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5th Gen Camaro Suspension and Handling Guide

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The Camaro has always gotten a bit of a bad rep as a car that is only fast in a straight line. The early Camaro’s V8 power plant, rear-wheel-drive layout, and solid rear axle naturally lent themselves to the needs of the drag racer, but wasn’t seen as ideal for corner carving. However, with the newest breed of Camaro, it’s a whole new ball game. Featuring an independent rear suspension and a technologically advanced overall design, the 5th Gen Camaro can be just as home on the road course as it is on the drag strip with a few simple upgrades.

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A sophisticated independent rear suspension makes the 2010-up Camaro the best-handling Chevy pony car to date.

In today’s performance world, people expect sports cars to be dynamic in their abilities. You are no doubt looking for a car that can do it all: handle like it’s on rails, grip the road tenaciously, and provide responsive steering and hard braking, all in addition to being able to go like stink from a dead standstill. Fortunately, the suspension and handling aftermarket for the current Camaro is varied and growing, with a wide array of components ranging from basic upgrades for daily drivers, to all-out no-compromises race gear for road course warriors. No matter what the ultimate goal is for your car, you can find just the right combination for parts to turn your Camaro into a formidable autocross, road course, street, and strip machine.

We spoke with three of today’s leading aftermarket manufacturers of performance suspension equipment about their offerings for the 5th Generation Camaro, and picked their brains about the specific details of how their line-up improves the Camaro’s capabilities. Now, LSXMag has compiled all of this data from some of the finest minds in the industry – Pfadt Race Engineering [3], Hotchkis Sport Suspension [4], and Spohn Performance [5] – and we are offering it to you here. So, if you want more responsive steering, proper suspension feedback, grip that just won’t quit, and a 5th Gen Camaro that handles more like a Corvette, you have definitely come to the right place.

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With the right equipment, the 5th Gen is completely capable of showing a Porsche its taillights.

Pfadt Race Engineering

When you start with chassis, you tend look at things and always think ‘bigger is better’. However, there needs to be a more engineering-based approach.

Based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, Pfadt has been racing late-model Chevys for years, and has taken all the knowledge they gain on the race track and put it to work in each their components for the 5th Gen Camaro. We spoke with Blair Sonnen at Pfadt about how they designed suspension components for the new Camaros. Sonnen tells us, “As many aftermarket companies take a fabrication-specific approach, we saw an opening in the market to provide thoroughly engineered suspension and chassis products for late model GM performance platforms. Banking on our experience in club racing, and employing engineers from the automotive and motorsport industry, we started designing and producing parts that have a level of extensive testing and analysis behind them rarely seen in the current market.”

“When you start with chassis, you tend look at things and always think ‘bigger is better’. However, there needs to be a more engineering-based approach,” Sonnen explains. “For example, if you just increase the diameter of the Camaro’s stock front sway bar and call it good, all you’ve actually done is enhanced the under-steer. We performed extensive testing on each suspension part on the track to make sure it is right for the car. We have a couple specific machines we also use for testing: a shock dyno that allows us to valve our shocks in-house and tailor the damping curves to our exact specification, a shock and coilover durability tester that literally simulates millions of cycles of the suspension, at ANY load we want, ANY angle we want, and any total travel we want. We also have a sway bar and end link test fixture. This smaller machine simulates sway bar loading on endlinks to check for accurate fitment and noise concerns.”

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A balanced suspension not only increases the limits of your Camaro's handling - it also improves your confidence, letting you get more out of every bit of available grip.

“Our focus on providing ‘race durability’ with ‘street performance’ for every suspension part we offer. We have a philosophy of making parts that are never too much for the street driver – in fact about 90% of lineup is street based, but there is something for every enthusiast. For example there are even three different levels of sway bars in our line up,” he adds.

Per Sonnen, “Another area of the new Camaro where we focused a lot of attention was the rear sub-frame. We found that it is completely possible to use a solid rear sub-frame bushing, and not get any additional road noise. We also have a full line of control arm bushings, and even offer a ‘street-spherical bushing’ with a plastic insert that has no deflection under cornering and still doesn’t create excessive road noise.”

The Stamp of Approval

Several of Pfadt’s suspension parts are even sold as GM Licensed Products. Sonnen tells us, “We worked with GM and Pratt and Miller on the Corvette Racing Team’s cars, and GM was so impressed with our suspension products, they decided to give them their stamp of approval as Licensed Products.”

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Pfadt's Adjustable Coilovers [9] are available through the GM Performance Parts catalog.

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Pfadt offers adjustable camber plate kits [11]for both 2.5 inch and stock spring setups.

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Despite what you might think, Solid Subframe Bushings [13] are actually very suitable for the street as well as track use.

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Pfadt's Control Arm Stiffeners [15] are a good upgrade for the flexible stock rear control arms.

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Your suspension is only as good as the chassis it's attached to, and Pfadt's strut tower brace [17] is intended to eliminate flex.


Hotchkis Sport Suspension

Lots of people might think, ‘Well, the 5th Gen Camaro is new. Why upgrade it?’ But there are plenty of people, namely us performance enthusiasts, that want something more.

Hotchkis has long been a staple of the performance suspension aftermarket, so it’s only fitting that they would develop their own line of suspension components for America’s new favorite sports car. We talked with John Hotchkis about how his company went about designing suspension for the 5th Gen Camaro, and the specific obstacles they had to overcome.

