Coilover choice for Daily that gets more fun from twisties than 0-60s - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Robmnrd · 08-11-2023, 12:35 PM

Hey guys, my rears "made it" all the way to 60k (started riding noticeably worse at 60k...so probably actually had less-noticeable but still worse performance long before that..) and they now have that oh-so-wonderful leaking visible. Right at 68k today.

I'm gonna pull the trigger on doing a coilover conversion. I nearly daily drive the car, so I can't/won't take the time of having it 'down' while I go through the horrendous search process (and financial cost) to find two new or slightly-used rears, and honestly also fronts because at this mileage getting those as well would just make sense, especially since they seem to be so hit-or-miss in terms of the mileage people get out of them.

If I was keeping it a low-mile barely-driven "might sell it one day so gotta keep the value up!" car I would park it for 2 or 3 or 12 months (or however long) to find a full set, but I'm gonna keep it and drive it til it blows up then rebuild it and drive it some more lol.

So, without any replies of "Just keep the magride and wait for GM (lol) or another supplier (slightly less lol but still lol) to make replacements for us!", can ya'll give me some suggestions on coilovers?

My use (as I said) is as a DD, and when I am having fun with it I do prefer performance to be aimed more at twisties than a 0-60 time.

I am fine with a *relatively* harsh ride (compared to what many will put up with..) in terms of ride quality. Basically from the day I bought the car until now I never had the suspension set to comfort mode. Just didn't care about having a 'nicer' ride quality. But it is a DD so I am not looking for bone-rattling as I am driving down the highway.

I do intend to pay the little extra cost to get those stupidly expensive simulator plugin things to trick the SCM, rather than doing the cutting/splicing/resistor thing some guys do, just in case an affordable magride option comes available in the future so that I could theoretically switch back. As such, I know there are a few options for those on the market, and I was also wondering if ya'll have personal or 'my friend used' experience for an option there in terms of 'most reliable'?

I appreciate any suggestions as well as the understanding that not all of us only drive these cars <5k miles per year, <6 months per year, and are not willing to put up with the lack of support in terms of genuine 'routine maintenance' parts availability.

Scotty D · 08-11-2023, 03:58 PM

Love my pedders

Robmnrd · 08-11-2023, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scotty D

Love my pedders

Is that the 'extreme xa'? I have seen a handful of positive reviews for those, but nothing in terms of specific ride/handling characteristics.

Robmnrd · 08-15-2023, 08:45 AM

Welp, gonna pull the trigger today on:

https://pedders.com/products/814112-...42820220027108

and:

https://www.montmotorsports.com/afe-...o-c7-corvette/

Found a shop about an hour south of me that says they've done the conversion on ZL1s before (the guy on the phone even knew about needing the little plugin simulator things without me mentioning anything about them, which is promising to me in terms of their experience doing it).

Scotty D likes his Pedders on his 1SS 1le, so I guess I will report back for ya'll on how the setup fairs on a ZL1. I'm opting for the package that also comes with the 27/32 sway bar setup - I figure if I'm gonna go down this route I might as well lol.

MontanaFlyFisher · 08-15-2023, 09:05 AM

Let us know how the install goes and what you think of the kit after you put a few miles on it!

Robmnrd · 08-15-2023, 09:46 AM

Oh I definitely will!

In fact I'll be able to give an excellent review of them from the POV of it being a DD car very shortly after getting them on.

The shop that I'm going to use to do the conversion will be able to get it done before the end of the first week in September - and then in the second week of September I will be driving to Michigan, doing a little sight-seeing and travel around the state up there, and then driving all the way back down to Texas. So (if all goes to plan... keep your fingers crossed for me!) in about a month I'll do a really good writeup about driving on them cross-country, on terrible Michigan roads, and obviously also any/all fun I have on twisty-turny roads!

ZMEnow · 08-15-2023, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robmnrd

Oh I definitely will!

In fact I'll be able to give an excellent review of them from the POV of it being a DD car very shortly after getting them on.

The shop that I'm going to use to do the conversion will be able to get it done before the end of the first week in September - and then in the second week of September I will be driving to Michigan, doing a little sight-seeing and travel around the state up there, and then driving all the way back down to Texas. So (if all goes to plan... keep your fingers crossed for me!) in about a month I'll do a really good writeup about driving on them cross-country, on terrible Michigan roads, and obviously also any/all fun I have on twisty-turny roads!

Our governor will have a very special welcome for you..

Robmnrd · 08-16-2023, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMEnow

Our governor will have a very special welcome for you..

