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JusticePete · 04-26-2010, 05:32 PM

You are getting great advice here. These are the low hanging fruit, best bang-for-the buck bits for a Camaro that will see track time.

Sub-frame bush inserts EP1200
Radius Bush inserts EP6579
Cobalt Friction Pads -- They do a remarkable job with OE rotors and calipers. Your OE pads will hold up on the track. They will not fall apart or do anything bad. They just aren't as good as the Cobalt Friction pads on a road course which is no surprise because they are a full race pad. You can switch back and forth for street and track use.

GM came to Pedders when they were doing the prototype Grand Am Challenge car that was shown at SEMA 2008 to make a set of urethane radius bushes to replace the hydraulically filled OE bushes. Fluid filled bushes are just not the ideal design for the track. While working with GM we came up with the idea for a snubber to allow a Camaro owner to retain their OE bushes, but firm them up for track use. This was a great suggestion from a GM engineer and one that GM had no interest in for their own use, so we moved ahead and created them.

The subframe bush inserts are required to calm down the sub-frame under extreme conditions such as hard cornering over uneven pavement, hard cornering while acceleration through a turn over less than perfect pavement and so on because a shift in the subframe creates rear end step out. Fill in the OE NVH voids and you are good to go.

A few more notes before you head out to the track.

1. Change out all you fluids with top grade synthetics so they are track ready from brakes to differential. Yeah I know it is a relatively new car, but oil is cheap when compared to a failure.

2. Get your alignment checked.

3. Invest in a really good tire gauge. Watch your tire pressures. They will climb rapidly with track use. With street tires, 33 to 35 pounds cold should be a good place to start. When you come off th track, depending how hard you are driving, your pressures will be some where in the low 40s. Run three laps and come in to check them the first time out. Then you will know.

4. Buy the BEST helmet you can possibly afford. I have never met a racer who had an on track incident that screamed out when headed for the wall -- WOW am I glad I bough the cheapest brain bucket I could find. Your head is more valuable than any suspension parts we sell.

The Camaro did well, 100% bone stock at the Nurburing in the hands of a high quality driver. Most of us are not as smooth as the top tier professionals so we are harder on a car. With my level of driving skill, the better the car the better I drive. Put a top tier driver like Chris Brannon is a POS and he'll beat me around the track I have seen Chris run his Prius against really good track cars with very ordinary drivers. He beat some, but SHOCKED them all.

Were I you, I would get the inserts and follow the #1 rule for a first time track event. Go faster, by slowing down. The more you push the car, the lower you will be until you are used t the car and the track. You'll do well at the track event and have a daily driver you will enjoy more than you Camaro as it sits today.

04-26-2010, 05:32 PM	#14
JusticePete Drives: Camaro Justice Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Virginia Posts: 20,174	You are getting great advice here. These are the low hanging fruit, best bang-for-the buck bits for a Camaro that will see track time. Sub-frame bush inserts EP1200 Radius Bush inserts EP6579 Cobalt Friction Pads -- They do a remarkable job with OE rotors and calipers. Your OE pads will hold up on the track. They will not fall apart or do anything bad. They just aren't as good as the Cobalt Friction pads on a road course which is no surprise because they are a full race pad. You can switch back and forth for street and track use. GM came to Pedders when they were doing the prototype Grand Am Challenge car that was shown at SEMA 2008 to make a set of urethane radius bushes to replace the hydraulically filled OE bushes. Fluid filled bushes are just not the ideal design for the track. While working with GM we came up with the idea for a snubber to allow a Camaro owner to retain their OE bushes, but firm them up for track use. This was a great suggestion from a GM engineer and one that GM had no interest in for their own use, so we moved ahead and created them. The subframe bush inserts are required to calm down the sub-frame under extreme conditions such as hard cornering over uneven pavement, hard cornering while acceleration through a turn over less than perfect pavement and so on because a shift in the subframe creates rear end step out. Fill in the OE NVH voids and you are good to go. A few more notes before you head out to the track. 1. Change out all you fluids with top grade synthetics so they are track ready from brakes to differential. Yeah I know it is a relatively new car, but oil is cheap when compared to a failure. 2. Get your alignment checked. 3. Invest in a really good tire gauge. Watch your tire pressures. They will climb rapidly with track use. With street tires, 33 to 35 pounds cold should be a good place to start. When you come off th track, depending how hard you are driving, your pressures will be some where in the low 40s. Run three laps and come in to check them the first time out. Then you will know. 4. Buy the BEST helmet you can possibly afford. I have never met a racer who had an on track incident that screamed out when headed for the wall -- WOW am I glad I bough the cheapest brain bucket I could find. Your head is more valuable than any suspension parts we sell. The Camaro did well, 100% bone stock at the Nurburing in the hands of a high quality driver. Most of us are not as smooth as the top tier professionals so we are harder on a car. With my level of driving skill, the better the car the better I drive. Put a top tier driver like Chris Brannon is a POS and he'll beat me around the track I have seen Chris run his Prius against really good track cars with very ordinary drivers. He beat some, but SHOCKED them all. Were I you, I would get the inserts and follow the #1 rule for a first time track event. Go faster, by slowing down. The more you push the car, the lower you will be until you are used t the car and the track. You'll do well at the track event and have a daily driver you will enjoy more than you Camaro as it sits today.