TireSmoke.org

I'm with Vdub. Make sure for the street you have a progressive rate spring. It's decent for 80% of normal driving, but gets nice and firm when under load like braking and corning. I would also stick with about a 1" drop. A 2" drop will be too much and ride horribly all the time.

-BP

I finally got some springs ordered and shipped (tracking says they are in Ohio, just not at my house yet). They are from Superior Sport Chassis. These got good reviews on the LS1 tech forum from the W-body guys. These will give me a 1.6" drop and better handling.

I tried the H&R Sport springs Chris mentioned but they do not exist! After getting my order cancelled twice from different sellers I contacted H&R and they told me they never actually made this part. Argh.

So then I started trying to order the Eibach sport kit (AKA buckboard ride), but those are no longer in production either and I could not locate someone who had them in inventory.

The only other choice were some no-name drop springs on ebay but no one could vouch for performance. I'm not in this for the look. That was my only other choice so I'm going with the SSC.

On thing I learned here is that these resellers take the manufacturer catalog and put each item up on their website or ebay knowing full well they don't have the parts. They just plan to order direct, which works fine unless the manufacturer does not make or discontinues the part.

With that knowledge I found a distributor of the SSC springs and made sure they actually had them before ordering.

I also added KYB struts and camber bolts - those were in stock and are now in stock in my garage.

I'm thinking I should get a second set of camber bolts so I get dial in more camber if I need it and then see how it works.

I'm sure this will expose the next weak area - my guess now is it will be the tires are not wide enough.

Did you get them yet?
That stinks that you couldn't get the H&r's. I wouldn't think people would advertise products for sale that don't exist

Yes I did, and this is what the project looks like now:



The white box with the Canada leaf on it is the springs.

The springs and struts are in. After a short trip around the block to "settle" everything I took a measurement. I've dropped 1" in the front and 1.5" in the back. The ride is firm. I wish it was track day tomorrow!

It doesn't look "slammed" lower so the casual observer probably won't notice.

The front springs:

Where the spring goes:

The rear springs:

After install:

Has it been subjected to on-ramp testing? Lowering job looks good -- thats the way an SS should come from the factory.

-Dave

I agree with Dave. It looks right, the way an SS should be. Thats what I thought when I lowered mine. Any more lower and they would look slammed (dumb),and not practical. Its easy to adjust driving style... Not pulling all the way up to a curb, Taking an "approach angle" into certain driveways etc.. If you forget the car will remind you. Trust me I know

No ramp tests yet. I think it'll be OK. Camaro is 8.5" above ground at the nose. The SS is 8" above ground at the nose.

Been driving it for a while now. Suspension is very firm. Rhonda is not complaining so it must be OK
So far no issues scraping the front of the car bottoming out. The exhaust scrapes the high spot in the middle of the driveway when the car is loaded down - mostly due to bad exhaust configuration.

Took it out to Nelson Ledges last Friday for a Fun Day (their lingo for test 'n tune) to test out the new suspension and the lap timer in the phone. I was able to run a best of 1:26.00 with a top speed of 113 MPH. The test uncovered some issues with Stabilitrak and possibly traction control. Nelson is a rough track so I had a lot of problems in Oak tree turn with the engine being cut. Similar issues in carousel turn but not quite so rough there. You could clearly feel Stabilitrak working after the kink and in the carousel turns - the brakes were working without me using the pedal! It was most noticeable as it would clamp down on the LF after the kink. I dealt with it OK the first session but by the third it was incredibly aggravating.

Having mobile internet access I spent some time searching for a way to disable the Stabilitrak to no avail. Reading the owner manual and some online it seemed that there should be a button on the dash to disable it. All I have is a T/C button and I was able to disable the traction control (according to the dash) but it seemed to have no effect on the on-track situation.

I have done some research on this and there are several tweaks I can make to the program with the HP Tuner to correct this.

I had opportunity to ride in a Z06 (late C5) with "Crazy George" and he was running consistent 1:16 lap times. What I learned here is that you can get around the track with Stabilitrak, and also how much smoother the ride was than my car. Obviously more G's from cornering and acceleration (top speed was over 145 MPH), but not so harsh in the rough areas of the track. BTW that was the fastest I've ever gone in a car.

I'm fairly certain the Vette has Stabilitrak. I'm also guessing it is designed to not kick in until a higher g rating is detected, since the Vette would naturally have better handling characteristics. As it is I've modded the suspension of the SS to get more out of it. I had none of these problems in my test session last fall. Granted the track was not completely dry but dry enough I should have witnessed some of this.

145. That's movin' anywhere, especially Nelson. Wonder what it would do at a track like Road America? The front straight is around a mile iirc.

So as you probably read I ran 1:25.40 at Nelson Ledges last week. As with every trip there is wear and tear. About two days after I got back the front brakes started squealing. Turns out they lasted 26k miles. Duralast Gold Max lifetime warranty and I got a new set free. The old ones were thin and cracking.

There still seems to be oil getting on the LF rim. Can't tell if there is left over oil on the frame working it's way over so I made an attempt to clean off everything I could see.

Also inspected the tires. At the start of the season I rotated the tires and put the better tires on the front. After two trips to the track and now it seems the rears are again the best tires. Not much tread left either so looks like new tires are going to be needed.

The tires look really worn out now. Couple that with a little incident where I cut the corner a little too close on a freeway entrance ramp and damaged a tire, and I have to get new tires. The tire I damaged is going to be replaced by a tire I kept from Karen's second set of wheels for the Charger (Tiresmoker's sister). I'll put it on the rear for a few weeks while I sort out what rims to buy. I plan to get Potenza RE760 Sport tires 255/40/R18 and I like these rims:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-142-8890GM32/

I went through the tire rack choices also but did not find any 8.5" wheels. 8" would be better than the stock 7", but probably a little narrow for the 255 tire. 9" is probably too wide

I have no idea what these rims weigh. So I am trying to balance price, weight and rim width. I also am guessing slightly at backspacing. Looks like 6" backspacing is good - at least according to recommended wheels on tire rack, just not sure if the extra 1/2 toward the outside will cause any clearance issues with the fender.

Current plan is to get rims and tires, then mount one tire on a wheel and check it for fitment. If it does not clear then I'm only out one wheel.

Whatever the aftermarket rim, make sure you check with the manufacturer about road racing... Some of them can't handle the side loads.

Those would look cool though.

-BP

Good point - I was wondering about that.

Also Fred32v reminded me he has some 245/45/18's off the Caddy I can use to test fit everything. If I can get that tire to clear then the 40 series will definitely clear also.