Last week was a good week for the Corvette. Ever since I bought the car, I've been planning on making a few minor aftermarket modifications to help remedy what I saw as the car's greatest failing -- it's lack of driver-car communication. What I want is not necessarily "more" Corvette, just "better" Corvette.
After talking to other Corvette owners and searching the enthusiast Corvette forums, I came up with three mods that I thought would be the most cost effective: the driver seat, tires and dampers. In my last post I wrote about the adventures of swapping in a new driver seat. Now the other two components have been procured.
First, I ordered a set of Pfadt adjustable sport dampers. Pfadt is a Utah-based aftermarket tuner that specializes on the Corvette. Most of its products are race or suspension oriented. There were certainly other choices, such as mainstream dampers from Bilstein (less expensive but not adjustable) or full-on coilover setups (a lot more expensive) from Pfadt or LG Motorsports. But I liked the adjustability aspect of the Pfadts, and swapping out the Vette's stock Z51 leaf springs for coilovers seemed like overkill considering how I'm only doing one or two track days a year. Mostly, I'm hoping the Pfadt dampers will improve the car's compliance with the road.
Last week was also the week that my Corvette's new tires came in. As you can see in the picture, they are Michelin Pilot PS2 ZPs in the stock sizes. I wrote about these tires in a prior "Run-Flats That Don't Flatten Performance" post. I'm pretty confident that the PS2s will be more progressive than the stock Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires when reaching (or going over) the limit of adhesion. There would have been other options had I decided to switch to a non-runflat tire, but again I felt a runflat tire was a better choice considering the biased street use of the car.
Now all that's left is installing and testing these upgrades. Conveniently, we happen to perform weekly instrumented slalom and skidpad testing here at Edmunds and Inside Line. Ideally, we'll run the car as it is (stock, other than the seat) and then with the new tires or dampers or both. I'm not expecting any shift in hard numbers, but I am hoping that we'll be able to discern the differences and report that my Vette is indeed talking more. Fingers crossed and stay tuned.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
By yellowbal
on April 28, 2010
11:41 AM
Nice tires!
By lmbvette
on April 28, 2010
12:29 PM
I hated the F1 Supercars on my Vette. When they ran out of tread I replaced them with the runflats by Kumho (front) and Firestone Firehawks (back). They handled equally well in the dry and were far superior in the wet. The Supercars HATED puddles.
My CTS-V has the same Michelin PS2's and so far they're great tires. They handle great wet or dry as long as the temps don't get in the low 40's.
By estreka
on April 28, 2010
12:33 PM
I fully understand the argument for RFTs, but I just can't agree with it. My insurance company charges me $12/yr for tow/roadside service anywhere in the world. For me it's a supremely better option. But to each his own. :-)
The dampers will be a solid investment. It may take a few days of fine tuning before you get them where you really want them, though.
It's always a great idea to change your tires while you adjust your suspension. Kudos.
By rsholland
on April 28, 2010
08:32 PM
Hard to believe that Corvette and a Subaru STI wear the same size rubber, 245/40x18.
By 3ricchu
on April 29, 2010
04:03 AM
@rsholland
I think they put skinny (relatively) tires up front to help keep some steering feel, which is something lots of Corvette owners complain about lacking. I believe the rears are 285/35-19.
By deagle13
on April 29, 2010
09:23 AM
I'm curious about the Pfadt's as I've contemplated the same mod on my car. As fortires, I ditched my runflats 3 years ago and am now driving on (and loving) Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's.