We study the potential to use measurements of the properties of extra neutral gauge bosons ($Z^{\prime }$’s) in $pp$ collisions at the Large Hadron Collider to unravel the underlying physics. We focus on the usefulness of third generation final states ($\tau$, $b$, $t$) in distinguishing between models with nonuniversal $Z^{\prime }$-fermion couplings. We present an update of discovery limits of $Z^{\prime }$’s including the 2010–2011 LHC run and include models with nonuniversal couplings. We show how ratios of $\sigma (pp\to Z^{\prime }\to t\overline{t})$, $\sigma (pp\to Z^{\prime }\to b\overline{b})$, and $\sigma (pp\to Z^{\prime }\to {\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-})$ to $\sigma (pp\to Z^{\prime }\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})$ can be used to distinguish between models and measure parameters of the models. Of specific interest are models with preferential couplings such as models with generation dependent couplings. We also find that forward-backward asymmetry measurements with third generation fermions in the final state could provide important input to understanding the nature of the $Z^{\prime }$. Understanding detector resolution and efficiencies will be crucial for extracting results.

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