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To control the inevitably large amounts of body roll from such a huge machine, the engineers at GM equipped the new Camaro with a tried and true multi-link strut configuration up front, but went with a new multi-link rear which has come to be known as a “4.5 Link Independent” set-up. Yup, not five or four, but 4.5. Half a link, huh? Take a close look at the picture above and take note of the upper L-shaped control arm. This link is used to control both longitudinal and lateral ride control eliminating the need for a 5th link, thus the 4.5 name. One thing we took away from inspecting the stock components was their adjustability. Camber, caster and toe are all adjustable!
Not to take anything away from the time GM put into the design of the Camaro’s suspension, but like any production vehicle comfort and ride quality always come before performance. In order to give a good balance of both worlds to its customers Hurst Performance Vehicles teamed up with Eibach and equipped the Camaro with a set of Eibach Multi-Pro R1 coil overs. The Pro R1’s are a monotube design with stainless damper bodies and feature height and one way dampening adjustability. The car is also equipped with front and rear Eibach adjustable anti-sway bars.
With height, dampner, sway-bar, camber, caster and toe adjustability Hurst Performance Vehicles delivers a package to the enthusiast with the tools necessary to transform their Camaro from a street cruiser to an autocross or road course warrior.
We do however need to make a suggestion to anyone upgrading their Camaro’s sway bars, please upgrade your end-links. One of the rear end links failed during our test which almost created a brown racing stripe on the driver’s seat. The loud knocking over medium to large bumps we experienced was not only disconcerting, but kick started our internal calculators as we prepared for the worst. A closer inspection of the rear end revealed exactly what was going on. The sway bar end of the stock end link cleanly popped out of place. This is not an isolated incident, we’ve seen many stock end links fail when coupled with after market sway bars in everything from Evos to now Camaros.
