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JusticePete · 02-28-2011, 04:37 PM

Were it my car I would put my money into bushes over arms, coilovers over sway bars and only add sway bars as a final tuning element. Oh, wait a minute. That is exactly what I did.

The low hanging fruit on the 5th Gen is found in the rear sub-frame and front radius bushes. The sub-frame bushes allow significant movement of the IRS assembly and creates rear end step out. Some describe this as a jittery feeling in turns. Up front the OE hydraulic radius bushes compress and create unwanted castor changes. Both are easily addressed by supplementing the OE rubber bushes with urethane inserts of full bush replacement.

Your 5th gen is no different than build a house. It needs a solid foundation. Maybe a better analogy is erecting a fence. If your fence posts are set in Jello (OE rubber bushes in the sub-frame and radius arms) no matter what you do to the rest of the fence it won't be solid.

Sway bars are the final tuning element for a 5th Gen or any other car. You can't get the best out of aftermarket bars until the foundational elements have been addressed. You can read more about the 5th Gen and Suspension modifications in this thread 5th Gen Suspension THE BOOK. Start with the low hanging fruit (sub-frame and radius bushes).

Rear Sub-Frame Forward Bush / Bolt Area

Rear Sub-Frame Rear Bush / Bolt / Locating Post

The large bush in the right of these two pictures have a ferule that fits over the Locating Post. This not only centers the sub-frame, but anchors it much as a weld would to the monocoque. The movement in the rear sub-frame is relative to the voids in the the OEM rubber bushes. If the voids are filled with urethane inserts or the OE bushes replaced with higher durometer full urethane, movement of the rear sub-frame is virtually eliminated.

These videos show Pedders 5th Gen on stock arms and no aftermarket chassis braces.

At the 2010 Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge Mark Stielow won the overall competition. He came in second on the road course (Spring Mountain) with a ridiculous time of 1:48. The video above showing Paul Tracy posting a 1:50 behind the heel of the Pedders USA 5th at the Optima Challenge in 2009. You can see that still slots in as the 3rd fastest car in a spectacular field. Pedders Camaro run on OE arms without any chassis or strut tower braces.

Get your sub-frame and radius bushes addressed and follow you black out plan. Any future modifications will perform better with the foundation in place.

02-28-2011, 04:37 PM	#4
JusticePete Drives: Camaro Justice Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Virginia Posts: 20,174	Were it my car I would put my money into bushes over arms, coilovers over sway bars and only add sway bars as a final tuning element. Oh, wait a minute. That is exactly what I did. The low hanging fruit on the 5th Gen is found in the rear sub-frame and front radius bushes. The sub-frame bushes allow significant movement of the IRS assembly and creates rear end step out. Some describe this as a jittery feeling in turns. Up front the OE hydraulic radius bushes compress and create unwanted castor changes. Both are easily addressed by supplementing the OE rubber bushes with urethane inserts of full bush replacement. Your 5th gen is no different than build a house. It needs a solid foundation. Maybe a better analogy is erecting a fence. If your fence posts are set in Jello (OE rubber bushes in the sub-frame and radius arms) no matter what you do to the rest of the fence it won't be solid. Sway bars are the final tuning element for a 5th Gen or any other car. You can't get the best out of aftermarket bars until the foundational elements have been addressed. You can read more about the 5th Gen and Suspension modifications in this thread 5th Gen Suspension THE BOOK. Start with the low hanging fruit (sub-frame and radius bushes). Rear Sub-Frame Forward Bush / Bolt Area Rear Sub-Frame Rear Bush / Bolt / Locating Post The large bush in the right of these two pictures have a ferule that fits over the Locating Post. This not only centers the sub-frame, but anchors it much as a weld would to the monocoque. The movement in the rear sub-frame is relative to the voids in the the OEM rubber bushes. If the voids are filled with urethane inserts or the OE bushes replaced with higher durometer full urethane, movement of the rear sub-frame is virtually eliminated. These videos show Pedders 5th Gen on stock arms and no aftermarket chassis braces. At the 2010 Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge Mark Stielow won the overall competition. He came in second on the road course (Spring Mountain) with a ridiculous time of 1:48. The video above showing Paul Tracy posting a 1:50 behind the heel of the Pedders USA 5th at the Optima Challenge in 2009. You can see that still slots in as the 3rd fastest car in a spectacular field. Pedders Camaro run on OE arms without any chassis or strut tower braces. Get your sub-frame and radius bushes addressed and follow you black out plan. Any future modifications will perform better with the foundation in place.