SlayerRipKdc

I am thinking about purchasing a C6 and would like to know the best way to lower the car? Can you do this on the stock bolts?

timd38

Yes, but depends on how low you want to go.

I could not get it low enough so I bought lowering bolts and they were nothing but trouble. finally went to coilovers.

0Brian@RPT

I dropped mine on the stock bolts and the Vette runs great.

marc8090

If you decide to use lowering bolts the only ones I'd recommend are the ones from Hardbar.

filmjay

As has been said, depends on how much of a drop you want. If you're good with less than an inch, bolts. If you're trying to slam it down, coil-overs.

Just remember, the nose of these cars are already low. An inch can make all the difference in the world between having to replace radiator supports once a season or not.
I had to lower the nose of mine an inch to fit the intercooler. The single biggest issue Ive had with it is occasionally bumping the rad support. (Mine is also a DD)

While I've corner balanced mine, it has not been LOWERED....and I'll be swapping another rad support this winter when I finally re-engineer this blower setup to get my inch of ground clearance back. LOL!

Pfadt Racing

You can definitely lower the car on the factory bolts, but just keep in mind that their actual intended use was for corner balancing not large changes in ride height. The lower you adjust your car on the factory leafs the more suspension travel you're dialing out, and the more likely you are to run off the shocks bump stops. By repeatedly running off the bump stops you will notice a decrease in ride quality, and potentially unpredictable handling.

With a coilover package we can build in more than enough suspension travel into the shocks to maintain adequate suspension travel. This means you can lower the vehicle aggressively without the adverse effects to ride quality and handling that you would normally see with a leaf spring equipped car at the same ride height.

Aside from adjustable ride heights you will also enjoy the other benefits of coilovers such as adjustable dampers to adjust the ride quality or performance of the car, increased spring rates for improved track performance without impacts to ride quality on the street, as well as removing weight from the car.

If you're looking at coilovers for your future Corvette you should definitely give our FeatherLight Singles a hard look also. These are simply the best coilovers we've ever manufactured! You can find more information on them at the link below:

Pfadt Race Engineering FeatherLight Single Adjustable Coilovers

Bedouin

Lowering on stock bolts is very simple & takes @ an hour max. You don't have to jack up the car either. You can use a bottle jack to raise the leaf spring/busings off the lower control arms & turn out the front wheels to access them there, & crawl behind the rear tires to access those as well. very easy & I recommend keeping the stock ride bolts/bushings & you shouldn't have any suspension bottoming or bump-stop issues either.

Gearhead Jim

After lowering, drive it a couple of hundred miles and then check if it's still where you want. Then get analignment.

///DarkSide\\\

FYI - per LG Motorsports (Anthony I believe) - posted here somewhere in Tech on another thread that if you lower the C6 more than 20mm (~3/4"), it's counter-productive to handling as it throws off the stock suspension geometry. Going lower is for appearance only.

LG or Pfadt - feel free to chime in

mattdracing

i lowered my grand sport on stock bolts. just jack it up, put on jackstands, and once thats done just use a 10mm wrench to screw it counter clockwise i believe until it cant go any farther because it will be limited by the rubber bushings. i also had to put the jack under the car and jack up just a tiny bit on the arm right under the spring to take a lil pressure off so the bolts would turn with ease. DO NOT FORCE THEM TO TURN OR THEY WILL STRIP. theres a video on the forums somewhere that explains it perfectly

msd127

and slick to boot

Bedouin

OP, your alignment may not need any adjusting. I had my alignment checked & it was in factory spec, then I lowered my '12 GS 1LT (non-F55) 2 turns in the rear (they were max'd), & 2 turns in front, & then had the alignment checked again: The caster didn't change, toe was 0*, & camber was -.8 -.9* rear, -1 -1.1* front.

I wanted it lower so I turned the fronts 2 more turns (max'd out, 4 turns total) & cut the lower most 1/8" rib off the bottom of the rear bushings, checked alignment after 200+ miles. Caster was virtually the same, toe was still 0*, & camber increased to -.1* rear, -1.2* front. Perfect for my needs.

The car now sits w/ 1.5" between fenders & all 4 tires & looks like it should have from the factory. The handling was markedly improved as well.

JCtx

A related question to you or whoever can answer it. My '12 GS CE (with F55) sits just like yours from the factory (1.5"), and am perfectly happy with it (any lower and it'd hit everywhere). But was just curious if they're bottomed out on the stock bolts. Everything should be identical in our cars except the shocks, no? Thx.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

You can adjust the factory bolts but you get very close to the bump stops on the factory shocks. Some of the aftermarket units like Bilstein have a slightly different body design which will allow more drop on the car.

If we are talking about all out performance, if you want to go lower than 1" you need to do the drop spindles. Not only does it correct the suspension, and gives you full shock range while dropping the car 1" at the bearing.

Bedouin

I've noticed that every F55 vette I've seen sits just like yours ElpJC, perfect from the factory, at about 1.5" off the tires. I'd love to know if they're max'd out to lowest on the ride-height bolts from Bowling Green.

QwikC

Can certainly be lowered on stock bolts -- though shock (suspension) effectiveness becomes limited as remarked; ref. posts 6 and 9, but the "best way" is with coilovers. Post 14 also makes valid point(s), especially pertaining to drop spindles.

Vette Threat