Corvette C8 Z06 OEM+ Handling Upgrades (Sway Bar and
Upon delivery of our shop's new 3LZ Z06 HTC, we noticed a few parts in the OEM catalog that we wanted to test out. After our first-outing at Vancouver Island Motorsports Circuit (VIMC) running the car in stock form with the factory track alignment, we noticed despite being in the stiffest track mode setting the car does still roll a decent amount and carry a bit of weight through the corners. We're hoping that on our next visit, these small upgrades and our bespoke track alignment will get us significant improvements in driver confidence.
One of the things we noted was that perhaps because the LT6 engine is not particularly torquey, the overall balance made it very hard to rotate out of corners, so a slight increase in rear sway thickness and front camber should help.
The OEM C8 Z06 sway bar thickness is 25.8mm while the Z51 Stingray actually gets a stiffer rear sway bar at 28.5mm. Perhaps GM's engineers wanted a bit more compliance with the more powerful motor, but given the extra weight of the Z06 it's an interesting choice on their part. This sway bar bolts right up to the car and installation should take about half an hour to an hour depending on your skill level, including lifting it up and removing the rear undertrays. The subframe mounting and end links are identical so any sway bar made for the narrowbody Stingray will also fit the widebody models.
While we wanted to try this OEM+ sway bar upgrade, it's worth noting some of the aftermarket options available for this car which we also sell. AFE makes a 3-way adjustable 35mm rear sway bar (PN: 440-401008RL) while Eibach (PN: E40-23-036-01-01) makes a 2-way adjustable 32mm rear sway bar. Out of the two we suspect the Eibach is the better choice as a 9.2mm increase in rear sway bar (with AFE) would change the balance quite dramatically. With the Z51 bar however, we are happy to report there is no noticeable change in ride comfort
The other factory upgrade we did was the underbody aero deflectors which normally come on the Z07 package cars. The underbody strakes are made of a flexible rubber material so if they do make contact with the ground it shouldn't be too bad. At VIMC the aero may not be all that noticeable, but at some of the faster tracks we plan on visiting (Ridge Motorsports Park and Area 27), we suspect it may help a bit. A note on installing these strakes however, GM does sell this as an accessory kit and provides instructions but not all the holes are pre-drilled in the undertray from factory. We used rivnuts to secure some of the missing holes but rivets would also work. We don't recommend doing this install without a decent lift as it's tricky to see and access if you're working on the floor.
The idea of the strake kit is to direct high pressure air out from underneath the car to increase downforce and reduce lift, while adding little to no appreciable drag. It sounds like a win-win due to the efficiency and it's a fairly affordable upgrade. Both the strake kit and the rear sway combined come up to around $600 CAD at the time of this article, which is a pretty small price to pay given the sticker price of this vehicle
Contact us today if you have questions about setting up your C8 Corvette for track or just a spirited drive!
