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Some things to consider after lowering your C5..... Your ALIGNMENT (CAMBER) front & rear will be significantly off after you lower the car. Recommend getting it realigned AFTER you get it to where you like it.
Your suspension travel will be significantly less and you will BOTTOM OUT the suspension a LOT! (read that as possibly loosing control when you bottom out on extreme handling situations.)
Make sure that you engineer in some Front to Rear RAKE ANGLE (front lower than the rear)
I plan on having the car aligned soon thats one of the reasons i finally lowered it, once i give it time to settle i'll check the rake but how much of a rake should it have?
my 03z was a lot lower the ride was on the harsh side but never really bottomed out? the handling was amazing put this 01 to shame! I have the same wheels/tires, shocks & sway bars my 03 had so i figured try and lower it a little and get it re-aligned
I thought using the stock bolts to lower the car was ok?
Originally Posted by NVTHIS
Yes, they are stock GM GS.
do they just bolt up or do you need spacers or any thing?
those pics i posted are both before pics so yeah a LOT of air over the wheels lol
What I meant was that there seemed to be more air over your front tire especially than I recall from mine before I lowered it on the stock bolts. Stance now is v. similar to Leadfoot4's car.
I'm running 18/19's with base C6 size rubber, a definite improvement over 17/18's in my book.
What I meant was that there seemed to be more air over your front tire especially than I recall from mine before I lowered it on the stock bolts. Stance now is v. similar to Leadfoot4's car.
I'm running 18/19's with base C6 size rubber, a definite improvement over 17/18's in my book.
i love the bigger wheels really liking the GS rims but starting to get a little concerned about the weight of the larger rims/tires lol
I have drove the car for a little over 80 miles of mixed roads now and not much of a drop still?
this is the amount of drop it has lowered since i started
LF 3/8" RF 1/4"
LR 5/8" RR 5/8"
but the ride has relaxed and is pretty much the same as before, when i first did it the ride was noticeably bumpier even my wife commented about it...
I plan on having the car aligned soon thats one of the reasons i finally lowered it, once i give it time to settle i'll check the rake but how much of a rake should it have?
my 03z was a lot lower the ride was on the harsh side but never really bottomed out? the handling was amazing put this 01 to shame! I have the same wheels/tires, shocks & sway bars my 03 had so i figured try and lower it a little and get it re-aligned
I thought using the stock bolts to lower the car was ok?
do they just bolt up or do you need spacers or any thing?
They will bolt right up, but with the rear brake ducts the 325 tires rubbed. I switched to a 305 to keep from rubbing and to bring the tires in. With the 325 they stuck out too much for my liking in the rear. I also went with a slightly narrower tire for the front.
i'm not sure what the deal is I put about 250 miles on this car had it in the city witch really gave the suspension a workout still had not dropped in the front at all?
EDIT:
i got under it the front bushings are on the lower control arm and has no gap at the top where it meets the leaf so that means its as far as its going to go why didnt i get much of a drop?
Since the only thing that would keep the car from settling would be all the rubber suspension bushings are trying to twist. Would be a pain, but maybe it could be done on a ramp type lift. Loosen all the a-arm bushing bolts, and retighten.
I have to do an oil change in the next few days I might try that? I've drove each side up a sharp incline, drove the bumpiest roads around here, slammed brakes hard & today got under it put it on jack stand then jacked up each side of the leaf to make sure the bolts was all the way up and they are
does 2001's get less drop? does the 04z shocks keep it from coming down?
Okay Op, this is what I used and my car came out exactly the way I wanted it. Check this out to make sure you didn't make a mistake somewhere along the line. JMHO
Okay Op, this is what I used and my car came out exactly the way I wanted it. Check this out to make sure you didn't make a mistake somewhere along the line. JMHO
I think a problem that may be plaguing the guys who are wanting to lower their C-5s TODAY, is that the cars are now anywhere from 11-17 years old, and the a-arm bushings may have REALLY taken a "set" and are reluctant to twist into a new position.
When I lowered my car, it was only 6 months old....
Shouldn't you be able to use some sort of lube to allow the bushings to move freely without harming them? I'd probably just use some WD-40 on them and see if it would let the car settle... just thinking out loud.
Shouldn't you be able to use some sort of lube to allow the bushings to move freely without harming them? I'd probably just use some WD-40 on them and see if it would let the car settle... just thinking out loud.
I understand where you're going, with that thought, but I think the bushings fit too snugly to the shafts, and are a bit "lengthy", to allow the lube to fully creep in. Maybe over a period of several weeks, and several applications, though, it might work. One other thing, on the older cars, you might also be trying to overcome the effects of corrosion, in other words, the inner sleeves of the bushings may have "welded" themselves to the shafts.
I think a problem that may be plaguing the guys who are wanting to lower their C-5s TODAY, is that the cars are now anywhere from 11-17 years old, and the a-arm bushings may have REALLY taken a "set" and are reluctant to twist into a new position.
When I lowered my car, it was only 6 months old....
I lowered mine when it was only 14 years old. No issues at all. l lowered it a bit, drove round the block, remeasured and lowered it some more. Essentially, with immediate effect. I was measuring wheel arch clearances, setting the ride height to center up the wheels in the wheel arch as best you can when the arch itself is not exactly round.
I don't buy into the bushings having taken a set theory at all. The weight of the car is more than enough to overcome rubber suspension bushes.
10-04-2015, 02:29 PM
