Ozzy12

Okay, I know a Corvette should not ride like a Cadillac, but I have a specific question in regards to ride quality:

I have a 2011 base 2lt coupe without F55 mag ride. I'm riding on factory GY rubber and have the car lowered on the stock bolts (bushings still in tact). I have had the car since it had like 39 miles on the clock and it has 11,750 now. It has always rode decent over minor imperfections in the road, but evey pot hole or rough joint is a teeth jarring even. It is like the suspension works great on the road and actually feels quite good, but then bam a overpass joint or pot hole and you feel like the car is going to crack in half. I really don't know how someone could street race my car as one pot hole and I'm pretty sure you'd just quite simply die. (Note: racing, especially street racing, isn't my intent I'm just saying it jars the heck out of the car and you could easily loose control if traveling above normal highway speeds).

Is this something to do with just the run flat tires, or should I be looking at something else? My tires are still knee deep in rubber so I'm hoping I don't need to swap those out. I've had some pretty rough off road mud tires before on lifted trucks, but nothing with the shear jarring force I'm experiencing here.

I might add, the car has drove this way even when it sat up higher with the ride height bolts in their oem position. I've checked all the shocks and they don't appear to be leaking or anything. Tire pressure is perfect, and I've even tried running a couple pounds light.

I test drove a GS with mag ride and even in sport mode it was much softer, but I do believe it had a different model GY tire than mine (car had 15k miles on it and new rubber). I'm just looking for some direction here, I'm tired of floating along and then "bam" my teeth feel like they're going to fall out.

Thanks in advance for your help guys!

CaryBob

Mine acts the same way. There is a fair amount of body movement built into Vettes to begin with, and the stiff suspension can be bone-jarring. I suspect you trade off in favor of road contact.

TMyers

All vette's are pretty bad when it comes to expansion joints and pot holes, runflats make it worse. The F55 does not per say make the ride better, expansion joints and pot holes are still bad. What it does though is keep the tire on the ground better taking some of the harshness out. With any vetter the way to make the ride better is to get rid of the runflats.

white90conv

I have a C5 (vert) and a C6 (coupe), both with Michelin AS runflats. The C5 has F45 ride control and the C6 F55. The C5 has a generally smoother ride than the C6. At one time, I had some non runflats on the C5 and I did not notice that is was smoother than with the prior Goodyear runflats. However, the C6 has less body shake on rough roads so I wouldn't say that it is overall less pleasant to drive.

DSOMC6

If you changed the ride hight more than likely you changed the geometry of the suspension set-up which can/may cause some of what you feel. Changing the ride hight offsets the ballance of the car when you deviate from the suggested rake etc.

Going to coilovers elliminated the majority of the side-to-side sway, wallowing etc I was having with the leaf spring set-up.

Vette_DD

I suspect it's a result of lowering the car. My 012 has the F55 and I feel very few bumps in the road at all. Potholes, yes, but hardly any others.

And yes, I've still got the runflats that came on the car.

Wayne O

At the risk of greatly over-simplifying the issue, you drive a high performance Corvette....not a Camry family sedan. Certainly, the stiff sidewall runflats contribute to the 'firmness' of the ride but all the suspension components work in concert and to one degree or another are designed more for performance than ride comfort. You can change tires, suspension components and alter the setup to tweak ride and handling characteristics but overall a stiffly-sprung suspension is part and parcel of a high performance road car. Vive la différence!

Dif

What are you running for tire pressure with the OEM GY's
Even though I have the F55 suspension, I found running the OEM GY tire pressure at 28 psi made a big difference in ride quality.
And after 14,000 on them, no noticeable wear when I switched to another set of wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP tires.

For what it's worth, the Michelin A/S tires made an improvement in ride quality .. most noticeably .. when hitting pot holes and expansion joints.

In any case, as others mentioned, it is a Sports car and really isn't a lot of suspension travel when hitting pot holes etc., compared to regular passengers cars.

I was surprised the 1st time jacking the car up and after raising it only about 4 - 5 inches the tire was already off the ground

heli-vette

Others have posted , get the seat up from the lowest setting , buy non run flats , get softer shocks , the leaf spring sort of limits softness . Keeping the tank full helps some .

You need to remember its a plastic race car that likes a smooth highway at about 80 mph.

phileaglesfan

I agree with both. Actually the OP said everything that was needed in his first two sentences.

It won't ride like a Cadillac, even with stock F55 and the most compfy tires.

