'04-'06 GTO Suspension - Tweaking And Tuning For Twisties

On top, when we found that the provided nut from KW (shown) wouldn't allow us to tighten it to the desired torque, so we reused the factory nut. Here is what the KW piece looked like installed. You can compare it to the original in the photo on page 72 (top left).

Just like Andy said, the factory endlinks are very weak. Since we had a Hotchkis adjustable sway bar up front, we were applying additional force to the links.

These Heavy-Duty RoadSafe front stabilizer links are a "bushingless" design and are considerably stronger and thicker than the originals. They will hold up to any punishment we throw at them.

As per the suggestion of Jay Chen at KW Suspension North America, we placed the sway bar in the middle position and installed the 17mm bolt and nut. (Though you see a torque wrench here, it was just used to snug the fastener, as final torqueing will be done later.) Jay said, "It's best to let the suspension do the work and then adjust the sway bar afterward to make corrections to roll." We will tune the bars at the track.

After we completed the installations on both sides of the GTO, we reassembled the brakes and reinstalled the tires. With the GTO on the ground, so as not to preload the bushings, we torqued all of the suspension fasteners to proper specs. Then we adjusted the front ride height within the range of KW's suggestion and locked it in.

With the suggested ride height set, the front strut looks like this with the wheel and tire mounted on the lift. For now, we'll hold off on the wheel alignment because the rear suspension still needs its upgrades. We'll tackle those in the next issue.