“Lots of people might think, ‘Well, the 5th Gen Camaro is new. Why upgrade it?’ But there are plenty of people, namely us performance enthusiasts, that want something more,” Hotchkis explains. “We want a better car that is more reactive. And the truth is the 5th Gen Camaro is pretty good stock, but it is aimed at the general public, who wants a quiet and soft ride. But we wanted to take a ‘good’ car and make it ‘Great’!” Hotchkis reveals their engineering strategy, saying, “Most of our suspension line up is aimed at stiffening up the 5th Gen’s chassis to provide the best possible feedback to the driver, and to keep the tires planted exactly where they need to be during hard cornering. Because, after all, at the end of the day all you have are those four contact patches keeping the car on the road, so you had better make the most of them.”

Like most of the people we talked to, Hotchkis emphasized improving on the new Camaro’s weak points while retaining the good qualities. “When we first drove the new Camaro, we noticed that there was a kind of ‘vagueness’ from the rear of the car. So one of the first things we looked to do was to tighten everything up back there and keep it tied together.”

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Properly-engineered lowering springs, like this Sport set from Hotchkis [19], will improve handling both through better spring rates and a lowered center of gravity.

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The Hotchkis Chassis Max Brace [21] is designed to tie the rear subframe to the chassis frame rails, improving stiffness.

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Buying your suspension components as a complete kit [23] ensures that everything is engineered to work together properly.

Spohn Performance

People will tell you that the new Camaros are too heavy to handle well, but these cars actually handle exceptionally well.

Spohn Performance, located in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, is a family owned business that specializes in designing and fabricating aftermarket suspension components for American sports cars. We spoke with Steve Spohn about his companies suspension parts for the new Camaros, and how they approached the car from design aspect.

Per Spohn, “With the rear IRS on the new Camaros, there is a lot of wheel-hop with the stock suspension. GM designs for comfort, with very soft bushings. But with the power these cars have, and especially with a manual transmission, those soft bushings and flexible stamped steel suspension arms just equal wheel hop. So I’d say the most important thing our rear suspension parts do is eliminate the wheel hop to provide much more consistency.”

Spohn also identifies a fault that the Camaro shares with almost every other late model car; “Handling-wise the car from the factory has a lot of under-steer. This is again typical from the factory for safety reasons. Luckily, its easily corrected on these cars with bigger and stiffer sway bars that are balanced to match the chassis.” He doesn’t feel that there’s anything inherently wrong with the 5th Gen Camaro as a handling platform, saying, “People will tell you that the new Camaros are too heavy to handle well, but these cars actually handle exceptionally well. GM did a fantastic job designing this chassis, in my honest opinion. These cars can be made into some really competitive corner carvers with purely bolt on parts.”

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Spohn's Front Control Arms [25] are available with either polyurethane or Delrin bushings, depending on where you fall on the street versus race spectrum.

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These Rear Lower Control Arms from Spohn [27] feature dual shock/spring mounting locations to provide a 1.25-inch drop if desired.

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An aerospace-inspired honeycomb interior makes Spohn's Strut Tower Brace [29] both lightweight and stiff.

BMR Suspension

BMR Suspension [30] out of Thonotosassa, Florida, supplies high quality performance suspension components for everything from a 1970 Camaro Pro Touring machine, to full out 4th Gen Camaro drag cars. Here are their offerings to help you transform your 5th Gen Camaro in to a corner carving beast:

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A fully-adjustable sway bar setup like BMR's Xtreme Antiroll Kit [32] is a vital tool in tuning your Camaro's suspension response.

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Another secret to handling is making sure that parts don't flex when they aren't supposed to - these BMR Trailing Arms [34] ensure that your suspension geometry works the way it should.

 

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Hellwig Products

Hellwig [36] is a family owned and operated performance suspension company out of Visalia, California. They have been producing performance sway bars for over 65 years, and offer high quality and affordable sway bar options for the 5th Gen Camaro.

  • Tubular Sway Bars – Hellwig uses high strength tubular DOM chromolly steel in their 5th Gen Camaro Sway Bars. The front bar measures 1.25 inches and 1 inch for the rear bar, and reduces body roll and increases overall traction and control.
Greater than the sum of its parts

Ideally, your Camaro’s suspension is more than just a list of components; it’s a complete system designed to work together to keep the tires in contact with the road and the motion of the body under control. Not everyone will be able to afford a complete suspension makeover all at once, and not everybody needs a full race setup, either.

The secret is to determine what your needs are before you start, give yourself some room to grow, and build with a plan in mind. If you’re on a budget, swaybars to improve front-to-rear balance are a cost-effective place to start, and later on the addition of lowering springs and performance shocks, coilovers, and additional suspension components from the same manufacturer will ensure you’re getting a package designed to work in harmony.

Though it’s outside the scope of this article, don’t forget that wheels and tires are another vastly important piece of the handling puzzle. A good suspension will help maximize grip from whatever rubber you’re running, but a simple switch from an all-season design to a summer-only tire will also make a huge difference in handling.

The fifth-gen Camaro has the potential to be a world-beater, with its sophisticated stock suspension design and tremendous room for growth. Whether you’re looking for a weapon to attack the twisties or an all-out track assault vehicle, it’s a great place to start, and there are a lot of very smart people out there building the parts you need to take it to the next level.