Slalom slalom!

Robmnrd · 08-29-2023, 12:54 PM

Forgot to update:

Ordered and received everything for the conversion, and then dropped the car and parts off at the shop yesterday.

Shop owner said to expect ~2 days to get it back, so I'm figuring it'll probably be ready for pickup either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how smoothly everything goes.

I gotta figure out a good place to get a final alignment done. The shop is comfortable with doing all of the necessary height and damping setup, as well as a 'get you on the road' alignment, but they don't have all of the special equipment to do a final precise alignment.

Not a huge deal, but I don't know if I trust a Firestone or even a Dealer to get it aligned how I want, especially since I'm going to request an alignment to specs Pedders suggests, rather than just OEM specs.

Brutale arancia · 08-30-2023, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMEnow

Our governor will have a very special welcome for you..

They paved the road I live on two months ago, the last road I use regularly that was in rough shape. SWEET! Then last week they covered it with tar and stones? Didn't put up the "loose stone" signs to warn me either. Just wait till she beomes president!

I was in the UP a couple weeks ago, no road work and no bad roads.

Bigtime53 · 08-30-2023, 10:53 PM

I am watching this thread closely to see how the OP likes this setup. I sure hope it works out good.

Robmnrd · 09-01-2023, 08:25 AM

As happens in the world of automotive modification, there have been delays. I should be picking it up today, though I have reservations and have a sad feeling it won't be until early next week.

The shop I took it to does seem to do high quality work, but I get the impression they take on a bit more work than they should given their size and number of people working lol. They're a specialty shop though - mostly do genuine racecar stuff. So I am not upset about it.

MSgt O · 09-01-2023, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brutale arancia

They paved the road I live on two months ago, the last road I use regularly that was in rough shape. SWEET! Then last week they covered it with tar and stones? Didn't put up the "loose stone" signs to warn me either. Just wait till she beomes president!

I was in the UP a couple weeks ago, no road work and no bad roads.

BULL....I live up here and we have PLENTY of bad roads...just not the ones the fudgies drive on....tourist $$$ gotta make it!!!

And OP, if you want to go for a nice twisty ride along the lake, let me know. I live in Cheboygan and can show you around some if you come this far north!

Robmnrd · 09-01-2023, 05:07 PM

So the shop came through for me and finished the car up today. Just got home (~75 minutes of driving including the drive from the shop, and stopping off to wash the car as well as go to the pharmacy lol).

I did not get the opportunity to throw her into some corners just yet (I do take drive safety seriously, and I had no opportunities to truly screw around..) but I plan to write more reviews over the coming month(s) as I drive it and have fun with it. I did push it just a hair on some open sweeping curves and a little 2-lane slaloming here and there just to get a feel for it though, which I will comment on briefly.

First Impressions:

I have two primary first impressions.

1. Ride quality is actually very good. Within the context of "modified suspension", I would actually say it is excellent. I spent so little time in 'comfort' mode with the stock suspension that I honestly don't really remember what it was like, but reaching waaayyy back in my memory I want to say that ride quality is somewhere between 'Tour' and 'Sport' settings.
Something along these lines:

Tour>>>>>>Coilovers>>>Sport

The ride quality is closer to "Sport" mode than "Tour", but still in between.

These coilovers are very adjustable, and I have them set up how Pedders (the company that makes them) suggests for an "aggressive daily driver". I, personally, could live with them being even stiffer given I always was in Sport mode anyway. But for the time being I'm going to just let them be and see how I like the overall performance as is.

2. Upgrade your swaybars. Obviously a fully-function suspension overall makes the biggest difference in handling and handling characteristics, but I mean wow. The stock front/rear do a great job. They really do. But even just with a liiiiiiittle bit of fun today I noticed a difference in body shift/roll and I can't wait to actually go out and push it a little bit.

I will say that based on my research (I am trying to find the tech article I read this in that explained it really well) GM originally set up the swaybar combo stock to help keep drivers safe - they would help with allowing the car to act more predictably at near loss of traction and just beyond loss of traction - they were set up for a very predictable amount of over/understeer right at that point. That's why (unlike mustangs) ZL1s aren't constantly shooting off into crowds of people when they bust the rear end loose. This combo from Pedders is less forgiving right at that loss of traction point - I learned this when leaving the shop (rural road, very open, just gave it the beans basically) and I had to actually drive the car instead of just lazily doing what I had become so accustomed to from years and years of driving it stock whenever I felt like busting the rears loose.
The front swaybar is adjustable, and between that and potentially a little fine-tuning with the coilovers I'm sure it could feel more like stock if someone felt so inclined.

