  We report the influence of 6 MeV Zr$^{4+}$ irradiation and post-irradiation
annealing (200 {\deg}C) in the in-field dependences of the critical current
densities J$_c$ of 1.3 $\mu$m thick GdBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-d}$ coated conductors
grown by co-evaporation. Samples were irradiated with 6 MeV Zr$^{4+}$ and
fluences between 2.3x10$^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 3x10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$. The
correlation between the superconducting critical temperature T$_c$ and in-field
dependences of critical current densities J$_c$ has been analyzed. In addition,
random disorder introduced by irradiation was reduced by thermal annealed at
200 {\deg}C. The analysis of our experimental findings indicates that the
optimal irradiation (reducing random disorder by annealing) results in the
suppression of the self-field J$_c$ of $\simeq$ 10 $\%$ and in-field J$_c$
enhancements nearly doubled at about 5 T. A clear correlation between T$_c$,
disorder and self-field J$_c$ is observed. Additional random disorder and
nanoclusters suppress systematically T$_c$ and increase the flux creep
relaxation at intermediate temperatures (reducing the characteristic glassy
$\mu$ value).
