Actually my 650+RWHP C5 vert had the Bilstein shocks, Hotchkis Sway Bars, Heim End Links, Bigger Brakes & Non-Run-Flat Tires, a combination very popular with the C5 crowd and I wanted to take my vastly superior C6 Z06 up a notch and give the coilovers a try. I mean whats the worst case scenario here, I remove them? I'm sure that I will love them.
i think what some are saying here is CO may not be the best for a sunny sunday only driver. everyone is hoping its everything you want
i think what some are saying here is CO may not be the best for a sunny sunday only driver. everyone is hoping its everything you want
Thanks, I got ya. I'm just not at the point in my life (yet) where a Sunday cruise consists of 55 mph with the top down, which is why I built my C5 convertible to go so fast in the fist place. I just might want my Z06 to provide me with that NASCAR experience evrytime I get behind the wheel. When I want some leisurely top down cruising I'll jump in the Z28 convertible and throw on some sun screen. I guess its just a case of different strokes for different......oh you get the idea.
I think we are the only company to race both a leaf spring car and a coilover car during the same series at the same tracks. The coilover car won the championship and the leaf car finished 3rd (I think). The flatter and less bumps would favor the leaf car. Until we figured out to smash the leaf in the center. Getting rid of cross talk in the spring, opening up a can of worms using the term Cross-talk again.
Randy
Randy
As a racer kind of guy, surely you too have thought of this...
I'm wondering... When using coil-overs, is not the weight of the car born entirely by the top shock mounts? The weight of the car (corner by corner, of course) would push up on the "coil" (spring) which, in turn, transfers this weight directly to the shock mounts (or so it seems to me).
So, the question is, are the top shock mounts up to this task? Clearly they were designed to take whatever shock loading occurs as the shocks do their thing... but carrying the whole weight of the car....
Location: ECS Sales and Support, ECSRacing Cream Ridge, New Jersey
Quote:
Originally Posted by RFP
Randy
As a racer kind of guy, surely you too have thought of this...
I'm wondering... When using coil-overs, is not the weight of the car born entirely by the top shock mounts? The weight of the car (corner by corner, of course) would push up on the "coil" (spring) which, in turn, transfers this weight directly to the shock mounts (or so it seems to me).
So, the question is, are the top shock mounts up to this task? Clearly they were designed to take whatever shock loading occurs as the shocks do their thing... but carrying the whole weight of the car....
I dunno!
I have only seen one coilover failure at the mount. It was posted on CF in the RR section I believe. The guy ran over a 6x6 or something like that.
Everyone that has them should immediately take them off and send them to me. I'll take the risks and test them all for you, then safely dispose of them when I am finished.
It's the least I could for the Corvette Community.
I swapped for coilovers in my old 99 vert. There was absolutely better ride quality and I wasn't terrified taking a curve with pavement joints at high speed whereas with the stock suspension I could chirp the tires sideways on bad pavement joints on the same curves.
While sways may still not make it a fully independent suspension, the sways control body roll whereas the leaf springs control rebound along with the shocks and no one can convince me that they do not translate vibrations from one side to the other. Yes both sways and leafs tie things together but their main purposes differ and hence theoir design parameters and functions differ.
Near elimination of wheel hop with coilovers and better planting and squatting of the rear suspension also made for better traction.
And finally, and not the least significant, I used race scales at each corner to get a perfectly balanced car at each corner even taking my own weight into account. If you have never literally thrown around a car that's nearly perfectly balanced at all 4 corners you're missing a treat.
Now, I will note in all fairness that I've never driven a car with upgraded shocks and leafs so the difference between the top of the line on those and coilovers may be shades of grey.
But if there's a better option and it's not crazy in price more than the shock and leaf upgrades I don't know why one wouldn't go for it. I have the Pfadts in my C6 and I'll never go to a Corvette without them.
Just my humble .02
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I'm married but my Corvette is the Other Woman. My wife gets all my attention, but my Corvette gets all my money!!!!
As a racer kind of guy, surely you too have thought of this...
I'm wondering... When using coil-overs, is not the weight of the car born entirely by the top shock mounts? The weight of the car (corner by corner, of course) would push up on the "coil" (spring) which, in turn, transfers this weight directly to the shock mounts (or so it seems to me).
So, the question is, are the top shock mounts up to this task? Clearly they were designed to take whatever shock loading occurs as the shocks do their thing... but carrying the whole weight of the car....
I dunno!
I'm at about a 99 percent personally right now. We have a couple cars running our setup, but they are being watch very carefully. All things break at some point. Two years ago, I launch a Honda 20 feet into the air. When I was waking up, I saw the shock doing it's last compression stroke out of my hood. 3/8 inch steel shock tower, and a thin hood like it was butter.
I do worry this debate will turn bad in the future which hurts the cause. About 3 monthes ago I heard of a car running 1200 pound springs in a new Z. Why, I don't know, let the shock do it's work. A spring in coil bind is about the worst thing, it turns something fluid into a brick. Which brings me to the next point, a locked up shock can happen. Coilover or not that can take out the strongest shock tower. Design, useage, time, and a million other things go into this subject. And we will never have the perfect answer no matter what. If GM said it was ok, this debate would still go on. If Obama said it was ok, this debate would still go on. If "God" said it was ok, this debate would still go on. With out the shock tower being so over built the car would become slower and less marketable. When starting from nothing, the coilover shock designs are very simular to what is production now.
So with that all said, why don't we talk about long term affects of the subframe during race tire useage or something?
Randy
PS We didn't do a log test. We ordered the shock tower replacement and was going to rig it to a different car. But after watching the videos from LG Motorsports and Pfadt racing my test would have been more of a redneck version of it and not worth the time.
I installed CO & sways in my C5 2 years ago, not a chance in hell I would ever remove them. My C6 Z51 handles well however demonstrates side stepping characteristics like the C5 before CO's. I will try the aftermarket adjustable shock only upgrade only to my C6 & see if that helps.
That sidestepping definition is what? I feel my stock 06z51 slightly steps to the right at times when I get on it hard. It is always to the r/s of the car and that is r/tire I'm talking about
That sidestepping definition is what? I feel my stock 06z51 slightly steps to the right at times when I get on it hard. It is always to the r/s of the car and that is r/tire I'm talking about
What you're alluding to I believe is the loss of traction pushing the car sideways when getting on it. This is inherent if I recall in that the right wheel moves ever so slightly before the left wheel under acceleration causing the shift. This is why many battery relocations and drag only cars put batteries on the right hand side in the trunk to try to plant the right side a little better. Basically they are trying to counter the delay in traction by making the right side work harder to lose traction.
At least what I was calling side step is going around curve with a pavement joint in it. When going around a curve the inner wheel hits the joint before the outer one. My experience has been that with the stock leaf springs the bump from the inner wheel is partially translated to the outer wheel at damn near the instant the outer wheel gets to that joint. Then you feel the rear end of the car stutter or chirp sideways and let me tell you at high speeds it it terrifying!!!! Do it at a high enough speed and you could lose traction in the rear altogether. Then the fun starts!!!
__________________
When you hit rock bottom, STOP DIGGING!!!
"I TOLD YOU SO" has a little brother. His name is "SHUT THE HELL UP!"
I'm married but my Corvette is the Other Woman. My wife gets all my attention, but my Corvette gets all my money!!!!
you need to separate the design from the characteristics of the parts
changing from the transverse leafs to coilovers doesn't really accomplish much of anything unless you're changing spring/wheel rates and/or shock damping. Most folks are seeing better performance from the change to coilovers not because the spring has a different shape and orientation, but because they've changed rates...which you could do with changes to leaf springs and dampers as well.
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