At first i thought you would just buy new springs and lower the Z but i hear you lower it buy lowering bolts which is fine because its really cheap but thats for the rear what about the fronts? if i want to lower the front of the car how do i do that will it look right if i were to lower the rear 1 inch and leave the front the way it is or is there a lowering bolt for the fronts. If not are there actual springs i can buy to lower the car instead of dumping a ton of money on coilover, thanks in advance for the advice and help.

 

In the front there is also bolts. They are threaded into the spring. If you turn the bolt counterclockwise till it hits the spring it will be lowered as far as you can go with the stock bolts.

 

I bookmarked this site. You may find it usefull.
http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/hobbi...5_Lowering.htm

 

FWIW, start with the front drivers side then the passengers. Chances are the rears will turn easily, the fronts can be stubborn.

A couple of items you might want to have handy:

1) PB Blaster
2) A bolt-out kit

 

^^ nice i didnt know it was that easy to do. Thanks alot for the tip and ill save the link as well. Ive been on many forums but this forum by far is the most helpfull.

 

I've considered lowering my C5 numerous times, but this website always holds me back: http://www.scorpiogeek.com/?page_id=9

 

Hi 97camaro -

Many of the things on that site are just not true.

While I don't want to go into each item verbatim, lowering on the stock bolts will not "screw up your alignment", you will not have stock sized tires rubbing holes in your fender wells, you will not start throwing codes, you will not crush your front fascia, it will not cause the front suspension to bottom, etc. etc. etc. Fatuous twaddle, almost all of it.

If you lower to the stock limits, it will lower the front air deflector less than an inch, and yes, anything larger than say a dead bird will make contact with the rubber flap on the air deflector.

That particular part is hinged, because GM engineers knew it would make contact with anything taller than 4" even with the stock "raised to the top" ride height.

You will go less than a full inch lower if you use the stock adjusters.

I was careful and mindful of the fact that I was driving a low-profile car before I lowered both of my C5's, and really nothing has changed except my cars look better (IMO) and handle a little better (IMO).

I would have recommended having your alignment CHECKED after lowering, but I did this to a perfectly aligned car, and the shop that "CHECKED" my align really messed it up, costing me $800 for two new front tires.

After that experience, I recommend just watching the tire wear closely and then if you see that the tires are wearing on the inside shoulder, have the alignment checked.

Otherwise, lower to the stock limits and GO!

best regards -

mqqn

 

 

I just ordered a set of front & rear lowering bolts from West Coast Corvettes. Althought there are considerations that you need to take into account if you're going to lower your car such as making sure you get a proper 4 wheel alignment to set the camber & toe back to where it should be so you don't wear out those expensive rubbers, the one thing I haven't seen discussed that is more of a concern to me is the reduction of shock travel available when the car gets lowered. It seems to me that in order to really make this all work you need to get a set of shorter shocks that are a bit stiffer to make sure you don't bottom out on the rebound bumpers every time you hit a bump. I don't know how much travel the stock shocks have but if you lower the car you compress the shock and reduce the amount of travel available. I'd really like to see someone chime in that's addressed the lowering process correctly. The only other way to do this right is to go with a set of coilovers$$$$$$.

 

Not 100% sure but I think if you lower on stock bolts without cutting the front bushings, your oem shocks should be ok, I think you run into trouble when you lower on the bolts you just bought since those will allow you to bring it even lower, resulting in bottoming out.

 

I HAVE NOT PROBLEMS WITH LOWERING! I lowered my 2000 all the way on stock bolts, then backed off about 1.5 turns. It dropped the front about 2" and the rear 1.5" compared to stock. If you have Bilsteins take the rubber dumb bell out and cut half off. Otherwise you will crush the rubber when you bottom out. Ride was a little harder. I did this three years ago and have not regreted it. Took a second off at autox. Had car aligned and setup for the track and they only touched up alignment and ride height from previous session.
Alignment...I take my car to shop that does track alignments and a have -1.5 in front and -1.0 rear. I run A6s - 275s front and 315s rear on 17" zr1 wheels. I have no rubbing on the black plastic in the wheel wells. I do have rubbing on the outer edge because the wheels nip the fender. I ran Pocono north course and believe that an aggressive driving style contributed to contacting the fender. I have run 275s and 305 combination on stock 01 wheels and did not experience any rubbing.
Lowering did not affect alignment. When you get your car aligned have the shop put your weight in the drivers seat.
It will surprise you what the differences are with and without driver weight.

 

I know through experience lowering your car about an 1 inch does not effect your shocks drastically to the point they fail. I spoke to KYB and Bilstein before lowering one of my other cars about the warranty on shocks and specifications of how well the shocks will work if i were to drop it. I lowered my car 2 inches they said any drop of an inch will not damage the shocks but if you go over like 2 inches they wont warranty the shocks and it will eventually damage them. I lowered mine 2 inches anyway and drove on the same shocks for 4 years not one issue and KYB shocks atleast to me werent the best shocks out there. Regardless i do understand the point in shock travel and getting them shorter.

 

Lowered my Z all the way on stock bolts.This did not change alignment and I dont seem to scrape anymore than I used to. It looks much better. I should have done it sooner.

 

 

Lowering my Z06 was the first thing that I did after I got it. I went all the way down on stock bolts. I'd like go lower but I scrape badly on my driveway. I'm seriously considering modding my driveway just so that I can lower my car some more

 

Although I bought the lowering bolts I don't intend to slam the car that far down. The stock bolts would probably do and I may try just using them first to see how much I can actually get. There seems to be differences on just how much you can lower the car on the stock bolts depending on which suspension you have. Mine has the Z51 package but I don't have the magnetic ride select option.

I decided to measure the ride height of my car and oddly enough, the passenger side is higher than the driver side. Here's what the measurements are.

Front
Passenger Side - 26 7/8"
Drivers Side - 27 3/8"

Rear
Passenger Side - 28 7/8"
Drivers Side - 28"

Seems to me there is a lot of variance in the ride height from side to side. Is this the norm?

 

^ Where are you taking your measurements?

 

I'm taking my measurements in my garage (concrete floor) through the centerline of the tire from the floor to the bottom lip of the fenders & quarters. I used a straight edge and marked it with a marker, then measured to the mark. I know alignment takes into consideration the crown in the road but I didn't think that suspension height would be affected. Does anyone have any information from a Corvette Service Manual that could clarify this?

 

You get a more accurate measurement from the frame rails at the jacking points. The fit of the body panels introduces a lot of extra variance.

I'm lowered on the stock bolts on Bilstein Sports and Z51 springs. IMO, if you drive the car hard there are a lot of considerations before you go messing with the ride height. If you're a cruiser going for the look, go ahead and slam it.

 

I won't be driving the car hard, just cruising. Just want to get of some of that space between the tire and the fenders reduced. If I need to buy some different shocks to make sure everything works properly then I'll do that at a later date.