savage

im sure its been talked about, i cant find it,-- f.y.i. i x-crossed my non-z51 auto last sunday (scca) northeast, i took 2nd out of 53 cars,. truth be told, i cant drive the car yet! i left a ton on the table, new car learning curve for me. i will change nothing untill im happy with my driving, im just doing research now, im not going to change shocks and add sway bars just to do it. maybe the car does not need anything for what i do! parking lots, why im working/ thinking about this is because the day before i was 18th out of 47, IT WAS ME, IM A BIG BOY, I SUCKED!

Trackaholic

The transverse leaf spring acts as a sway bar already, and any time you increase the stiffness of the sway bar you affect ride comfort because you are now coupling the two rear wheels and making them less independent.

GM has decided that the leaf spring alone meets their ride/handling trade-off requirements for the non-Z51, and if you want to move more towards the handling side, then you opt for the Z51.

-T

C8Jake

10 minute install...$184.37 shipped Fichtner Chev
fully lowered

Modshack

I'm going to do the full Z51 kit, F&R. Parts on order from Gene at GM Parts house. He put together a full kit for me with all required parts and hardware. . About $275 for both bars, Insulators, Hardware etc. I did this on my last Base C6 with great results. Note that just adding the rear will push the car a bit toward oversteer. The slightly larger Z51 front will balance some of that out, the rest can be done with tire pressures.
I've noticed, on the C7 Base, a little Left/right instability, especially in the rear on turns with some surface undulation . The bars should tighten all that up, and fine tuning with tire pressures should get it just where I want it with no compromise in straight line ride quality/spring rate which I like. Parts should be in in a week or so and I'll do a write-up..

KenHorse

As has been pointed out before, won't installing only a rear sway bay cause understeer?

Modshack

You've got it backwards...
Just adding a rear bar will move the car toward some oversteer (or reduce understeer depending on the severity, bar size etc.)...Which is why you want to balance that with a heavier front (Z51) bar. Other fine tuning can be done with tire pressures...

savage

thank you everyone, i get it! now. ps. talking of tire pressure i noticed that ( i got 16 runs this past weekend) my hoosiers a6 worked better with 5 psi more in all tires on my non-z51 c7 than the 2008 z-51 i traded from. 38 front, 34 back with new car. after reading what you all just said i will drop psi a little when i add bars. test and tune--i have a giant 3 day event (june 13-15) comming up at pocono infield course( timed event) with the scca, its all ways a good time with a v-8, enough said.

savage

i asked you who somewhere else, i got it now, thanks

C8Jake

front BASE 7.85lbs 26.2mm
front Z51 7.95lbs 28mm

Doubt there's really much difference

savage

its always in your head wondering- what if?

gthal

Agreed for street driving there is probably no real difference. Although, I would then wonder why a rear sway is needed if only for the street because the base car still handles well anyway... seems like overkill to me but maybe I'm wrong. Having said that, I would probably do the upgrade myself just because

For track use, however, even a small difference can be significant at 9/10ths. If I was adding the rear, I would also change the front.

Modshack

The overall package makes quite a difference in feel. If you're numb, don't bother, but if you put a premium on good handling, feel and control, these make a big difference. The back was a little "rolly" in my opinion and didn't inspre confidence, though basic handling was good. The bars tie it all together. A slightly heavier front bar keeps things in balance. Car is still very neutral. You can literally feel what is happening at each corner. This is what I was looking for and have been very pleased with the change. For the extra $100 it's worth adding the front too..

My DIY here: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-t...a-base-c7.html

musclecar6

It will be interesting to see if a rear sway bar is part of the mag ride package on the non-Z51, that I expect GM will introduce in a few days at the bash.

shaan

Why not get Z51 to begin with? adding Z51 parts after doesn't make any sense to me

Modshack

Lack of discount and package price would have put a Z51 at +$5800 from what I paid. The difference wasn't worth it to me when I can make significant improvement on a base for very little money. It meets my needs just fine and I currently have $5500 left to play with...different stokes.

BarneyZ

punky

Z51 is a great option package for the 1% or so of C7 owners who will actually run road courses on a regular basis. I've had 3, Z51 equipped Corvettes and can tell you that all that track stuff is a waste in a street driven vehicle. Most of us really need to pursue the "driver mod" before we could ever truly utilize the Z51 upgrades.

Torchd

What a waste of money.

Torchd

Stop trying to justify. Z51 > Base

corvette dave

Originally Posted by C7Jake

10 minute install...$184.37 shipped Fichtner Chev
fully lowered

What a waste of money.



Bet you can't do an install in 10 minutes.
It would take me that long to get the car in the air and another 10 minutes just to plan how to do the install.