danzcool

I'm no expert and If I were to pretend to be I would probably choose items that would have no bearing on how I drive my car. So I'm looking for suggestions.
My car is my daily driver and spends most of it's time on real world roads that can be pretty crappy at times. I guess I'm most interested in improving performance on twisty roads and having predictable outcomes throughout the curves. Also, it would be nice if when going in a straight line and traction breaks that the rear wouldn't kick out to one side. I'd like some lowering, but not at the expense of ride quality and causing issues with driveways and speed bumps. I'm willing to give up some ride quality for better performance, but not just for looks.
The car will be supercharged this coming year, not sure if that makes any difference or not.

I think I like the idea of a watts link, but I am currently pretty much clueless as to what other supporting components I should choose.
Oh, yeah, currently the suspension is all stock on a 2008 GT

Thanks for taking the time.

Doogie65

The best thing you can do is call Sam Strano (who is a vendor here) and talk through with him what you want to do. He can give you some great feedback on the best parts needed to achieve your goals.

Philostang

Hey Welcome!

I'm sure others will chime in with specifics, but really I'm not even going to hesitate and say just call Sam Strano. He'll set you up without throwing a bunch of stuff on the car that you probably don't really-really need for your intended use (like that watt's link). Without a doubt you will LOVE the results.

I'm going to guess that you're in for Koni STR.T struts, good quality 1" lowering springs, an upgraded panhard bar, lower control arms, and possibly strut mounts. Done.

Make no mistake, there is a bunch of other stuff that you could throw on as well, and lord knows I have much more on my car. But really, for daily driver use (and no intention to track your car) you're getting into diminishing returns very quickly. Lots of folks think you "need" all this other stuff, but most of that is simply bad information (or they did it for similar use to your own, and they don't want to feel bad about wasting money). I might have missed something, but apart from Sam, Norm, or even Rodeo telling me otherwise, I would approach other things (for your app.) with caution and thoughtful deliberation.

Best,
-j

pascal

Watts link is overkill on a DD and no one knows how well it ages on our cars...
Maybe you want to lower the back only first and see if any of your fillings are missing, lol.
Good quality ride and good handling is the eternal battle... No such thing in my style of driving. It's either one or the other.

I agree with most people here, Konis on all corners or maybe Tokicos for a less sporty approach, also a decent sway bar up front and you'll have a different car already.
An adjustable panhard bar to put your rear axle in the middle of the body work (it's off by about a 1/4" from the factory anyway) is also a good idea.
A good brand of tires is a plus...

danzcool

I appreciate the advice, that's why I posted here.
As far as ride quality, I'm willing to trade off for handling, but not for looks. I intend to go with 18"wheels and probably tires that are about 29" tall, so there will be some beef in the tires, I'm not the type to do wagon wheels.

So as far as the kick out to one side (I think the rear goes right), that is one of the major items, I've had close calls when passing and giving it too much throttle where the rear starts drifting towards the car on the right. The other major issue is in spirited driving on curvy roads, almost any imperfection on the roadway causes the rear to hop around (for this definition, spirited driving only occurs when there are no other cars in front of me and I tend to go into the turns with twice the posted warning speed, and exit them at more [but only when traffic and weather conditions allow, on unknown roads I am also a bit more conservative]).

Sleeper_08

The stock tires are 27 inches in diameter and if you want to improve handling then tires larger than this will have a negative effect as they raise the Center of Gravity.

Norm Peterson

Rear shocks, mostly.

There might be a little improvement to be had from the lowering in that the PHB will be closer to horizontal with only the driver or possibly driver + front seat passenger. With forced induction, you're going to have launch traction issues anyway, so if you start considering LCA relocating brackets choose carefully which holes to use. Give axle roll steer (minimum, in the vehicle understeer direction) priority over launch grip based on your description of the car's use.


Norm

eolson

Pascal, to say the watts link doesn't make a difference on a DD car is 100% wrong. The street is where you have the worst lateral movement from the chassis, and the associated "butt skip" my car had over bumps going fast even with the upgraded suspension and Adj. panhard with brace was noticeable by anyone driving in the car. It's scary on really hard corners honestly.

Drag racers on these forums always talk about how amazing aftermarket Rear Lower Control Arms are and how you need an upper control Arm, and LCA re location brackets.

Sam will tell you all the good stuff out there and is very helpful. He's great.

I am someone who got my GT and altered it specifically to drive fast on LA Canyon roads and really hard turning long freeway entrances and exits. I only cared about good handling and could care less about drag racing. That's the first thing you want to be clear on.

From my direct experience, the most real tangible items for handling improvement have been in order: (high performance) 1" lowering springs, shocks/struts, front sway bar, watts link, rear sway bar. Everything else is secondary in actual tangible felt improvement.

Yes, negative camber, Strut tower brace, g-trac bar, shock tower brace, Rear LCA's, re location brackets, front sway bar braces, welded triangulated chassis stiffening, front LCA relocation kit, x5 ball joints, bumpsteer.....................on and on and on......

From my direct experience driving very fast and hard in LA canyons, on the 110 freeway in LA, and long looping sharp 250 degree freeway on ramps and off ramps, the most tangible real differences I felt were those first 5 items listed above.

For being lowered 1" only, you do not need rear relocation brackets, because for cornering you want that LCA angle to slope slightly down to the front(not rear) your stock LCA's are fine, your UPA is fine.

Sam will very wisely tell you to get good basic springs, and adjustable versions of the shock/struts(Koni sport adjustable) and most likely adjustable front and rear swaybars.

Initially, I think from my direct experience with hard actual street cornering, I would only replace these items, possibly throw in a Strut tower brace(upper strut support) and a Steeda g-trac bar(lower strut support. You are waisting your money from my experience, at first, changing out your LCA's, UPA, getting rear LCA relocation brackets. Get wide thick utlra high performance tires with light wide wheels as well. This is critical if you're really going to do the initial change out. Your stock brakes are fine forever for the street.

I was unintentionally misled at first by drag racers, and what they need. The watts link vastly improves the cars ability to be more planted in hard corners with bumps and accelerating out of hard corners without losing the rear from my direct experience.

The initial 5-7 items above, plus wheels and tires, IMO will be the best money spent on your DD street car. Erik

Norm Peterson

That is probably the single biggest obstacle to overcome when starting to look at suspension function for anything outside the drag strip. Like it or not, the automotive aftermarket for mechanical bits is dominated by the straight line folks.


OP - I'd suggest starting with the springs and dampers. Drive it a bit and see what you might still need or want to improve.

If the budget is there, a Watts link seems to be the better overall solution if there's going to be some really hard driving involved. Even Sam is more likely to suggest it now than perhaps was the case some years ago (past opinions mainly with respect to the 3rd/4th gen F-body cars, which also were PHB-equipped from the factory).


Norm

Sam Strano

I don't think every car or person needs a Watts link, never did. There are improvements to be had from one, but they never trump the improvements you get and are needed by good damping and roll control. Basically I'd never do a Watts link before working the shocks, springs, bars because those things often make folks plenty happy in themselves. We can add a Watts as required or desired.