i was wondering if there is any way i can lower my car? i want a more aggressive stance, and the better handling that comes with loweing a vehicle would also be a bonus.

 

YES...lowering is one of the first things a lot of us do. Several companies sell kits to lower it, one example: http://www.madvet.com/shop?frame=3.148.1088

The rear is easy, maybe 15-20 minutes, front is a little more invovled.

 

Think hard before lowering your C4. I have a 94 LT1 6 speed. I should get paid from the state for scraping all the road kill and trash off the road for them. EVERY speed bump, driveway curb, and pot hole becomes your enemy. I have had to replace the 3-piece chin spoiler 3 times and will have to do it again before summer. I have smashed the drain plug for the tranny. Forget about installing a lower frame cross brace. The travel is now reduced 1 to 1.5 inches meaning bumps hit the bump stops and travel straight up your spine. Alignment is an issue for some guys. Granted my Vette is black with black windows, all lights are blacked out, and I have black A molds, Xdrilled & slotted rotors with blacked rotor hubs and red calipers and the things looks MEAN rolling, but if it was not lowered when I got it, I would not have done it.

 

<<< Understatement Alert >>>

The front is a couple hours of labor the first time, plus setup time for the adhesive. That's minimum and if all goes perfectly.

I lowered my '85 thinking it would look really slick, keep in mind my purpose for the car is both a driver and an Autocrosser. When I evaluated the suspension geometry after installation of the standard Mid America kit, it was horrible. There was not enough travel left in the front shocks, and the car had no rake front to back.

I ended up installing spacers in the front and raising the rear to match plus some to get a little angle front to back.

YMMV

Careful what you do with the suspension.

Ryan

 

This was sent to me by Da Hawaiian Punch when I was lowering my car.

Hope this helps...
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Here's a detailed write up I did a few years ago for another Vette owner, this will take all the mystery out of lowering your vette hopefully.........


Since we're having lots of members on all types of vette forums wanting to lower their car's lately, it can also go in the general section or where ever you (moderators) feel it should go.
Here's "copy and Paste" instructions that I had written out for a fellow member on another forum about a year ago, and also did this same for several other members on different forums so here you go, and I hope this will help you out, some of you with older C-4's will have to buy 1 1/2 inch wheel spacers if you plan on putting on C-5 wheels, these instructions are for C-5 owners as well ........
It's so easy to do! In fact, the hardest thing to do is to cut the rubber off the spring.. that stuff on there is tuff!!
Unbolt the outer tie rod & sway bar, on both sides, losen the spring retainers which is holding the leaf spring to the frame of the car. (blue arrow in picture below)

On either side that you what to start on first, get a block of wood ( 2 by 4 ) and a small floor jack will be fine, put the wood along with the jack under the spring closest to the a-arm, with out it being ON the a-arm it's self and slowly jack the spring up untill it's not resting on the lower a-arm ( about a 1/4 to an 1/2 inch off )
Disconnect the ABS sensor thats located on the brake assembly, thats very important for you to do so!! ( if yours has one) remove the 2 bolts that are holding the shocks to the lower a-arm (they're located near the spring in the lower a-arm), unbolt the lower ball joint stud nut, you can use a two jaw puller or what I did was unscrew the nut until it covered the end of the stud and with a hammer, tap on the top of the nut and not that hard or you'll ruin either the nut it's self or the stud or both. (try using a hard rubber mallet first)

Before doing this, find something to put under the wheel hub.. another block of wood would be fine just to stabilize it and it should come free with no problem!!
repeat this on the other side and let the presure off from the 2 by 4 and jack free and you should be able to slide the spring out from either side after you pull back at the wheel hub away little, the spring will slide out from the lower a-arm.
It will not come out all the way if the car is not jacked up high enough and it does not have to!! you just need to be able to slide the spring far enough to be able to reach the rubber mounts.

With a steak knife or I prefered a hack saw blade, saw off the rubber mounts (#1 arrows in picture's) and try not to cut into the spring itself.. take your time, don't rush!!.
Do this on both sides.



(Helpfull hint: while cutting the rubber off, lift up on the side that you started cutting at, at the same time you cutting away, the reason is that if you dont do this, the rubber will grab onto the knife/sawblade and you'll make very slow progress if any at all. The first side that I did without doing this took me about an hr and a half to cut, untill I lifted the rubber up off the blade thats sliding back and forth, the other side took 10 min to complete the job, big difference.)

This will give you the drop that your, I think looking for!!!

The wheels will be, depending on what size rims you've got, if your running stock 17's will be about an 1 inch to an 1 1/4 from the fender wells, and if you want an altamite drop on your car, take out the lowering screw's (if you own a C-5) shave off those rubber bushing's that your leaf spring sit's on in the a-arm!! (#2 red arrow in left hand pic) for a maximuim drop NO!! THE TIRES WILL NOT RUB!!



For the Rear end, take out the stock bolt's (9 inches) (Red arrow) and replace them with 12 inch bolts, buy some extra washers as well because you'll need them to be able to adjust the height by using them as shims.

