dr.stephan

I just want to vent on what frail piece of junk this thing is and what a HORRIBLE design GM did with this car. They know these cars are prone to bottoming out, so why put such frail pieces of junk to support the radiator that are so low?

I paid $1200 for the job at the stealership the 1st time. Learned my lesson and just ordered a new one for $330 with shipping. Anyone know if the front bumper has to come off to have it installed? Also, anyone know how much labor it takes to install it? Im going to an outside mechanic here in houston. Thanks

Raazor

Omega Man

I would probably stop running over stuff and hitting the curb. There is no way your "Bottoming out" on the road. Your either hitting driveways too fast or at the wrong angle or your running it over parking curbs / stops.






Remember, driving like a crack head cost money.

Raazor

VET4LES

Radiator Support Skid Plate Broken Again!

It's not a skid plate so maybe if you remember that you will not have this happen again. I don't know if the bumper has to come off but what ever it takes I would do it myself. It can't be too difficult.

talon90

The lower radiator support in it's current form has been in use on the Corvette since the introduction of the 1997 model year car. You are now the third person that I know of that has broken one. I'm guessing that if it were a "frail piece of junk" that we would have heard a little more about it with over 425,000 cars produced with that same part in those model years. Probably worth noting that it is not a skid plate and not intended to be impacted from the bottom. It is a support and intended to have a compressive load on it from the top (ie, the radiator) not necessarily the weight of the car pushing up on it from the bottom.

Curious, How is it breaking? That support is more than 12" off the ground and even at full suspension travel it would not impact the ground. I don't think that bottoming out is really the root cause here.

AORoads

Welllllllllll, first it is not a skid plate, as said above. Second, it is very important since it's connected to the radiator.

And third, it IS possible to hit the darned thing on the road when the signs say one thing, and the road is another, or in another condition. Such as, "rough road" in my area normally means, the road surface has been scraped up and it is literally "rough." But not to the professionals (loosely used, and in this case not dissimilar from those other "pros" who walk streets) in this state.

If they don't have a sign made up for what the road condition REALLY is, they'll just use anything in the truck. Like "rough road" to describe a washout that has gravel the color of the normal road surface, and a drop-off of about 12".

Oh, they could have found, "hole", "bump", "washout", etc. but that might have meant a trip back to the shop.

So, when one slows from 45-50 to 30-35, and suddenly this eight foot long hole becomes rough, it can claim a scrape to the radiator support, also "misnomer-ed" a skid plate.

Without major braking, it could also claim the entire support(s) itself, as in broken beyond repair. That would be unfortunate, but it is a fact some of us have to live with. This time, I escaped, but just barely.

Gearhead Jim

Two observations-

First, the only time I ever kissed the C6 radiator support on pavement was angling out of a steep driveway, going a little faster than i should. I haven't measured the angles, but taking an incline from the side will reduce scraping on the center plastic air dam but might expose the radiator support a little more.

Also, the radiator support on the C5 was steel and could take a fair impact without breaking (guess how i know), but the C6 is aluminum and much more fragile (I haven't tested it yet).

dr.stephan

Listen, I love my C6 Vert' very much. But lately, its been more of a love/hate relationship. There are parts that GM skimped out on on this car that blow my mind. Just like Gearhead Jim said, its made of aluminum. I mean common. And then, they go charge an arm and a leg for a piece of junk. The on ramps/off ramps here in Houston, Tx where I recently moved are NOT meant for a Vette. Sometimes I think theyre designed for the F150s and Rams that are everywhere....

Do a search, several people have broken it....even more than once

Hammerman

I had the small wheels installed on mine to help roll over speed bumps and such. I still have to go slow so I don't break the support. My father in law has broke his twice. The wheels will be even lower than the support however.

Racer

My previous '05 had a broken rad support, I changed it myself, you do not have to take the bumper cover off. One thing I did notice on mine, the wires for the fog light or side marker light (can't remember which) were put right through the webbing of the aluminum (for lack of a better word) and I couldn't pull it (the support frame)out as the wireing was holding it, I had to reach up and hack it off the the blade of a hack saw (just the blade) took forever and I was f*cking mad.
Disclaimer: The car was purchased with the damaged support, I have owned 8 or 9 C5's and 3 C6's and never broke one myself.

Wayne O

Whether or not driver error is a factor I don't know but damaging the radiator support is not a common occurrence. The fact its made of aluminum instead of steel does not mean its a piece of junk...there's a reason its made of aluminum. From reading your posts it seems you're unhappy with the C6. Perhaps the F150 would be better suited to your needs.

BTW my friend at Surplus Armor Technologies has been working on an after market solution for this problem. It's a prototype but I think it holds promise for protecting the C6 radiator mount.

cranky

vettedoogie

Perfect!
I understand the frustration but lets remember what we are driving here. It isn't a pickup and as such it requires a bit more care in driving. I have to baby my Vette up my driveway and around the streets near my house as there are a lot of fairly sharp angles and if I wasn't careful, I would likely break stuff too.

What really frosts my heiney is the very high speed bumps some malls put in. I totally avoid one mall with my Vette specifically because of them.

LS WON

Just Another disadvantage of having a car low to the ground along with chips, hitting curbs and taking out front or side rocker panels / curb rash. This is why pony cars and muscle cars were made.

Boomer111

You got the right color..

LS WON

You need to also add a bug/rock deflector

cclive

What kind of car is that?...looks like a Celica imitation Corvette or something...

cclive

For future reference, the support/skid plate is aluminum and can easily be repaired with a weld...no reason to replace it for three or four hundred dollars, it can be taken to a place that welds aluminum and fixed for around 25 dollars...depending on where you live....proably more in New York city and less in Kansas.

See5see6

Our Corvettes are indeed low to the ground. My post office driveways are so poorly engineered that I can never use the Corvette. Only once and boy did that brace/support scrape! Even many "normal" cars (whatever those are) scrape. Anyway, I'm VERY careful and still have hit those supports pretty hard.

I think dr. Stephan has a point. A better designed brace should have been built.