Fishndude

My front end sat up pretty high and I had to remove alot of spring to bring it back down to a normal height and I'm worried I went to far.. After dropping the front my tires were angled in pretty good so I started removing A-Arm shims (in equal proportion) to get it somewhat back to where it was so I could at least drive to town and get a front end alignment. The problem now is that I just removed my last shim on the front-right A-arm and I believe it needs to go even more..
Am I SOL?

72LS1Vette

You didn't do anything fatal to you front end. You may need to buy new springs and start over, but that's not a terribly expensive mistake. Most people start with a 1/2 or 1 full coil cut and see where the front end sits after reassembly and driving. You might have to repeat the process - every car seems to be different. Sounds like you may have cut way too much if your front tires are leaning. You could try VB&P 550# springs. They are supposed to lower the front end 1" and you would get a firmer ride.



Rick B.

Fishndude

I was hoping that wasnt my only alternative
It was alot of work the first time because I had to pull and cut them 3 times before getting the height I wanted. I could probably put a spring pad in there but then my front would be to high again. Grrrr

riggs 74

What is the ride height, if the height is were you want it
than have the car aligned. Unless the car is sitting lower than
you wanted, the springs are fine.

Riggs.

Fishndude

Its sitting exactly how I want it but the tires are still not straight after removing all the shims in the A-arm.. When you cut the springs to drop the front end, you change the caster/camber so you have to make sure you have enough shims to straighten them back out again, which I didnt.

noonie

Every lowering I have ever done increased negative camber (top of tire toward center) and required addition of shims or lengthening of upper arm to get it right.

MN80Vette

My front end was too high after I replaced my springs. I switched to a front monospring. It's easy to adjust both height and spring rate.

Fishndude

Thats what mine did too but pulling shims and re-tightening the bolts pulls the "top" A-arm away from the center, which corrects this.. Not sure why yours is different?

Mad Vette

One issue that may need to be address is frame sagging in thru the front cross member. When I worked in a frame and alignment shop back in the 80's one thing we had to do a lot is pull the sag out of the front cross member to get enough positive camber for alignment. It was a common problem on full frame cars. This is one place where a spreader bar comes in handy it build rigidity across the the A frames.

Jim_Harrison

So how much did you remove from your springs? You might not have gotten them seated corretly in the A arms.

noonie

You're correct, not thinking straight this morning.

A body shop or some frame shops have a portapower to spread the towers that have bent in, back out. Then you can add a spreader bar to keep it correct.

DRIVESHAFT

Offset A-arm shafts are available to add camber.
Here is a set. http://www.zip-corvette.com/Zip/prod...?pf_id=ZSU-506
VBP and others sell them too.

Fishndude

Wow, I like that idea because with the 255/60-15's I have in front, I still have about 2" from the tire to the top of the wheel well.