Project Camaro Part 1 – Improving Handling with KW Suspension & Whiteline with some Help from Wheel Warehouse!

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Again we chose the middle hole connection for the end links in order to keep our sway bar setup at its mid-range of adjustment potential.

 

An under view of the 5th generation Camaro’s front end is not as colorful as the rear, but it does make it very apparent as to why the vehicle has a rather large curb weight. It is certainly not difficult to find a jack point on this car. The front cradle design also provides insight into why the stock bushings were pushed to be so malleable. They needed to be compliant enough to dampen the road and drivetrain vibrations transferred through the numerous and extremely thick frame members. The upside is that all of our suspension improvements will be aided by a particularly durable and stiff frame, making the need for additional bracing a lower priority.

 

Taking a breather from underneath the car, the front coilovers were secured with the stock top plates.

 

The final ride height and suspension alignment adjustments were made before wrapping up and tightening things down.  Thank you to Wheel Warehouse for the high quality work!  Wheel Warehouse offers high performance suspension install and alignment in addition to wheels and tires!  All in one convenient stop!

It can be difficult to target ideal wheel alignment settings without gathering excessive amounts of data as new modifications are introduced. However, we jumped all in at once on our modifications, but that was ok because we knew a pretty good reference source for our base settings. The stock 2LT Camaro alignment settings were -0.2 degrees front camber and -0.75 degrees rear camber with +0.2 degrees of toe all around. Caster came set to 5.9 degrees as well. But that was too conservative for our tastes of course, so we pulled out the Camaro ZL1 specifications. The ZL1 has -1.0 degree of front camber and -0.5 in the rear with +0.2 degrees of toe all around. Caster is set to 5.6 degrees. We set our alignment to match the ZL1 with the exception of toe, which was kept neutral to allow for easy adjustment in the future.  We may add more negative camber and toe out in the front once we have had a chance to drive the car on the track.

The Camaro’s ride height was set to reduce the size of the wheel gap, not slam the body to the ground. Excessive lowering takes away suspension travel necessary for handling performance and alters the travel arcs of the arms.  Our car looks great and is functional to boot!

 

Now that the handling deficiencies of our Camaro have been addressed we can get out and have some fun! There is even more to come so stay tuned!

 

Sources

KW Suspension

Whiteline

Wheel Warehouse

 

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