emptnest

I am preparing my 20 ft Aluma open trailer to haul a C4. I have researched related threads and have found the recommended factory tie down points attached to the car frame just behind the front wheels and just in front of the rear wheels.

The D rings on my trailer deck are located at the opposite ends of the deck, placing them about 2 feet beyond the front and rear bumpers of the car.

I have not yet had the car on the trailer as it (the car) is currently on jack stands until track preparations are completed. But it appears that the car's tie down points are at about the same elevation as the lower components of the front and rear suspension, and that a straight unobstructed path from the car frame to connect the tie down straps to the trailer's D rings does not exist.

My goal is to tie the car down without attaching to the suspension, and to possibly compress the suspension slightly. Should I route the straps through (between) the upper and lower suspension, or under the lower suspension? In either case, it looks like movement of the car suspension (as the car bounces) during transit may compress the straps. Is that acceptable?

Related to this, I plan to route the front straps in a straight direction, parallel to the centerline of the car, and to cross the rear straps diagonally to opposite corners.

Am I on the right track?
Suggestions, clarifications, etc will be appreciated.

Rob31

Your on the right track . I mount the front ones straight up and cross the rears ,under the suspension , No issues in three years .

ICU2TV

do you have the tie down points in the frame of the car behind the front tires and in front of the rear tires about 2 inches in on this year? I know I am dealing with my 2009 and the points are easily found. Do you have them? I use a hook, T-hook, that goes into that slot by the tires. I purchased them at Northern Tool so if you have these tie down points I have attached the site. They work well on my enclosed trailer and 2009 C6 hope this helps you.

brenb

I always crossed the front and rear and never had any issues coming in under the suspension arms.

The tie-down points are a bit different on the C4 vs. the later cars.

Bill Dearborn

I have used several methods to to tie down my cars. When i first got my trailer in 1993 I had a ring welded to the tongue and looped a 20 inch long chain through the ring and attached the ratchet straps coming from the 86's front tie down points to opposite ends of the chain. The rear tie downs were attached to two D Rings near the center underneath the rear bumper of the car and pretty much in line with the tie downs. Once the lengths on those rear straps were set I just pulled the car forward with the two front straps until it was tight. Car never moved around on the trailer. The same method didn't work as well with the C5/C6 since I used the T Hooks in the frame slots and the locations of the rear D rings made it so the rear straps were more perpendicular to the axis of the car reducing their effectiveness. I had some more added at the front and rear corners of the trailer which required cross strapping both front and rear of the car.

Bill

LateBreak

We actually tie down by the wheels now, using soft nylon straps through the spokes and around the tire at all four corners. Used to always search for anchor points on various cars but most are lacking and not very strong anyway. By tying down through the wheels you're letting the car's suspension moved a bit rather than trying to hold it down rigidly to the trailer, and you're guaranteed to be anchoring to something that's made to handle the weight of the car.

emptnest

Do you strap each wheel to its closest corresponding tie down, LF to LF, RR to RR, etc? Or do you cross any straps diagonally to the opposite corner of the deck?

emptnest

Does anyone supplement their straps by in addition using chain(s) as a fail safe? If so, how and where do you attach the chain(s) to the car?

greendot

This is how I do it and I've towed my C4 a ton of miles.
I also worked at GM when the C4 was being developed and we tested these tie down locations rigorously for cross country shipping by train. They are stout.

LateBreak

Correct, each wheel is tied to the closest respective anchor point. With other methods it seems like we're always adding 'clicks' to straps when we stop but with this method they seem to stay pretty tight.

BrianCunningham

I go through the wheels as well

Actually bent the stock holddowns when I used them

greendot

Interesting. You must have had a lot of lateral load on them. They obviously were designed for fore/aft/vertical loading.
Even with that said, I do cross the rears because otherwise the straps rub the rear suspension. My lateral angle is shallow because the D-rings are far back. If they'd clear the suspension I'd go fore/aft with them.

BrianCunningham

Here's how they were tied