I love that you compared it to a modern M3 as my Challenger R/T handles extremely similar to my M3 Competition. A Challenger can be about as capable, but the M3 at the same capability level will be more comfortable. Not drastically though as far as ride goes.

Everything you mentioned is great. The Challenger chassis is a lot more capable than most people think. Springs will make the biggest difference because they address ride height, stiffness and they will help a car that doesn't quite have enough negative camber to really throw down in the twisties.

Here is my set up. This is just what I prefer.
1) d2 racing lowering springs. They are pretty aggressive drop but I love everything about them. They stiffened things up, body roll was minimal with those alone to the point where I questioned if bigger swaybars were necessary.
2) strut braces, not a huge deal which ones.
3) bilsteins, mine had them, you should already have them as well. There are 3 variants available. Stock scat pack/super track pack are one. Aftermarket bilstein b6 are the same shock but different valving. Finally wesley motorsports has their version with their valving. The Wesley's are the best.
4) swaybars are where it gets confusing. Talking to Kevin Wesley (road racer who races a Scat/Hellcat) he recommends going with a stiffer spring up front and a softer spring in the rear. Since I had already made my spring selection and was happy, I went with a stiffer bar up front and left the stock rear bar in. The traction on throttle is greatly improved and the heavy front is well controlled. I also went with adjustable end links.
5) alignment settings. Camber was almost exactly where I wanted it once it was dropped so I didn't have to go with adjustable arms. I'm running -2.5 front, -3 rear and it is amazing. Slight toe out at front improves turn in a lot. A VERY slight toe in at the back helps control the power. My tire wear at 18k miles on my ps4s street tires is 1/32 off from the inside of the tire to the outside which is amazing for settings most would consider extreme.
6) bushings. Whiteline subframe bushings are huge. Running bmr trailing arms as well. I'm running the whiteline rear trailing arm bushing (bushing in the rear knuckle) as well, a lot of people aren't so I don't think that one is as huge as the trailing arms themselves/subframe bushings.

Mine is a 5.7 (has srt knuckles because I'm running hellcat brakes) and it's a wild ride on a road course or in the twisties. The M3 is a great goal to shoot for, my car is pretty basically modded (if you leave the stock shocks, everything I've done was well under the 2k mark) but done in a way I feel is smart. It's faster through the turns than most of the Miatas and on a 1.5 mile short road course is about 2 seconds faster per lap than the Charger Hellcat because the speed it can carry through the turns.

 

I love that you compared it to a modern M3 as my Challenger R/T handles extremely similar to my M3 Competition. A Challenger can be about as capable, but the M3 at the same capability level will be more comfortable. Not drastically though as far as ride goes.

Everything you mentioned is great. The Challenger chassis is a lot more capable than most people think. Springs will make the biggest difference because they address ride height, stiffness and they will help a car that doesn't quite have enough negative camber to really throw down in the twisties.

Here is my set up. This is just what I prefer.
1) d2 racing lowering springs. They are pretty aggressive drop but I love everything about them. They stiffened things up, body roll was minimal with those alone to the point where I questioned if bigger swaybars were necessary.
2) strut braces, not a huge deal which ones.
3) bilsteins, mine had them, you should already have them as well. There are 3 variants available. Stock scat pack/super track pack are one. Aftermarket bilstein b6 are the same shock but different valving. Finally wesley motorsports has their version with their valving. The Wesley's are the best.
4) swaybars are where it gets confusing. Talking to Kevin Wesley (road racer who races a Scat/Hellcat) he recommends going with a stiffer spring up front and a softer spring in the rear. Since I had already made my spring selection and was happy, I went with a stiffer bar up front and left the stock rear bar in. The traction on throttle is greatly improved and the heavy front is well controlled. I also went with adjustable end links.
5) alignment settings. Camber was almost exactly where I wanted it once it was dropped so I didn't have to go with adjustable arms. I'm running -2.5 front, -3 rear and it is amazing. Slight toe out at front improves turn in a lot. A VERY slight toe in at the back helps control the power. My tire wear at 18k miles on my ps4s street tires is 1/32 off from the inside of the tire to the outside which is amazing for settings most would consider extreme.
6) bushings. Whiteline subframe bushings are huge. Running bmr trailing arms as well. I'm running the whiteline rear trailing arm bushing (bushing in the rear knuckle) as well, a lot of people aren't so I don't think that one is as huge as the trailing arms themselves/subframe bushings.

Mine is a 5.7 (has srt knuckles because I'm running hellcat brakes) and it's a wild ride on a road course or in the twisties. The M3 is a great goal to shoot for, my car is pretty basically modded (if you leave the stock shocks, everything I've done was well under the 2k mark) but done in a way I feel is smart. It's faster through the turns than most of the Miatas and on a 1.5 mile short road course is about 2 seconds faster per lap than the Charger Hellcat because the speed it can carry through the turns. View attachment 1029902

Did you say stiff front and soft rear? Mines quite the opposite,I need all the rear stiffnesss I can get because our cars understeer by nature.and need the added rear stiffnesss to rotate the car through the corners,my rear sway bar is set to full stiff,and my front camber is set to -4 and rear is -2.2,I drive very hard in the mountains in the name of hobby called touge

 

Thank you! I’m sure this will put me in the right direction, wallet permitting

 

Hey all, I’m interested in making the handling of my challenger a bit better at the cost of sacrificing a couple of seconds at the strip. Sway bars, strut tower braces, and lowering springs are all ways that I’ve seen can improve taking the beast around corners (I’m sure there’s more), but would installing every aforementioned modification make the car too stiff, in essence? Or would I have a track-capable monster that could compete with modern M3’s? Please advise someone who knows what they’re talking about lol

