"Pedderised" and precision-aligned, the G8 is honed to a razor's edge, leaving you free to do what drivers do best-drive.
Last month, we took an '08 G8 and "redeemed" its factory suspension for a brand-new Pedders Track II system with Sports Ryder lowering coils, gas Sports Ryder struts, Sports Ryder bushings, and eXtreme adjustable sway bars. During the two-day installation, performed by Precision Motorsports of Florida in Odessa, we documented the parts swaps, as the factory rear control arms, differential, shocks, springs, subframe, front control arms, radius rods, steering arms, and front and rear sway bars were unbolted, and the G8's bushings, springs, shocks, and sway bars were replaced with Pedders components.
Pedders said that our newly "Pedderised" G8 would give us incredible performance on the autocross and road course. Before we began testing, however, a precision wheel alignment was required to fully exploit the capabilities of the G8's platform attributes and the new suspension components.
Pete Basica, president of Pedders USA, asked us, "Do you want the Pedderised G8 to be an autocross-only race car, or do you intend to drive it on the street and occasionally autocross or road race?" The reason he asked was to determine the amount of camber, caster, and toe-in to dial into the alignment. We answered that the G8 should be streetable as well as fun to drive on the road course.
The Pedders Track II suspension kit features Sports Ryder lowering coils, gas Sports Ryder struts, Sports Ryder bushings, eXtreme adjustable sway bars, and a strut tower bar. It's available for the G8, the G8 GT, the G8 ST, and the G8 GXP, at a price of $3,428 from Pedders USA (www.peddersusa.com).
"Precision wheel alignment is essential to optimum vehicle performance," Basica said. "Typical alignments from the factory or in tire shops have wide green ranges or large variances based on the OE specifications (see G8 Performance Alignment sidebar). At Pedders, we find those standards unacceptable. Our clients are seeking optimum performance, and that requires precision in all phases of a suspension build, including the alignment. To give the G8 its best alignment, we need to know exactly what will be its intended use."
Using the data previously collected from the Hunter alignment rack, Basica studied the measurements of the G8's factory alignment, taken before the installation of the Pedders suspension kit, and began to make some notes regarding where improvements could be dialed-in. While both HPP and Pedders agree that GM's new VE/ZETA platform is state-of-the-art, with increased negative camber and slight toe-in at all four wheels, increased caster up front, and the improved bushing design matched to more aggressive damping, coil spring, and sway bar rates, we hope to experience the ultimate in G8 suspension performance.
Pedders' eXtreme adjustable front sway bar (red) measures 26 mm, compared to the factory's 23mm production piece. The company designed a four-way adjustable system to tune the suspension to the driver and the track. We set it one hole in from the firmest setting.
We then asked Basica if biased-wheel settings (different camber, and/or toe, left-to-right) normally used to compensate for road crown and grooved pavement are used on the Pedderized G8 as they had been on the stock G8. He said, "Because superfluous motion is controlled by the Pedders Track II suspension, the alignment does not require biased settings. We can perform a road-course-precision alignment, and the car won't 'search' on public roads. The G8 will go exactly where you point it, when you point it."
The goals of a Pedders precision alignment also include improved steering-wheel response and steering accuracy. "The caster change we make is the result of less compliant radius rod and control-arm bushings and the radius rod arms being pulled forward with Pedders 5421 eXtreme caster-lock washers," Basica said. "These bits increased caster 1.4 degrees. The steering wheel now snaps back in aggressive autocross maneuvers."
He then showed us that though the stock camber settings were within factory specifications, the G8's driver-side wheel was nearly "wagon wheel" straight up, while the driver-side rear and both passenger-side wheels were negatively cambered (in at the top). "We increased negative camber on all the wheels to improve turn in," Basica said.