[Z06] Need some help with my suspension
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 238
Likes: 0
Need some help with my suspension
Hey guys, so the most unexpected thing happened to me today.
I was stopped at an intersection facing downhill when I heard a loud thud from the front of my car and felt it drop a little. I turned to the nearest residential street as my front passenger wheel well made tons of noise. I got out to see that the fender is about 1/8" away from the tire!
I have no clue what happened or why! I bought the car lowered on stock bolts and the previous owner said:
"I removed the bushings in the front and cut the ones in the back."
Now I'm assuming this has a lot to do with my suspension collapsing all of a sudden.
I think it may be a ruined shock absorber (and if it is i'll be upgrading to Blistein sports) but want your opinions on what else it might be!
I also want to restore the stock bushings for the car but have no clue which part the previous owner was talking about, can anyone show me or link me to a new set of front and rear bushings?
Thank you guys for any help, I'm so frustrated and confused I can't think straight!
I was stopped at an intersection facing downhill when I heard a loud thud from the front of my car and felt it drop a little. I turned to the nearest residential street as my front passenger wheel well made tons of noise. I got out to see that the fender is about 1/8" away from the tire!
I have no clue what happened or why! I bought the car lowered on stock bolts and the previous owner said:
"I removed the bushings in the front and cut the ones in the back."
Now I'm assuming this has a lot to do with my suspension collapsing all of a sudden.
I think it may be a ruined shock absorber (and if it is i'll be upgrading to Blistein sports) but want your opinions on what else it might be!
I also want to restore the stock bushings for the car but have no clue which part the previous owner was talking about, can anyone show me or link me to a new set of front and rear bushings?
Thank you guys for any help, I'm so frustrated and confused I can't think straight!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 238
Likes: 0
26k on the car
I'm thinking it's the shock too.
Anyone have any idea what bushings the original owner was talking about?
Also, is it ok to drive the car like this (slowly at like 25-30mph) for a little bit to get it to the repair shop?
I'm thinking it's the shock too.
Anyone have any idea what bushings the original owner was talking about?
Also, is it ok to drive the car like this (slowly at like 25-30mph) for a little bit to get it to the repair shop?
Last edited by Seraphus; Oct 11, 2012 at 04:30 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,003
Likes: 89
From: Indy IN
When you lower the car as you have done, you are pretty much on the bump stops all the time, and if the shock fails the car will drop some. That said, the spring should keep the tire out of the fender and support the car.
It's a toss up as to what broke, one or the other or both. Since it is low enough to be grinding I'd bet on the spring, or the control arm being damaged from the spring pad being gone.
Get it on a trailer or flatbed. If you drive it you are going to grind off something if the tire is hitting the inner fender for the fender itself.
It's a toss up as to what broke, one or the other or both. Since it is low enough to be grinding I'd bet on the spring, or the control arm being damaged from the spring pad being gone.
Get it on a trailer or flatbed. If you drive it you are going to grind off something if the tire is hitting the inner fender for the fender itself.
Last edited by Solofast; Oct 11, 2012 at 08:31 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,355
Likes: 113
From: Los Angeles
When you lower the car as you have done, you are pretty much on the bump stops all the time, and if the shock fails the car will drop some. That said, the spring should keep the tire out of the fender and support the car.
It's a toss up as to what broke, one or the other or both. Since it is low enough to be grinding I'd bet on the spring, or the control arm being damaged from the spring pad being gone.
Get it on a trailer or flatbed. If you drive it you are going to grind off something if the tire is hitting the inner fender for the fender itself.
It's a toss up as to what broke, one or the other or both. Since it is low enough to be grinding I'd bet on the spring, or the control arm being damaged from the spring pad being gone.
Get it on a trailer or flatbed. If you drive it you are going to grind off something if the tire is hitting the inner fender for the fender itself.
A blown shock really shouldn't lower your ride that much. But a broken or detached spring definitely will.
Last edited by skyavonee; Oct 11, 2012 at 11:58 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,606
Likes: 355
From: Rochester New York
I'm going to go with the spring. Basically what the previous owner is saying is that he removed the front spring height adjusting bolts. So the spring is probably riding on the control arm.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,366
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From: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
I would say it is the spring. I personally had the experience of a rear shock breaking and other than the annoying noise I was still able to drive home, with two halves of the shock hitting each other, but the spring was fine.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 238
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Ok so the verdict is in, and there's good news and bad.
What broke was the bolt holding the ball joint/control arm and it dropped the control arm onto the inside of my wheel!
The spring/shock is just fine.
Now, the worst news is that I drove the car for a bit before getting it towed. So, the control arm cut my wheel in HALF from the inside in a nice circle, now I need a new wheel (which I ordered from Corvette Recycler).
So now my question would be; how bad is it to put on an aftermarket ball joint?
What broke was the bolt holding the ball joint/control arm and it dropped the control arm onto the inside of my wheel!
The spring/shock is just fine.
Now, the worst news is that I drove the car for a bit before getting it towed. So, the control arm cut my wheel in HALF from the inside in a nice circle, now I need a new wheel (which I ordered from Corvette Recycler).
So now my question would be; how bad is it to put on an aftermarket ball joint?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,003
Likes: 89
From: Indy IN
When you first posted I thought a ball joint failure was one thing that could cause the failure you had, but I've never heard of one before. It did kind of bother me because if the spring was broken, the shock and bump stop should have held the car up to where it wouldn't be grinding along. If the shock was broken, the spring would hold up the car, so really, the only single point failure that could drop the car to rubbing is the ball joint....
You need to go get a new lower control arm, the ball joint isn't removable.
Once you get the new LCA you need to get the the tapered end of the old bolt out of the spindle. That won't be easy, but if you can get a puller it will go a lot easier. The problem is going to be getting some kind of puller that is small enough to get down there and push what is left of the stud out of the spindle.
As I said, this is the first time I've heard of someone breaking a ball joint stud, but there is no question that the reason it happened is that the car was lowered and had no suspension travel. The bottoming caused a fatigue failure of the lower ball joint stud.
Bottom line is, after you get the suspension fixed, raise it back up where it's supposed to be, no more than 1" lower than stock.
You need to go get a new lower control arm, the ball joint isn't removable.
Once you get the new LCA you need to get the the tapered end of the old bolt out of the spindle. That won't be easy, but if you can get a puller it will go a lot easier. The problem is going to be getting some kind of puller that is small enough to get down there and push what is left of the stud out of the spindle.
As I said, this is the first time I've heard of someone breaking a ball joint stud, but there is no question that the reason it happened is that the car was lowered and had no suspension travel. The bottoming caused a fatigue failure of the lower ball joint stud.
Bottom line is, after you get the suspension fixed, raise it back up where it's supposed to be, no more than 1" lower than stock.