Other Impressions:

Compared to the magride, you do feel more of the little road imperfections. They are not aggressive or uncomfortable by any means - it's just that I used to drive over a crack in the road or maybe some of those asphalt filler lines and basically not notice it at all - now I do. But that's it, I just notice it. They genuinely aren't annoying. They're just there now.

On some longer sweeping curves I just gave it a bit of juice to feel for stability and I was pleasantly surprised. Honestly it was almost like the more I gave it, the more stable it became. I don't know if that makes sense..but it's what I felt.

Please keep in mind the context for these initial impressions: I had been driving ~8000 miles on struts needing replacement, though it wasn't until the last ~1000 or so miles that I truly felt it as they'd started to visibly leak sometime in that period. Additionally, I reserve the right to update, add, remove, alter, etc., any/all points given this is literally the first time I drove the thing.

08-11-2023, 12:35 PM	#1
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	Coilover choice for Daily that gets more fun from twisties than 0-60s Hey guys, my rears "made it" all the way to 60k (started riding noticeably worse at 60k...so probably actually had less-noticeable but still worse performance long before that..) and they now have that oh-so-wonderful leaking visible. Right at 68k today. I'm gonna pull the trigger on doing a coilover conversion. I nearly daily drive the car, so I can't/won't take the time of having it 'down' while I go through the horrendous search process (and financial cost) to find two new or slightly-used rears, and honestly also fronts because at this mileage getting those as well would just make sense, especially since they seem to be so hit-or-miss in terms of the mileage people get out of them. If I was keeping it a low-mile barely-driven "might sell it one day so gotta keep the value up!" car I would park it for 2 or 3 or 12 months (or however long) to find a full set, but I'm gonna keep it and drive it til it blows up then rebuild it and drive it some more lol. So, without any replies of "Just keep the magride and wait for GM (lol) or another supplier (slightly less lol but still lol) to make replacements for us!", can ya'll give me some suggestions on coilovers? My use (as I said) is as a DD, and when I am having fun with it I do prefer performance to be aimed more at twisties than a 0-60 time. I am fine with a relatively harsh ride (compared to what many will put up with..) in terms of ride quality. Basically from the day I bought the car until now I never had the suspension set to comfort mode. Just didn't care about having a 'nicer' ride quality. But it is a DD so I am not looking for bone-rattling as I am driving down the highway. I do intend to pay the little extra cost to get those stupidly expensive simulator plugin things to trick the SCM, rather than doing the cutting/splicing/resistor thing some guys do, just in case an affordable magride option comes available in the future so that I could theoretically switch back. As such, I know there are a few options for those on the market, and I was also wondering if ya'll have personal or 'my friend used' experience for an option there in terms of 'most reliable'? I appreciate any suggestions as well as the understanding that not all of us only drive these cars <5k miles per year, <6 months per year, and are not willing to put up with the lack of support in terms of genuine 'routine maintenance' parts availability.

08-11-2023, 03:58 PM	#2
Scotty D Drives: 2014 1le 1SS CRMT Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Boston mass Posts: 1,178	Love my pedders

08-15-2023, 08:45 AM	#4
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	Welp, gonna pull the trigger today on: https://pedders.com/products/814112-...42820220027108 and: https://www.montmotorsports.com/afe-...o-c7-corvette/ Found a shop about an hour south of me that says they've done the conversion on ZL1s before (the guy on the phone even knew about needing the little plugin simulator things without me mentioning anything about them, which is promising to me in terms of their experience doing it). Scotty D likes his Pedders on his 1SS 1le, so I guess I will report back for ya'll on how the setup fairs on a ZL1. I'm opting for the package that also comes with the 27/32 sway bar setup - I figure if I'm gonna go down this route I might as well lol.

08-15-2023, 09:05 AM	#5
MontanaFlyFisher Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Jul 2023 Location: MT Posts: 16	Let us know how the install goes and what you think of the kit after you put a few miles on it!

08-15-2023, 09:46 AM	#6
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	Oh I definitely will! In fact I'll be able to give an excellent review of them from the POV of it being a DD car very shortly after getting them on. The shop that I'm going to use to do the conversion will be able to get it done before the end of the first week in September - and then in the second week of September I will be driving to Michigan, doing a little sight-seeing and travel around the state up there, and then driving all the way back down to Texas. So (if all goes to plan... keep your fingers crossed for me!) in about a month I'll do a really good writeup about driving on them cross-country, on terrible Michigan roads, and obviously also any/all fun I have on twisty-turny roads!

