed.


Have the alignment checked, hence all four wheels.
If you are not going to track the car or push it hard, then have the alignment set for Pfad pure street specs, which will keep the front inside of the tires from wearing out faster than the outside of the tires from the OEM aligment specs.
Print and take the the sheet with you to hand to the tech,
http://www.pfadtracing.com/docs/camb...t-settings.pdf

Also, have the tires road force balanced to weed them out as well. Hence it not uncommon to have a tire that will not road balance correctly that has to be replace with another new tire, plus a bent rim will show up bright as daylight during road force balancing that may need to straightened as well.

Millage would help, but if under say 40K, the suspension should still be tight and not a problem. If above 60K, then base shocks could be giving up the ghosts instead.

Lastly, pull the GM service history, and even a carfax report on the car, to make sure that the car was not in a wreck, and possible a bent frame that was not caught on the wreck repairs or even steering rank replacement that was replaced with a rebuilt rank (that still may have problems), instead of a new one.

Icecap

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ack-again.html

Read this thread from a couple of days ago. It may provide the answer you are looking for.

Srkegler

Thanks Dano and Icecap for such in depth explanations and help. Taking it in next week to have the alignment done per Dano. Really only noticed it while driving on an uneven stretch of road in Illinois. Car wanted to pull to the right. Hopefully it's just me missing the C5. This C6 is a fantastic beast, just has a different personality.


Thanks again,

GARYFINN

A base C6 without the Z51 suspension is not a great handling car.

Icecap

I am quite surprised by how often these cars are improperly aligned and how often the techs that do alignments are unfamiliar with the requirements and complexity of setting one up properly.

The wandering and poor tracking were dominant on ours and a reputable tire store that replaced the tires and did an alignment gave us a silly excuse for the problem saying that what they described as "ridge walking" was a characteristic of that car. I call BS since when properly aligned by a GM tech at a dealership it was fixed, stable and tracked perfectly END OF STORY!

marinablu67

Where did you get that idea from? I beg to differ!

Al Gumby

I have an `08 1LT and it tended to "float" while cornering. Bumpy roads, under power, made it feel like all four wheels were going in all different directions. Didn't feel planted at all.

A new set of DRM Bilstein shocks made a huge improvement. The OEM base shocks are quite weak from the get go. Comfortable ride though.

Jstan2014

The main reason I went from an ‘05 Base C6 to a 2012 Grand Sport was for improved handling. To me, the GS handling is “night and day” better than my Base Coupe. IMHO.

Eritosthenes

This would absolutely be the next item on my checklist. An out-of-alignment condition -- ESPECIALLY at the rear -- can make a C6 handle very badly. A few months ago an incompetent alignment tech at a local Firestone shop messed up my Red something awful. I had to immediately take it to my dealership to get it corrected. Very smooth sailing after that.

h8snow

Check the alignment if after not improved go to a different shop and have it checked again. Took me four alignment$ before I got my steering worked out almost put the car up for sale. My 13000 mile car came with the base suspension and worked well on our very rough roads. Just never had the steering feel I thought it should have had until I got the rear alignment worked out. Did use the PFADT settings with 0 toe. Totally change the way the car drives. Couple things 2013 has the best steering rack and programing have confidence it can be adjusted to have great steering feel. GM did build a great handling car. I did add Z51 sway bars, new end links and changed the stock base shocks to Bilstein HD shocks not the sports but the one that are valved @ the as the base ones. It was important to me to keep the softer springs again rough roads did not want the pounding that a complete Z51 suspension puts in to the body. I like the flat handling the car has now still compliant. Probably if the alignment was done correctly the first time or two I would not have made these changes chasing steering feel.Hope this helps.

h8snow

Bet the C7 Grand Sport would be "night and day" better than base coupe and a 2012 Grand Sport. Just IMHO.

GARYFINN

By driving And owning both !! If you can't tell a major difference then stick with the base and save lots of money.

GARYFINN

That's probably true however it sure ain't prettier.

cam1969

If you liked the z51 suspension on the C5, you'd like an upgrade now. New sway bars and endlinks are easy to install yourself or have it done. I was in the same boat and bought z51 sways from Cultrag for about $250. You can also find take-off or part-outs. Add Bilstein shocks and a proper alignment, like the Pfadt street (I dropped the camber a little for tire wear), you'll be happy with the results (I was).

Oh, also I had to raise my car to the low end of the factory specs (before the alignment). This seemed to reduce bump steer.

dryadsdad

The base cars handle wonderfully. They are also wonderfully stable. What I'd do is take the car to an expert alignment shop and have them inspect the alignment and the entire undercarriage.

GARYFINN

The base is not a great handling car unless you have the Z51 option.

cam1969

Upgraded my base to z51 - much better.

dryadsdad

This is the silliest post I've seen in the tech areas of this board.

Jstan2014

My thoughts exactly. I can’t help but love the looks of the C6.