Sorry chief, no MODERN challenger will ever compete with any M3 On a road course. EXCEPT, a Hellcat. On the 1/4 mile, that's a different story. Widening the stance with some new shoes and lowering the beast to eliminate the body roll won't ever hurt a challengers looks and drivability. What will have you competing with a M3 is Good old fashioned modernized Horse Power. J. E. E. P. (JUST EMPTY EVERY POCKET)And throw those green backs at the motor and exhaust. Good luck

 

It depends on the driver and setup.305 and -4 camber on my challenger,not even spec Miatas,wrx and s2000 can out grip me in the corners here in the backroads and myself is not a skilled track driver.Do not get lowering springs with challenger,if anything at least get Bilstein b6 if planning to get lowering springs toss stock in the trash they don't offer enough dampening.Ideally a mjd quality coilovers with stiff spring rates such as swift should suffice for the challenger,since it's a heavy car.Afternarket lowering springs do not offer enough spring rate for the short length of travel,car would lean and bounce once you get into the high G forces like more than 1.3gs.Driven a stock Camaro and my modded challenger,I'll say my challenger rides more harsh,but feels way more agile and turns in better despite the size difference

 

What about coil overs? I’m new to the Challenger but I’m considering doing some suspension work.

 

First get wheels and tire setup,20×10.5 with 305 30 20 Goodyear supercar 3 tires and pair it with blistein B6/Mopar springs better yet bc coilovers with swift springs.the car will feel 800lbs lighter and pull more g force than a stock Miata

 

First on my list would be tires. And If I could do it all over, Coilovers as mentioned by DBAR1911, sway bars and a quality 4 wheel alignment. Or get familiar with AAD.

 

Heh, not even a Redeye widebody compares to an M3 competition.

There's one thing you have to understand about the LX platform Challenger/Charger. It's a fat pig rolling on a nearly 30 year old chassis architecture. Nothing you do, to include race lowering, lightening, race grade suspension and a full cage will ever elevate the car to anything approaching a respectable cornering machine. While the long wheelbase adds some stability, it's a very large car with a large weight problem and a massively front biased weight distribution. This gets worse the higher up the trim line you go. Massive oversteer, excessive body roll.

In fact, the Challenger tends to top out in the V6 GT AWD in terms of road handling competency. Yes, the HC widebodies have better suspensions and so forth, but dear God they're heavy and their front weight bias is absurd. The V6s don't suffer as much and actually do better than the HCs on tight, smaller circuit courses. The HCs have more power and the widebodies have more inherent stability, but they also come with that massive boat anchor on the front bumper.

For example, the HC widebody has a lateral skid pad rating of only 0.96G. Sure, folks will claim they can grab more... but that's not going to be true. Your dash can read a 1.2 or a 1.3, but that's going to be with the rear wheels sliding out, and not holding a precise line through a turn. For example, my C8 could hold a 1.5G turn, my GT350R, about a 1.65 (like my Elise Cup R, it was a non street legal SCCA competition car).

I urge anybody who thinks the Challenger handles well to go rent a C8 from Turo.com. Experience what a 1.5G controlled turn feels like. There's a huge difference between generating lateral G, and maintaining 100% control during said lateral G production. The C8 just dips in and rips through the turn, losing almost no energy while the Hellcat would struggle at half the speed to maintain half the C8's grip level.

The moral of the story is that the cheapest way to go fast on a circuit track is to just buy a used track car. It will literally cost less than modding a Challenger to run on the track and still end up lightyears faster on the track than a modded Hellcat. Miata, Elise... both can be had pretty damn cheaply. Other cars like Camaro 1LEs, Z/28s are also fairly inexpensive all things told. But if you just want a cheap capable track toy, there's plenty of 10-15k imports and older American corner carvers that would do so much better than a big goofy Challenger.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Redeye. I'll own it forever, but it will NEVER see anything other than a fun run at a circuit course. It's a waste of mine and the car's time in such a situation. If I want to run a circuit run, I'm going to bring a circuit car. It's like showing up at the drag strip with a bone stock 1992 Honda Civic. Trust me, the track rats in attendance view a Challenger on the race course the same way Hellcat owners look at a 1986 Chrysler LeBaron staging at the drag strip. Results are also about the same.

 

I ever experienced much oversteer in my challenger rt,it's very forgiving with only understeer at the limit.Trail braking into full throttle during hairpins is only beneficial to me as it translates to more rotation,I am not generous on the throttles at all,a brz with less hp would kick out if im chasing it and tries to give more throttle in the corners

 

Ideally you don't want to hug the inside of turns, it's usually one of the slower paths. This isn't NASCAR. You want to go wide and turn in at the apex of the turn, then exit that apex towards the outside. That'll better maintain your energy and reduce braking need. Hugging the inside is brake heavy. I recognize this is a public road and your real estate is limited... mainly offering criticism when you were down on the shoulder. On a public road, that's also hazardous as that's where all the road trash ends up. If I went down there with the Redeye, I'd end up perpendicular to the road.

That being said, I'd be scared to show how I'd drive that road. In the HC it would be TC + stability off and the entire video would sound like tire squealing, because to properly attack that kind of road in a Hellcat, my rear end would be out almost the entire time I'm also NOT a drift driver. That's kinda also why I don't track my HC. I like cars that have a graceful cornering poise. The HC is just sloppy. It looks cool, would make a great YT vid and I'm sure people would like it, but to me, it's just very sad. I bought my Redeye for straight line stuff and cruisin'.

 

This was 2am in the morning not a sight of cars for miles,as for going wide.I tried that and felt slower,wasnt able to be as aggressive in the turn.when other cars that ive been chasing goes wide,I catch right up by sticking close to the inside and wind up almost parallel to their doors almost enough room for passing,that's not safe so I give them space by letting off