Hey what's up everyone. I finally got hired again and now looking to upgrade my 1996 6 speed camaro that is bone stock. I've noticed when I'm driving at high speeds, swithching lanes or just simply turning a corner hard my car moves a little to much. I want everything to be more tight. I want good handling with a budget of $300 dollars. Is there anything you can recommend for me to purchase off of summitracing.com to help improve my handling on my current budget? I know the budget is small but I want to take it one step at a time. Thanks for any suggestions made.

 

$300 isn't much of a budget. If the car is at the stock ride height, probably the best bang for your buck right now would be lowering springs with higher spring rate and matching shocks. The higher spring rate will make it feel tighter and have less body roll (the lower center of gravity will help with that as well).

 

😂 yea I know but sadly most of my check has to go to bills and food , the rest towards my car. What springs would you say off of summitracing.com? And do I necessarily need to buy shocks with it? Yes , car is stock height. There are no mods on it.

 

When you change lanes, does it feel like the back end of the car "wiggles"? If so, check the panhard rod bushings.

Does the body "roll" excessively in corners? If so, check the front and rear sway bar bushings and end link bushings.

Replacing worn bushings will help restore the original handling, and it's not very expensive - something you can do yourself.

At this point, the shocks are probably badly worn. The rear shocks are relatively inexpensive, and can be done by you very easily. The front shocks are more of a problem, being more expensive because of the "coil over" design. That also makes it a bit more difficult to D-I-Y, but it can be done.

 

My 97 with 149,000 miles has worn bushings. I'm in the process of replacing them. Just got the front sway bar done yesterday, went with Energy Suspension poly but Moog makes some good ones too.

I also have poly bushings for the rear sway bar and panhard bar. I'll get those done. Like Fred said the rear end of the car moves around a bit.

Another thing I've looked at is worn ball joints and A arm bushings. On the front that seems to be the reason my steering tracks so much. Did it with the stock 16" 245 tires and with the 17" 275 tires (using 00-02 SS 10 spoke wheels).

Bushings don't cost a lot, can do the whole car for under $300. If you change the springs and lower the car the bushings are still the old ones and may be worn. I'll change what I can but will probably have a shop do some of the other stuff and an alignment when it's done.

We all have budgets to work with. My wife and I work full time so we make more money than a high school kid on minimum wage. Unfortunately we also own a house and all the fun that comes with that. My Z28 is a project and so is her '68 VW bug that needs work. I also have a motorcycle I'm trying to "farkle" out (put aftermarket stuff on it). Just don't have money to throw at everything so it's taking time to get things done. If you are able to do any work yourself or have a buddy help you then you save a lot of money over having a shop do the work and you gain experience. That's what I'm trying to do.