Lowering the suspension has negative effects and you found one of them. I heard it is not a good idea to lower the F55 anyway because you'll screw up the struts eventually.

Corvette rides great IMO and I have a GS with its base suspension on its OEM supercars tires. My 300C puts it to shame in quietness, road noise and smoothness. Notice I didn't say comfort because the C6 is an extremely comfortable cruiser unless someone (with all do respect) screws it up by modding it.

ptaylor_9849

Ozzy, you have the absolute worst case scenario going on there.
1. You lowered the suspension.
2. You're running on stiff run flat sidewalls.

I set my car up to ride like a dream and here's how in order of importance:

1. Get rid of the runflats and get either Nitto Invos or Michelin PS.
2. Keep the car at stock height.
3. Change the alignment specs to reduce negative camber and toe.
4. I chose the F55 suspension.

Do steps 1-3 and you'll be absolutely astonished how much it changes the ride quality for the better. You're car will be of no enjoyment to you if the ride is so punishing that you can't wait to get out of it. I learned the hard way after owning owning a C6 ZO6.

CO Lightfoot

And there are comfy Tempur-pedic butt pads.

glenB

Get adjustable shocks. QA1 is the only one I know of that still has any available unless you find someone selling some Pfadt adjustables in the For Sale forum. Our vendor here, GM Partshouse, is a QA1 vendor. Or, step up to some coil overs, they will diminish the effects you are feeling.

Get rid of the run flats. With the super stiff sidewall they will transmit more of the road.

The ride height or 'built-in body movement' (loved that one) is not the cause. Have your alignment checked to correct any 'twitchy' feelings associated with the bumps, particularly the toe setting, front and rear.

WasVette

May be lowering...my 2013 1LT Coupe rides really nice. You've got me second guessing the lowering. I lowered my last 3 C5's but I don't want unpredictable handling on my new C6. The wheel gap to me is almost tolerable if it will keep it behaving as it does now.

Jim2003

My opinion is that you increased the harshness by lowering it. Imhad a 03 with the Michelin runflats. My 13 coupe is far smoother ride with the original GY run flats on it. An expansion joint will jar most cars, I feel them in my wife's Lexus.

When people alter the cars and then voice conserns over something, I just don't get it. The engineers know more than we do, they designed the car so that all aspects of it will interact properly with each other. I had my 03 for 10 years, ordered it. I never changed anything, except the cags. I ordered the 13 and don't plan on changing anything on this one not even the cags.

laconiajack

Your factory issue Goodyear's have age/heat hardened substantially after a couple of years and 11,750 miles, plus they have lost some of their original tread depth "cushion".
Replace them with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP (run-flats) and you will experience a quieter and substantially smoother ride, improved handling and ride at temperatures below 45 degrees F., less tendency to hydroplane on wet roads, plus longer tire life (45,000 mile warranty).
Adjustable Magnetic Ride Control does improve the ride and handling substantially, especially over expansion joints, potholes, heaves and dips, and bumpy curves; too bad you don't have this option.
You can go to less expensive non-run flats if your willing to fore go the security and safety of run-flats in order to gain a bit more ride comfort, but your cars handling will suffer on the twisties because non-run flat tires lack sufficient sidewall stiffness for optimum handling.
Truth is, most buy Corvettes because of their sexy looks with no intention to ever compete in any way (except perhaps at car shows), or to even drive them like a sports car on everyday roads under everyday conditions, so don't worry about going to non-run flats if this is what you want.

glenB

Short of the shock being collapsed, could you explain how lowering the vehicle increased the ride harshness, it's not like a coil spring that's been cut to lower the vehicle or replaced with a stiffer shorter spring.

Other than less shock travel, and, as long as the shock travel is still acceptable and not bottoming out, reducing the ride height will not effect the spring rate on a vette. The spring is the same width, same length and same rate.

R&L's C6

I'm not sure about the OP's case, but in general, a large percentage of the problems I read on the forum are from people changing something and screwing something up. My guess is there are a few forum members as smart as the GM engineers, but not many.

Ozzy12

Thanks guys for all your input. Lowering it was not the cultprit, as it road the same way before hand. The car rides great on smooth roads and on roads with minor imperfections. The thing that bothers me is the jarring sensation when you hit an pothole or an expansion joint: and that has been that way since day 1. I just don't want to cause damage to the frame or anything. I will try the slightly lower air pressure and see how that works. I think I will also mention something on my next service visit.

R&L's C6

I really think what your feeling is normal. I have also hit potholes and it felt like the wheel was getting tore off. I think it's just the nature of the beast.