Please read the option details and assumptions before voting!

With recent talk of the resurrection of the Z28. I thought it would interesting to get some feedback on suspension options. After reviewing previous threads about what people think the Z28 should have, I have created the following options (in no particular order):

1) MR (Magnetic Shock System) Tuned for a performance improvement over SS. This would be similar to the system offered on the Corvette and ZR1. It contains magnetic shocks, controller, sensors, switch to change settings. The downside is this system adds mass and cost to the car. The shocks are significantly heavier than conventional shocks. There is also the additional mass of the controller, sensors, wiring, switches, etc. The cost of this system could be spent on other enhancements or weight reductions for the vehicle.


2) Conventional Suspension system Tuned for improved performance over SS. This would be similar to the approach taken on the Z06. Conventional shocks but better quality / performance (mono-tube, Bilstein maybe); Revised springs, bars, and steering to optimize handling. Price differential from option 1 could be applied to other enhancements or weight savings. Down side: Less tunability, less comfort, less “wow factor” from option 1.


3) Same Setup as SS. Use same setup and components as SS. Allows re-tune of tunable items for small improvement in performance, but basically same as SS. All of the cost differential from option 1 would be spent on other enhancements or weight savings. Down Side: Same basic ride and handling as SS, nothing special for Z28 in this area.

 

I choose pika ch.... I mean option #2, the K.I.S.S stuff just appeals to me.

 

For me I like choice #2. As we have seen from some of the Tuners and from places like Pedders the SS suspension can be improved and the results can be very good. I don't see the need for supreme excess cost, complication and weight. To me the Z06 is exactly the direction GM should go with any Z/28.
Although I don't see that happening...

 

I agree with option 2. The Z/28 will be heavy enough as is, and I don't really think Camaro needs a high-tech, high-cost, high-weight suspension when the SS's suspension can be improved upon.

 

I vote 2. Save MR shocks for the CTS-V. Camaro is about blue collar horsepower, not fancy bells and whistles. I think you should be able to get the retro LS wheels as an option, though, too.

-Geoff

 

K i s s

 

GM choose pedders for all their Sema cars , I think they should for the Z28 too .

KISS

 

This

 

it would only need a tighter,lower suspension and beefier sway bars.

 

I hope they do to the Z28 what Ford did with the track pack for the Mustang. They don't need to go high tech with this. Just make it better.

 

You guys are sadly misinformed if you think the magnetic selective ride system adds a lot of extra weight to the car.
It doesn't.
My fully loaded 08 Corvette coupe equipped with F55 weights 3,200 lbs. soaking wet!
How much does a 2010 Camaro fully loaded weight?
Do you think Corvette engineers would make the magnetic selective ride system standard equippment
on there flagship ZR1 if it added a lot of extra weight to the car?
I don't think so.
They do everything in there power to keep the weight down in America's sports car.
After all weight is the number one enemy of a sports car.
You want the lightest possible platform going.
Checkout the F55 promotional video GM put out when the system first became available on C5 models.
Click on the link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48m1_otpD9c

 

No one is misinformed.

An MR suspension system will weigh more than a passive one. That is absolute fact. The fluid in MR shocks is composed of about 25% iron powder. If you don’t think they’re heavy, weigh a passive Corvette shock (non-MR) and compare it to the corresponding MR corvette shock. I think you may be “shocked” at the difference (pun intended). Wiring harnesses, sensors, controllers, switches, etc all add weigh and complexity.

Will this add 300 lbs to the car? Of coarse not; But kilograms add up. Mismanagement of this fact is how you end up with 4000 lb “pony” cars.

Additionally, I think you are missing the point. A $100,000 corvette can absorb the extra cost and weight of this type of system. It can use more expensive materials to offset the weight that is gained by MR suspensions, luxury options, superchargers, bigger brakes etc. Also, the buyer of a $100,000 Corvette needs something tangible to differentiate it from the $50,000 variant. There needs to be things like magnetic suspensions, carbon fiber this and that, and ceramic brakes etc. or they will never pay the extra price.

The Camaro does not have that luxury. This car is much more sensitive to cost. It is also already overweight. The Z28 will likely weigh even more due to power enhancements. So for the Camaro buyer, the original question is still important and valid:

Would you rather spend the “Z28 money” on an expensive high tech suspension system that will provide little to no performance advantage, or spend that same money on weight savings and power enhancements?

I vote for the latter K.I.S.S. approach (powertrain and suspension).

 

Little or NO performance advantage?!?!? So they just built it and slapped it on the high end Vettes for sh*ts and giggles?!?! Puleez...

If you want to argue KISS then fight the supercharger as a horrible way to increase the "performance" of a car that is "already overweight" and hardly in the need of competing in a big d*ck contest with thge GT500.

More horsepower could be had without 200# of hardware on the nose and be better spent fixing the handling of this BIG car that has been reffered to as a pig that won't turn" by actual race car drivers in comparison to the Mustang.

KISS that...

 

I really wonder if this is really nothing more than useless mental stimulation. Sure, the Camaro's dynamics and feel can be improved - no doubt about that. But what we're talking about here is taking a two ton car and creating a real Z/28 out of it. I'm not really holding my breathe on that one, to be perfectly honest.

I mean, I see the current Camaro as sort of a Monte Carlo with a cramped interior. A fast, stylish, yet soft, grand touring car tuned for the middle aged men who've been buying them. Maybe we shoud just accept this Camaro for what it is, and not have any unrealistic expectations for it.

 

That is exactly my point! That is why I said that I support the KISS principle in “power-train and suspension”. I don’t think the car should be supercharged and I don’t thing it should have expensive, heavy, complicated suspension band-aids.
They need to:
1) Take off some mass,
2) Tune the conventional suspension for better performance (it is not optimized in its current form)
3) Add some HP over the SS.

That is all the Z/28 really needs.

OK Big Boy! Please tell me what performance advantage you think an MR suspension will give you????