Hi Folks -

I recently responded to a person on another forum who asked the always popular "can I lower my C5 with no problems" question - or a version of it.

Some know-it-all guy jumped in and informed us all about how dangerous it is to do so, and that the car would require alignment (yes, it might...) and "re-balancing" (huh??) at each corner before it would again be safe to drive.

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...ad.php?t=75080

Even after I politely tried to tell him that literally hundreds of us have done this with no issues, and that the GM manual states the car can be lowered with the stock suspension ride-height adjusters, he still tossed mud in my face.

I just wanted to share with you - you'll get a kick out of this guy.

best regards -

mqqn

 

Sounds to me like he's got a fairly good understanding of things, and he's right on several points. In perspective however, the typical corvette owner who adjusts their overall ride height by 1/2" or so will likely not see severe performance impact. OTOH, many of the issues that we see w/ folk accidently upsetting the rake of the car and/or introducing high-speed stability problems . . . . is exactly what he's talking about.

Have many people done it? Yup.
Has every owner caused problems as a result? Nope.

Does that make the laws of physics any different? Nope.

 

Scheeze! That dude needs to get a life!

 

OMG after reading his posts I'm going to run right out and bring my car back to stock 4X4 height, before I end up in a cornfield Just for the record, I lowered mine on stock bolts and had the alignment checked ( after 6 months of driving ) and they didn't have to touch it, it was fine.

 

The guy obviously knows what he is talking about, but as others have said for just a normal street drivin Corvette lowering is perfectly fine. I mean seriously, its a car, not the friggin space shuttle. Lower the car already!

 

Don't do it!!! Your car might crack and it may melt!!!!

 

dropped mine a while ago and got it aligned afterwards .. still goes around curves just fine at 100 + and the top end is as stable as ever.

what a goof.

yep looks like yours is too low EG .. better raise it back up .. you're defying the laws of physics.

 

Let him go mudding if he wants, I'm not changeing!!!!!!!

 

He was right on, although "unsafe" is a bit of a stretch.

As mentioned, lowering does tend to add camber. This is not usually a bad thing in terms of handling, adding camber typically = better cornering, at the expense of inner tire wear if you don't constantly pound the corners hard.

It can also affect caster if you substantially alter the rake of the car. Caster can have a big effect on steering/wandering tendencies at speed.

By balancing, he means adjusting the corner-weighting of the car...meaning placing a scale under each tire, and adjusting the springs so that each corner of the car is carrying an equal load (or as close to equal as possible). This is somewhat difficult to do with the stock monoleaf springs, and a big reason why the racing crowd makes the move to coilovers, as they make corner-weighting the car very easy. But at the same time, just lowering with the stock springs shouldn't mess up the corner weighting that much, nothing you'd notice on the street unless you really ended up with an uneven ride height.

I think you're both right...for the average Joe street car user, lowering is not a big deal. The car won't be unsafe, and it certainly will look better. You share that casual opinion.
But realize someone with a racing background does place a lot of importance of a correctly-setup and tuned suspension, and he wasn't flaming you so much as simply pointing out that changing things without knowing or considering the effects of such backyard "tweaking" isn't always wise.

In short, get it aligned and corner weighted after lowering, and everyone will be happy.

 

mqqn - You know in my younger years I would go over there and light his a@@ us but now that I am getting older, I'm just gonna sit here and laugh at the fool.

By the way

 

Some times things are not as simple as many want them to be. Lowered a C5 coupe and aligned and cornerweighted, picked up anywhere from 3.5 to 8 sec's per lap at Buttonwillow, 3mi. course. That came from someplace and it wasn't all driver experience. Saying that not doing it is unsafe is silly but doing it right may have benefits you haven't seen, Yet! If you can afford to try it, you may just like it.
Randy

 

 

It is pretty clear that he knows what he is talking about and I tend to agree with his points, although I dont think they necessarily apply to most corvette owners.

My caar has been lowered nearly two inches with the right front side actually being about half an inch higher than the left side. I also have upgraded to 19 inch wheels all around.

In terms of hard cornering, I can attest that the lowering and wheel upgrades have made an improvement. But at high speed (120+mph) the car feels less steady than it used to. I get the feeling that the front end is slightly lifting off the ground and handling is a little sloppy. I havent had an alignment, so this may be the problem, but I definitely agree that changes to the suspension system really need to be done with caution in order to determine how they will affect maximum performance.

 

Hi Aqua -

Nice to hear from 'ya!

Yea - I should have take more time to set him straight - but I just had a iced JD instead.....

Keep in mind here folks, the original poster asked if it was dangerous to lower an F55. This guy may know how to retype stuff he read in car and driver, how impressive, but he showed me no credentials regarding his having lowered a C5 and then drove it, nor did he really add much to the post for the original poster.

The answer to the original poster was NO, IT IS NOT DANGEROUS. PEOPLE DO IT DAILY, AND THE CAR IS SAFE AND FINE TO DRIVE AFTERWARDS.

"Dear Mr. Know-it-all, is it safe to check my watch for the time?"
"No my son, not unless you make sure that there is no traffic, and that you are not standing in the road, and that your feet are both firmly placed because the laws of physics blah blah blah my self important blah blah...."

EG - I would add that by running a lowered C5 without "properly balancing each of the four corners" you run the risk of having monkeys fly out of your butt. Serious!

best regards -

mqqn

 

I am *SO* glad that there's only a small lunitic fringe that's swapped to coilovers . . . . at least with the stock non-race suspension that's on these things, there's a limit to the amount of damage that can be caused. Especially when you consider that we're piloting a *GIANT INVERTED AIRFOIL* <sigh>



Iceman -- It sounds like you already have a handle on where you may be running into trouble, but don't discount your new ride height based on the tire/wheel swap. Rake and toe would be my first suspects, which is just a predecessor to checking front-to-rear weights. Was there a reason why the one corner is out in comparison? Are you running on stock length shocks?

 

Boy oh boy, I'm the one that started that thread. I haven't read it for a while. Looks like it got kind of testy.

 

Bowling Green does not balance (corner weight) these cars when they come off the assembly line so why should I that is unless I'm going to make it an all out track car and try to get every last bit of the suspension tuned perfectly.

 

Hi mvv -

Don't be sorry - you were asking a simple question and you got a few simple answers.

Then maxwell smart stepped in with his giant brain and told us all how we should be balancing all four corners etc.

Not your problem - and I let it go there - I just wondered what the CF folks think, since I have been here since 2001 and CAC does not have many people that even post (wonder why?) ....

best regards -

mqqn

 

There's bump steer kits,extended tie rod ends,sway bar relocaters.
I lowered mine 4 inches.At 145mph it was very stable.

 

I am lowered to the max on stock bolts for the track. I added the bump steer kit front and rear, Hotchkiss sway bars and Bilsteins. We did do the corner weight thing also. I have a couple of Autocross Championships under my belt, sooooooo Been in the high 170s (track) no problems! 125K miles! Since I lowered it and just the typical minor under the nose scratches and a minor one on the bottom of the Passanger rocker panel.