Last week I brought my car into my old high school's autoshop to attempt to lower it on the stock bolts, and after turning the front bolts for what seemed like an eternity, I can hardly notice a difference. I recently bought a volvo as a daily driver car (commute 30 mins to school) and realized that I would totally be fun with lowering the crap out of my car, because I'm really sick of the wheel gap and won't be driving it nearly as often. I know that I can buy other bolts for the car to lower it, but what kind should I get, C6 ones? Also, would an average tire shop or something be able to install them for me or would I have to take it to a place that works on vettes? Thank you in advance for any help! Help make my car look prettier

 

I really can't answer that question, I put Pfadt coilovers on my car..

http://www.pfadtracing.com/catalog/

 

The suspension typically needs some time to settle after lowering. Get a tape measure and measure the distance from the top of the fender arch to the rim. Then, after you drive it for about a week, measure it again. I bet that distance will be shorter.

On the other hand, if you want to really slam it, you'll probably need coilovers. Without them, your stock shocks will bottom out and handling will be crap, from what I've heard.

 

I just want the smallest wheel gap possible without sacrificing anything, honestly. It's been about a week and I'm sure it's moved a little, but there's still a huge wheel gap and I hate it lol.

 

Save your cash for coilovers if you're going to really slam it.

 

It sounds to me like you haven't really lowered the car. The car should drop noticeably if you turned "forever". It's possible that the bolts are turning in the springs and that the fitting is also turning.

 

I used the Zip Lowering Kit. I haven't really noticed a huge difference in ride quality. I just couldn't stand the 4x4 look any more.





Patrick

 

you may want to order the longer bolts from somewhere like WCC or Zip. Also...may want to cut the bushings. Turn the bolts that you have now all the way down...as far as they will go..then turn them back a little (quarter turn or whatever) equally on all four corners. That's the best you will do with what you have currently.

 

For the front you have to take the load off the springs! Other wise you're just turning the bolts and possibly stripping the threads in the springs.. And when that happens... NEW springs!

 

Did you bottom the bolts out? You can cut the rubber pads down/off the bottom of the bolts for more of a drop also. I managed to cut mine while they were on the car. I ran cut front bolts and longer rears(bought at lowe's) with Koni FSD's for a while. The car sat nice and low. I did end up going to coilovers but I set my ride height about the same as I had it before.

 

FWIW, I recently dropped my car on the stock bolts and my car settled just like this one. 5 turns on the front bolts and the rears have two threads showing. Total drop (with new C6Z shocks) is right at 1". Ride is awesome and not so low that you can't negotiate speed bumps and driveways...just minor air dam scraping on driveways.

-Dean

 

Patrick:

How far did you adjust the Zip bolts down? Is this max? I have the kit too but haven't installed it yet. Your car doesn't look much lower than mine does now lowered max on stock bolts.

 

Zap,

I turned the front bolts all the way down and adjusted the rear accordingly. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Only a few things suck being lowered:

I have LG Pro headers and they scrape on most speed bumps, and always with another passenger in the car along with my rocker panels scraping.

The front air damn scrapes a whole lot while i'm driving, but it's cheap enough to replace once it has to be done.

 

I took before and after shots of my car with the Zip Lowering Kit adjusted the lowest it can go in the front and the rear adjusted accordingly. I hope it helps you guys in your decison on the Zip Kit!

Before:



After:


Patrick

 

To correctly measure ride height on Corvettes you can’t use the fender’s as a reference point like you can on other cars. On these cars the fenders can and most likely are uneven from the factory. A better location is the jack puck holes on the frame rails. Measure on the front side of the front puck hole and the rear side of the rear puck hole.


Getting rid of the wheel gap is going to decrease handling using the stock shocks especially if you start getting longer bolts and taking bolts out. For the best handling with stock shocks your looking at lowering an inch to be safe. Slammed cars look cool as heck but ride and handle like ....

 

You are correct ... if we were looking for an absolute measurement of the ride height.

But in this case, it is OK to use fender-to-rim reference points. This is just a simple "relative" measurement of the difference between the "before and after" ride height, nothing more. I just wanted a quick way to prove to him that the car has indeed settled, even though it may not look like it at first glance.

 

There isn't a way around it, the farther you lower your Corvette on the factory leaf springs the more suspension travel you're effectively eliminating. For best handling and ride quality we recommend that users of our fixed ride height shock packages (Johnny O'Connell and Inverted Sport Shocks) lower their cars no more than what the factory adjustment allows for. The more suspension travel you tune out the more likely you are to run out of shock travel, which will cause you to frequently ride off the bumpstops and creates rough and unpredictable handling along with shortened bumpstop life. You can install the best shocks in the world, but with limited shock travel you are really handcuffing your suspension from the start.

The best way to lower your Corvette without tradeoffs is with a set of coilovers. Our FeatherLight Generations were designed to aggressively drop your vehicle while improving overall handling and ride comfort. By completely eliminating the leaf springs and moving to coilovers you drop weight, eliminate a major source of cross talk between the left and ride side of the vehicle, as well as add levels of adjusatbility that are simply not possible with the stock shocks. The adjustable dampers allow you to tailor the car to what you happen to be doing with your Corvette. Whether you are drag racing, daily driving, Autocrossing or tracking your Corvette, the FeatherLight Generations give you the flexability to quikly tune your suspension for each specific need.

 

I too am running the PFADT Coilovers and have been for almost 2 yrs... That, along with there front/rear Light Sway bars makes for an outstanding driving experience. PFADT also provides awesome service "After the sale". Just my opinion... Stance of my car speaks for itself.

 

NICE ride - I LOVE my PFADT coilovers

 

Thank you Sir..