dooscoop32

Yes, it does happen a lot. I ordered and bought my 2004 convertible new. We took delivery on a Friday evening and drove the car home with great pride. There is a bridge on the way home which has a sizeable dip before and after it. When we hit those dips, it felt like a car with no suspension system at all. I was very disappointed. The next day, I looked under the car to see if the shock stuffers had been removed. And, voila!! Four shock stuffers still attached to the shock absorbers. I pulled each one out. As we took it out for another drive, we went back over the same bridge and it was very comfortable.
So I drove to the dealer where we got the car to check out the other Corvettes with the F55 option they had in stock. They had three or four of them and they all still had the shock stuffers in place. I found my salesman and told him about my car and the ones on the lot. He had no idea what I was talking about. I showed them to him and advised him the service department needed to remove those. I hope they did.

65GGvert

Interesting trivia: If you look back at post #28, you posted the same thing in this same thread three years ago. It's one of those threads that keeps on giving. I'll bet there are hundreds still out there that don't know anything about the shipping situation.

Sonny71

I think you'll find the ride much improved and from my experience I can't see any issues by them being left in.
I bought my '03 AE with 24,000 miles and found the rear ones were still in place. That's right just the rear ones! Road better than my '01 once I pulled the stuffers, no problems switching to sport mode. Ride has been fine ever since.

TB1300

I just bought my 2004 convertible in December, with about 55,000 miles on it. I drove it home, about 200 miles on the freeway, and it has been parked ever since waiting for spring.

On the ride home, the suspension frequently bottomed out on even relatively mild freeway bumps. I thought it odd, but I had never been in a Corvette before, so I assumed that was just how it was supposed to be.

After reading through this thread, I checked out the rear shock absorbers, and both of them have a plastic yellow tab dangling out of the boot. When it warms up a little, I'll jack up the car, remove the rear plastic stops, and check if the stops are in the front shock absorbers, as well.

I am looking forward to spring when I can find out how this car is designed to ride.

My thanks to the forum. I am not sure how, or even if, I ever would have found this out if not for this type of forum.

3318C5

This has to be one of GM's biggest FAILS......I had mine for 6 to 7 months back in 03 before I found the forum & the good folks in here!!!

Just like many, this was my first vette, so I did not know any better.

dooscoop32

I don't look at this as a failure for GM. They teach their technicians at GM training schools about these shocks and GM puts a label in each car equipped with Mag Ride informing the dealer to remove the stuffers. And the clean-up shop is usually responsible for removing them. But they HAVE to read the label to know that.

TB1300

Today it was warm enough to pull the shock stuffers. My car had the stuffers in the two rear shock absorbers, but they had been removed from the front shock absorbers. Another poster reported he had the same thing on his car.

After being pounded for 55,000 miles, the little plastic stuffers hardly showed any sign of wear. That is a surprising amount of toughness for something that was only designed for use during shipping to the dealership. I hope the rest of the suspension is as tough as the little temporary plastic shock stuffers.

Now I am looking forward to taking the car for a drive to see how the suspension feels without the stuffers. It will probably be at least a few more weeks before that happens.

Pscan

mdimascio

I have an ‘03 I bought new, my first and only corvette I’ve ever owned. 16 friggin’ years and 50,000 miles later I come across these articles about the stuffers being left in. I think to myself “Penske Chevrolet of Indianapolis sells thousands upon thousands of Corvettes. They would never forget to pull these stuffers out.” Plus, I complained about the ride not changing between Sport and Tour and asked them to run a diagnostic on the MSR way back around 2004. The idiot (apparently) told me there’s no diagnostic to run, they just work. I should not have accepted that. Today I put my Vette into my garage for the winter as I always do every November. This time I lifted the front end and look at the shocks. Behold! Those yellow plastic tabs are plain as day staring back at me! SIXTEEN YEARS OF NO MAGNETIC SELECTIVE RIDE, AND HAMMERING BANGS WHEN I HIT BUMPS IN THE ROAD! I have to laugh though I want to cry. At least now I am free of that harsh ride, and ready to find out how my Corvette really should feel. Thank you, Corvette Forum!!!

FX VETTE

It will be a night and day difference for you. Congrats on finding them with some CF help. Now you are free

mdimascio

They put new equipment into their car, wrote up special instructions and training for it, but didn’t sufficiently deal with the human element that exists at every single dealership. Rolling out new tech requires a certain amount of idiot-proofing. GM did fail at that, the proof is in the outcome.

mdimascio

Indeed!

USAZR1

Good Lord, how sad is that? smh

lewislgZ06

Holy Cow! Another example of why I try to do everything I can to service my car myself!

Notover

I just experienced the same thing on an 03 with 71,000 miles on it. They were never removed during all that time. Thanks to this forum I'm now educated! (Well, somewhat anyway)...

Wade

dooscoop32

Here we are almost to 2020 and this is still a problem that should not exist!! It is ridiculous that we still have cars out there with the stuffers still in place.

FX VETTE

I couldn’t agree more, such a shame that soo many GM dealerships didn’t remove these.

Ryque

I've had my '03 for a few months now and 90k on odometer. there is no noticeable difference in ride by changing the selector , which had led me to this thread. i'm off the next two days and will see if this is the problem. thanks for the information everyone!