Jack up the car, place a jack stand underneath some where stable, once the car is up in the air place your jack underneath the leaf spring with a block of wood between them (Jack and spring) to protect the spring, this will release the tention on the spring and bolt, unscrew the nut, and replace with the longer one, if you need washers on either one of the bolts the washers will go on before threading the bolt back through the the assembly, thats it plan and simple.

You will have to of course hopefully with out saying, take the wheels off to do this job, and the ride is fine, just a little more stiff, and I do mean a little.
A wheel alignment will have to be done but you dont have to go right away but eventualy it will have to be done.
I hope this helps out all who have been wanting to lower their cars...
Some pics/drawings...





Here's a pic of mine after lowering...



No regrets BUT I do have to be a bit more careful...

 

Some good points, there.

Most everyone thinks that lowering your car automatically means improved handling. In many cases, this is not so.

Granted, it lowers the car's CG, but it may also do much more...

As dchildress explained, if it reduces suspension travel to the point that it hits the stops during cornering, you will be less than pleased with the result....but your body shop will be just as happy as can be.

Also, the suspension geometry is designed to work best with the car at stock ride height. Alter that ride height and you may throw the geometry off enough to more than offset any gains you may get from a lowered CG.
It really is more complex than you may realize. There are some good books out there on suspension tuning, they explain this in great detail and are worth the read.

Larry
code5coupe

 

helpful tips guys, thanks a lot....now im questioning if it's really worth it

 

Lowered vette's rule! Mine looks great and the ride quality has not changed one iota. Just do it!!!

 

The stock ride height is ok for a family truckster! But a C4 looks best slammed!

 

i think im going to lower my car.....what springs/coilovers should i use? dropping my car 1" is not going to satisfy me much, it is hardly noticeable and i would rather have spent the money on something else

 

Coil overs are nice, however, you can get a couple of inches drop with the stock springs.

If you do the lowering your self the total cost should be under 200 bucks. The major expense is getting a "good" four wheel alignment when you're done. I used the Mid America kit. I decided it was not low enough so I took the springs out again and put all of the spacers/shims on the bottom of the springs. The front was still not low enough so I trimmed the spring end pads. I wish I could go lower but my X frame is pretty close to the ground now.
So the stock springs are not the limiting factor, ground clearance is.

Mike

 

Gotta agree, lowered Vettes look tight!! All that black on mine just looks flat out menacing rolling down the road. Mine was lowered when I got it but I have ridden in stock suspended C4s. My ride quality is the same until I hit a bump.

No BS, on the way home from work after leaving the last post, I hit a splatted raccoon in the road. I picked up most of it's body and drug it about 100 yards. I got home, my cats were all under my car smelling around. NASTY!!!!!!!!!

 

For $40? Of course it's worth it. The kit will only take your front end down about 3/4" at most... and the rear you can adjust whereever you want.

I recommend getting an alignment done afterwards. It's not hard to do yourself.) The C4 has plenty of room to the bump stops since it already starts out low to begin with. It's not like cutting coils 4" on a japanese sedan with really soft springs. I only recall hitting the bump stops one time since having the car and I drive it hard. The roads down here are pretty good though.

go here:

http://webpages.charter.net/khasting.../lowering.html

 

Do not remove the front wedges completely or use new wedges thinner than about 1/2".

If the spring doesn't have enough rubber above the pivot, it WILL make contact with the steel frame. And the steel will win eventually.

 

nice....the link to the website you gave me was very helpful....where can i buy this mid america lowering kit?

 

www.madvet.com
www.ecklers.com

I'm sure some others sell it.

For glue, I'd recommend getting some marine epoxy. I tried the 3m weatherstrip glue they recommend, but the wedges came unglued.

 

You don't have to put the wedges in there. Just trim the stock rubber down to 1/4" or so and it will do the same thing.
You can also cut the rubber off the ends of the spring to lower it even further.
Don't forget to put something back between the lower a-arm and spring. I used a piece from an old bumper cover but u can use most any good rubber.
You need to get the front up at least 20" to get the spring out. Don't forget to cut off the spring brackets 1/2" or the spring will be loose.
Doing the above, I lowered the front down about 1-1/2".
You'll need 2 9/16" X 10" or 14mm bolts and some locking nuts for the back to get it down that far.
Johnny

I've got a kit if you want it.

 

From memory, the frame where the spring bolts up to is recessed at least 1/4" or so. If you do not have wedges thicker than that, or use the factory shims, the spring WILL contact the frame.

The rubber left over after removing the stock wedge is not thick enough to prevent this.

 

if i understand correctly, this kit is adjustable? im asking this because i would like the rear of the car lowered at least 1.5 inches (if its possible) and the front lowered 1 inch or so.....i want a 'slammed' look in a sense, and im not sure if that kit is going to give me that look, cause on the website it states i will only get a 1 inch drop at most which isnt something im looking for

 

You can drop it as much as you want in back simply by loosening two nuts.

The front, getting lower is harder. It will probably require removing the rubber pads (1/2") from the ends of the springs and glueing something thinner (1/8"), that should get you past 1" drop in front if done with the lowering wedges. There's no way to adjust the front height. At least not without taking the whole thing apart everytime.