[Doc]

Originally Posted by PfadtRacing

This is not accurate whatsoever. We have built our reputation for supplying premium products based on our knowledge in race engineering, and racing ourselves. We race and test on the track, so your Camaro is a winner on the street. We just set a lap record at Brainerd, MN with our suspension on the Carriage House Customs car. These Coilovers are the same coilovers that you will see on the street, and were featured on our street development Camaro that saw over 1.3gs at Miller Motorsport Park, and have VERY street-specific ride characteristics.

I've added some info below in regards to the features of the Pfadt coilovers and why they are a bit more expensive as a result. These are not full-on racing dampers that we sell for the street, they are street dampers with premium racing features so you car race them on the track, and see the ultimate in performance. We don't have any gimmicks in our features, this is all engineering.

The main features of our Pfadt Coilovers:

*Inverted monotube design in on the front strut. This provides that really large shaft section that you see with our front coilover. That is important because the front strut takes cornering loads in these cars and the stiffer the tube, the better. We are the only ones with inverted dampers. This has the effect of placing the adjuster knob on the bottom of the strut for easy access. It is a click style adjuster with 20 clicks that are very positive and easy to feel. It is a simple matter of reaching around the front tire and making a couple of twists to change your damping. There are no unnecessary adjustment levels. More clicks does not mean more dampening.

*Inverted body design on the rear damper. This reduces unsprung mass (a good thing) and also places the adjuster at the bottom of the damper where you can reach it. It is also a click style adjuster wrapped around the shaft section just below the spring perch.

*Our dampers in both the front and rear feature single point adjust-ability which controls both compression and rebound damping together. This is a design that we have found to be very flexible and user friendly in our Corvette offerings. Basically, you do not need to be a damper engineer to be comfortable making adjustments and it is easy to switch from a 'street' setup to a 'track' setup with just a few clicks.

*Our dampers are mono-tube design and feature a separate internal gas chamber, which in the industry is referred to as 'non-emulsion' design. Mono-tube non-emulsion shocks are what you find on most every production based race car everywhere. It is the best design and provides the most consistent and reliable operation. Many of the other offerings for the Camaro are not, ask the manufacturer if you are curious.

*Our coilovers take a 'standard' flat ground race spring, in the front AND rear of the car. Many others use a custom spring to fit the Camaro specifically. Using a standard spring size allows extreme flexibility in spring rate choice. You can call up any race supplier and order springs in 25 lb/in increments that will work on our coilovers. We provide a set with our coilovers that will work well for most people, but the flexibility is there for those who want it. Again, this is unique to the Pfadt Coilovers.

*Our Coilovers work with our Pfadt camber/caster plates. Adjust front camber and caster easily, quickly, and in a repeatable fashion. These are good for well over an extra degree of negative camber (relative to the OEM adjustment). These are available separately, for the OEM strut, or our coilovers.

*Our Rear Coilovers address the misalignment of the shock and spring during bump and rebound by locating both on the same axis that articulates in our upper mount. We are the only manufacture that does this, most just use a custom wound spring that seats on the chassis like the OEM spring. Those units do not address or solve the problem whatsoever. We address the problem up front with our Pfadt Camber/Caster plates.

*Our coilover design has been the result of extensive testing, and engineering analysis. We have these capabilities in-house, and exploit this at every opportunity. Our company has expertise built on OE engineering, and actual motorsport experience. We have two recent videos showing this. These coilovers were on the vehicle that recently pulled over 1.3gs on the OEM wheels/tires!

Another benefit of our company is that we are here to talk to you. If you want to speak with one of our engineers, just give us a call. We pride ourselves on customer interaction. I hope the points outlined above give you a good idea of what our company is all about. Please get in touch with us if you need any further info, we appreciate it. Thanks!

I respectfully disagree. My comment was not a bash or criticism of your company or products in any way. And it IS accurate because you guys ARE racers and your stuff is engineered, designed and built for competitive racing. And for everything I've looked at that you make, your products being built to that higher standard (competitive racing) are higher priced than normal "street" mods from other companies. That's not a criticism, it's perfectly logical, understandable, and what I'd expect from race-grade stuff.

The demands and stresses on components that have to hold up for an entire race, race after race, are much higher and require much higher standard components to be successful. That isn't cheap, nor would I expect it to be. You get what you pay for. Your stuff is top notch and fully capable of being used in race winning cars. Your stuff is also generally beautiful to look at because form follows function and you have great designers. But it's expensive for people buying $30k cars.

People who drive on the street with an occasional 1/4 mile at the track, or maybe an autocross or HPDE once in awhile don't really need full-out race capable stuff. And unless they just have lots of money and don't mind spending it, there are other solutions available at less (sometimes much less) cost that will give them what they want and work just fine for them.

Not everything you make is out of a reasonable street budget; I'm actually seriously considering your sways and end-links. And by reasonable I mean within a moderate street performance person's budget. I'd love to have your 1-piece carbon fiber driveshaft but it's double the cost of all the others I'm looking at. I know if I had yours my car could survive the 24 hours of LeMans, but I'm not in that league nor am I going to be. It's just silly for me to spend $2,000 for your driveshaft, not because it's bad; it's a great product, but because it's basically overkill for what I'm looking for and need.

I have nothing but respect (and often admiration for the way some of your stuff looks) for you and your products; your reputation is first class and deservedly so. But we're modifying $30k cars, not $60k-$100k and our budgets are not the same as guys with Vettes who race.

Since the 2010+ Camaro market is obviously a huge success and continuing to grow at a solid pace, you guys might consider creating a 'mainly street with part-time racing' line or versions of your stuff that wouldn't necessarily be the best choice for a full-time or very serious racer, but would work just fine for street and be priced accordingly so more people could afford it. I don't know how you'd do that but it's a thought. Pfadt Street, and Pfadt Race for example with Pfadt Street being race capable for the occasional racer but anybody going serious should upgrade to Pfadt Race. Just as an idea for you guys. If you had a Pfadt Street 1-piece carbon fiber driveshaft for $1k I'd buy it right now and I'd guess I'm not the only one who would.