08-29-2023, 12:54 PM	#9
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	Forgot to update: Ordered and received everything for the conversion, and then dropped the car and parts off at the shop yesterday. Shop owner said to expect ~2 days to get it back, so I'm figuring it'll probably be ready for pickup either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how smoothly everything goes. I gotta figure out a good place to get a final alignment done. The shop is comfortable with doing all of the necessary height and damping setup, as well as a 'get you on the road' alignment, but they don't have all of the special equipment to do a final precise alignment. Not a huge deal, but I don't know if I trust a Firestone or even a Dealer to get it aligned how I want, especially since I'm going to request an alignment to specs Pedders suggests, rather than just OEM specs.

08-30-2023, 10:53 PM	#11
Bigtime53 Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 2,298	I am watching this thread closely to see how the OP likes this setup. I sure hope it works out good.

09-01-2023, 08:25 AM	#12
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	As happens in the world of automotive modification, there have been delays. I should be picking it up today, though I have reservations and have a sad feeling it won't be until early next week. The shop I took it to does seem to do high quality work, but I get the impression they take on a bit more work than they should given their size and number of people working lol. They're a specialty shop though - mostly do genuine racecar stuff. So I am not upset about it.

09-01-2023, 05:07 PM	#14
Robmnrd Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Texas Posts: 110	So the shop came through for me and finished the car up today. Just got home (~75 minutes of driving including the drive from the shop, and stopping off to wash the car as well as go to the pharmacy lol). I did not get the opportunity to throw her into some corners just yet (I do take drive safety seriously, and I had no opportunities to truly screw around..) but I plan to write more reviews over the coming month(s) as I drive it and have fun with it. I did push it just a hair on some open sweeping curves and a little 2-lane slaloming here and there just to get a feel for it though, which I will comment on briefly. First Impressions: I have two primary first impressions. 1. Ride quality is actually very good. Within the context of "modified suspension", I would actually say it is excellent. I spent so little time in 'comfort' mode with the stock suspension that I honestly don't really remember what it was like, but reaching waaayyy back in my memory I want to say that ride quality is somewhere between 'Tour' and 'Sport' settings. Something along these lines: Tour>>>>>>Coilovers>>>Sport The ride quality is closer to "Sport" mode than "Tour", but still in between. These coilovers are very adjustable, and I have them set up how Pedders (the company that makes them) suggests for an "aggressive daily driver". I, personally, could live with them being even stiffer given I always was in Sport mode anyway. But for the time being I'm going to just let them be and see how I like the overall performance as is. 2. Upgrade your swaybars. Obviously a fully-function suspension overall makes the biggest difference in handling and handling characteristics, but I mean wow. The stock front/rear do a great job. They really do. But even just with a liiiiiiittle bit of fun today I noticed a difference in body shift/roll and I can't wait to actually go out and push it a little bit. I will say that based on my research (I am trying to find the tech article I read this in that explained it really well) GM originally set up the swaybar combo stock to help keep drivers safe - they would help with allowing the car to act more predictably at near loss of traction and just beyond loss of traction - they were set up for a very predictable amount of over/understeer right at that point. That's why (unlike mustangs) ZL1s aren't constantly shooting off into crowds of people when they bust the rear end loose. This combo from Pedders is less forgiving right at that loss of traction point - I learned this when leaving the shop (rural road, very open, just gave it the beans basically) and I had to actually drive the car instead of just lazily doing what I had become so accustomed to from years and years of driving it stock whenever I felt like busting the rears loose. The front swaybar is adjustable, and between that and potentially a little fine-tuning with the coilovers I'm sure it could feel more like stock if someone felt so inclined. Other Impressions: Compared to the magride, you do feel more of the little road imperfections. They are not aggressive or uncomfortable by any means - it's just that I used to drive over a crack in the road or maybe some of those asphalt filler lines and basically not notice it at all - now I do. But that's it, I just notice it. They genuinely aren't annoying. They're just there now. On some longer sweeping curves I just gave it a bit of juice to feel for stability and I was pleasantly surprised. Honestly it was almost like the more I gave it, the more stable it became. I don't know if that makes sense..but it's what I felt. Please keep in mind the context for these initial impressions: I had been driving ~8000 miles on struts needing replacement, though it wasn't until the last ~1000 or so miles that I truly felt it as they'd started to visibly leak sometime in that period. Additionally, I reserve the right to update, add, remove, alter, etc., any/all points given this is literally the first time I drove the thing.