spinedoc77

I've got a very steep driveway. I back up my car at an extreme angle so it won't scrape, and I can almost almost make it without scraping.

When I look under, the only thing that is scraped is the black skirt underneath the front. It's scraped pretty bad and looks like I will just continue to grind it down, but it doesn't scrape higher than that.

I do have the wheels that bolt on from DSV, but haven't installed them yet. It seems that they would only help if I was going forward into a steep driveway, not backwards though.

Any other suggestions? It breaks my heart every time I scrape it.

timd38

I had the same issue at my old house.

Have you tried going up at an angle?

mcandrew67

Remove it and trim away some and re install it.

BlackZ51Vett

I've seen some people put some asphalt patch compound (Home Depot, Lowes) down at the joint where the curb and road meet. Also throwing down a piece or two of 2X4 at the same place works.

spinedoc77

Yes I mentioned I go up at an angle, it does help. I think trimming it would help as well, so I think I will try that. Or just let it grind down until it doesnt scrape anymore, lol!

spinedoc77

Really? I'll have to stop by there and look into that.

NevadaVette

I know that it is nauseating to live with but that part is pretty much made to scrape. You could try raising the front end a little by adjusting the same bolts that are used to lower it. That is pretty easy. It doesn't seem that all Corvettes are delivered new with exactly the same height.

Other than that, the plastic air dams are fairly inexpensive to replace. You could also try putting new ones on when they get to the point of looking unsightly or trimming a little off the scraped ones to see if that makes you happier.

Wish I had a better idea for you.

haccpguy

That is my method. What else can you do if changing the driveway set up is not an option.

hawkgfr

I'm with you..after four days I've decided its a curb feeler for the road...mine scrapes into my carport and is not steep...Its a great reminder to be careful turning in to places.

To the op it will quit scraping in your drive when it gets worn...no harm there if it is juts scraping. imo

chris36053

The plastic dam is your indicator that the nose of your car is very close to bottoming out. Don't trim it. It is a very inexpensive piece and is easy to replace. If you trim this piece your running the risk of bottoming the nose on some other steep incline. I'll tell you this,if you think your unhappy about scraping the plastic dam wait til you bottom the nose. Huge repairs. Definetly a repaint and if bad enough you may have to have the front bumper refit.

LTC Z06

If you hit the radiator supporst too hard it won't be fun. It's a sports car, it's low, it's not a big deal.

bobburk

My '05 does the same. The car was lowered by bolts but I had them raised back to normal which did not stop the scraping. I installed the small wheels. We just need to be careful and slow (only in this case).

NevadaVette

You are right. Beyond that, you can fracture the metal skid bar, too, if you are going fast enough.

I haven't looked at the aftermarket C6 skid bar wheels, but if they are like the ones for the C5 (and they probably are), they bolt to the skid bar and don't really absorb any impact shock, they just change the sound from scraping metal to rolling wheel. As a practical matter, if anything they would reduce the actual clearance. At very low speeds, there wouldn't be much shock to it and the sound would be less offensive, so I guess that is marginally better.

If you are hitting the metal skid bar or aftermarket wheels that bolt onto it, you are likely already way past the plastic air dam clearance issue. You will know by the excruciating noise of metal scraping on concrete or the thud from the wheels.

Driveways aside, the way you can get into a big mess with the front end of a Corvette is if the front end bottoms out at speed, like when hitting a deep cross gutter or other road depression that you don't see.

jrpedraza

Are these wheels similar to the ones that are available for the C5? My thoughts on this is that if they are not really visible than you have nothing to lose by installing them, I'll get a set one of these days but my driveway only scrapes my car a little.

I agree with the other posts about the low air dam being an early warning, plus on the rare occasion when someone else drives my 'vette they get a shock the first time it scrapes; it really serves the point to be more careful.

JR

Racer

The wheels will not stop the black skirt from scraping, they prevent the skid bar from scraping that is all. I used to build and sell them to forum members, I know their function, don't be fooled into thinking that they prevent the skift from hitting.

paz

I spent $1200 to "mod" my driveway when I bought my C4. Fortunately, my C6 has much higher (1 inch+) ground clearance than my C4. The front skirt of the C6 will rub if I pull straight out, but not at an angle.

I made a ground clearance guide from a 1x2 that was as long as the wheel base with short 3.5 inch pieces attached to both ends (like one of these "[" rotated 90°. If the contractor could drag this guide (short sticks pointing down) over the hump of the drive without touching in the middle, then the C4 would not scrape. Since your problem is the front overhang, you would need to make a guide where the long stick is measured from the back wheel to the front skirt, with the vertical sticks attached at the points where the wheels meet the ground. The contractor would need to make certain that the guide does not rub at the leading edge.
This guide may sound overly simple, but it will allow you to communicate your goal to the day crew doing the work and test that it has been done right (but don't wait until the cement dries to test).

jrpedraza

I see, thanks for thie info....

JR

Corvette Junkie

They are made to scrape and cheap to replace.

spinedoc77

I mocked the wheels up and honestly they look like they don't do anything at all. I'm tempted to just return them, but they were cheap enough so I'll probably just install them.

Quick question about the wheel. It has 2 mounting bolts, but in all the pictures of them mounted it only looks like they used a single mounting bolt. Anyone have them care to comment?

Just 4 2

I built a new house