Has anyone lowered their C5? I would like to purchase a lowering kit that drops it down 2".

 

 

Besides beating the dead horse, a 2" lowering would most likely put you on the bump stops, and/or be bottoming out the shocks, as well as scraping the front air dam and low hanging stuff on the undercarriage...none of that a good idea.

 

Thank you,

 

Would suggest just dropping it down on stock bolts first. Did mine a couple of months ago - no issues so far, just slightly stiffer ride, but tolerable, and looks great!

 

TorredC5... You already are on the bump stops.....

That's what that "slightly stiffer ride" means...

Post back when the car starts handling funny and we can tell you how to fix it...

Or, do a search on lowering and start all over and get it done properly.....

 

Your ride should not be stiffer from lowering the car on the stock bolts. I suspect you may have lowered it too much and are periodically bottom out against the bump stops.

 

Not necessarily.....

I've looked at a LOT of C-5s that I know haven't had their ride height altered since the day they rolled out of Bowling Green, and I feel safe in saying there's a "ride height range" that they fall into, but there aren't too many at the exact same height.

Therefore, when you say that you want to drop one "an inch", you MIGHT be on the bump stops, or you MIGHT be nothing more than in the middle of the range that I'm referring to.

FWIW, I KNOW that there's some sick and twisted "car czar" somewhere in the world, that knows when I've ordered a car, and he sees to it that my cars ALWAYS are at the high end of the ride height tolerance. It's been that way since September of 1976, when I ordered a Pontiac T/A, that arrived looking like it had the "off road" option. Even my C-5 sat noticibly higher than any others I had previously seen...

 

There is probably a thousand forum members that have their C5's lowered all the way on stock bolts (and some even lower) Lots of how to's found in the search option. I also am lowered all the way on stock bolts with no ill efects and no problems with the bump stops. I recently changed the shocks from Z51 to ZO6 and noticed the stops were a little shorter on the new ones, but the old stops showed no damage from the 25000 miles running lowered.

 

Lowering it 2" will either put you on the bump stops or very close to the bump stops. The car is on the bump stops in the rear before the tread surface of the rear tires is even with the edge of the fender. The front has a little more travel but not much. The C5 has around 2" of suspension compression travel to start with so 2" lowering will remove most if not all travel. If you want to be that low then buy Pfadt or LG coil-overs. A set of decent coil-overs is the only way to lower the car 2" and not be riding the bump stops.

FYI, the QA1 coil overs will not allow you to run 2" lower. They have about 1" less compression travel in the rear compared to C6Z06 shocks.

Others will post "no ill effects" or "car rides like it's on rails" when writing about lowering their car all the way on the stock bolts. Sure, it might be better on smooth roads but the car will be much more prone to bottoming out on rougher roads. Heck, my car which isn't even lowered all the way on stock bolts will bottom out on dips and such that don't even seem that rough. I know because I cut my C6Z06 shock bump stops in 1/2 and my larger rear tires just touch inside the fenders and I sometimes hear them touch and I also find rubber tranferred to the fender.

In reality the shocks on the C5's likely could have been made an 1" or so shorter and it would have made the car better to lower. But then, GM could have just not designed the C5 to look like a truck at the stock ride height. I don't understand why European and some Japanese sedans can have a great stance with the wheels tight in the wheel wells yet a North American sports car has to look like a 4x4.

Peter

 

bingo!!

 

the Z is slammed and never had a problem for 66k miles now.. only bump stops i have issues with are Speed Bumps.. no speed bumps for me.. park and walk or go around

 

Ya, the car may look silly with the big wheel well gap but that still doesn't mean that lowering doesn't cause you to be excessively hitting the bump stops.

Peter

 

The front height adjustment bolts on my 99 refuse to turn - even with vise grips. Any suggestions on how to bust 'em loose without removing the spring?

 

You have to be really careful, as there's nothing more than a threaded insert molded into the spring, that holds the adjustment bolts. Bust that insert loose, and it's "new spring time"....

I'd try a liberal dose of WD-40 every day for a few days. I don't know if any of the solvents contained in the other penetrating oils would attack the spring's material or not.