Sway Bars & Lowering Springs

[HumanWiki]

If you're not going to seriously track your car, I wouldn't worry with your rotors. Just change out your pads to something that makes less dust and is OE rotor compatible. Spend the rotor money on something you'll get more use from.

Now, if you're planning on trying to road race the car -- then, yes, do both rotors and pads -- and make sure you run the correct sets, otherwise you'll cook one or both and you'll find you're without the ability to stop.

But, that gets in to the realm of going over to stainless steel lines and RBF and in the case of a manual trans car, splitting your hydraulics out for braking and clutching. Both heat up on a track and when combined, you'll start to lose both systems on top of adding to the shortened life expectancy. Splitting the brake/trans isn't very costly at all and coupled with better fluid, is well worth the cost in terms of safeguarding your ability to brake.

You're right on point, both you and TBone about what's bragged about in marketing pamphlets and forum sycophants and what the real world shows. They don't always align and when they don't, the customer usually pays the price and is left out.

Thankfully, both TBone and I were taken care of with our little "issues" and all has been well (for him, I sold the Camaro).

Definitely read "The Book" by JusticePete. There's lots of good data in there about what to get (even if it's not a Pedders part) and what not to, or, just what to get when.

There is such a thing as too much suspension and you will hate it if you try to daily drive the car.

[HumanWiki]

Also, alignment, alignment, alignment.... A bad alignment will make a great suspension work like sh*t and on the other side, a great (for the track) alignment will chew through tires like a hot knife through butter. Make sure you know what settings you're running, what they provide/don't and where they're supposed to be run.

My track day alignment had the front tires tipped in so much a middle school kid could have told you the degrees.. Great for turns... Bad for tire life..

[SERBS_SS]

If you're not going to seriously track your car, I wouldn't worry with your rotors. Just change out your pads to something that makes less dust and is OE rotor compatible. Spend the rotor money on something you'll get more use from.

Now, if you're planning on trying to road race the car -- then, yes, do both rotors and pads -- and make sure you run the correct sets, otherwise you'll cook one or both and you'll find you're without the ability to stop.

But, that gets in to the realm of going over to stainless steel lines and RBF and in the case of a manual trans car, splitting your hydraulics out for braking and clutching. Both heat up on a track and when combined, you'll start to lose both systems on top of adding to the shortened life expectancy. Splitting the brake/trans isn't very costly at all and coupled with better fluid, is well worth the cost in terms of safeguarding your ability to brake.

You're right on point, both you and TBone about what's bragged about in marketing pamphlets and forum sycophants and what the real world shows. They don't always align and when they don't, the customer usually pays the price and is left out.

Thankfully, both TBone and I were taken care of with our little "issues" and all has been well (for him, I sold the Camaro).

Definitely read "The Book" by JusticePete. There's lots of good data in there about what to get (even if it's not a Pedders part) and what not to, or, just what to get when.

There is such a thing as too much suspension and you will hate it if you try to daily drive the car.

Exactly what i made the decision to do and go with. rotors no big deal, as bad@ss as they'd look they can wait. spend $600-$800 on something i'd get a lot more fun out of. and just go with the Hawk Ceramics that are indeed compatible.

As far as making a road racing machine and all that you talked about. no, definitely not my plan. Rather looking to build a little of a beast that can tangle and hold its own and spank a few in the process (the imports are my favorite victim and of course our friendly foe the Mustang).

But i will be doing lots of reading and getting to the bottom of this suspension thing and making a decision soon. Definitely priority on my list and want to get it done.

Mitch -aka- SERBS

[HumanWiki]

Cool deal.. I'd make the same offer as TBone to let you ride in mine, but I no longer own it.. Though, the only real different between mine and theirs was the blower and we're not talking about straightline pull. So, your handling "feel" will be similar -- with some slight differences in the subtle nature of the different mfgs.

Heather, TBone and I all took slightly different routes along the same path before we all went up to Road America.

Bannonm is also a very knowledgeable road/track Camaro owner.

(my apologies if I've left out others.)

[KYSMYSS]

I like the Hotchkis set up as while and put it on 2 years ago and it handles great. I am adding the chasis brace now and that should add some more stiffness and strength to the car.

[bannonm]

Serb,

You got some good info from T and Wiki. Just keep this in mind that what may look cool may not be the right thing for tracking. I know you said tracking very little, but let me warn you about drilled rotors on the track. They have a tendency to crack. You should never used drilled for anything but show on the street. Slotted are fine.

Going too low can have an adverse effect on longevity on the CV joints. A safe and well performing drop is 1 to 1-1/4 inches. Going lower affects the geometry of the arms/axles and causes excessive heat build up.

Brakes pads that don't make dust don't stop as well as those that do. When I ran the polished SS wheels on the track, after a day it looked like I had the Dusk version of the wheel. I'm still running stock rotors with Hawks HP+. I do short tracks and only hit 120 MPH on straights so this combo still works well. I avoid Road America for that reason, maybe someday...

Decide on what the ultimate goal for your suspension is, and if you're paying someone to do it, have as much done at once as you can afford. There is savings in labor in doing it all at once since many of the parts have to be removed to get to others. For example, subframe bushings require the rear end to be dropped. Great time to have the rear control arms replaced or at least the bushings swapped, change springs or add coilovers.

Best advice, research and ask questions. Look at others' cars and see what they have done. Good luck.

[Bubbles]

Serb-
You are more then welcome to take a ride in my car as well. I have similar mods to what you have and plan on having (and some you might not know you even want yet) and have a different set up from everyone else (for the most part)

I have a different clutch, flywheel, trailing arms, toe links, DBA slotted, carbotech pads, axles, zl1 sways, wheels, tires, track alignment, headers, exhaust, some aero, a PROPER ROUND steering wheel, ectectect... Yeah I spent too much on my car.

And perhaps if you catch me on a good day and promise to behave I might let you even drive it....

I believe we will be starting up the Tuesday night Portillos meet again soon (like next week)