Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 7,370
Likes: 8
From: Slave to the evil empire
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04
Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car
I lowered the back just fine by cutting the bushings and it looks fine, but when I went to lower the front I was only able to get 2 turns on each bolt (counterclockwise) and when I let it off the jackstands the back looks great but the front is still real high. Should I have been able to get more than 2 turns and also I still had atleast an inch in between the top of the spring and the end of the bolt?
Thanks in advance for any help :cheers:
Thanks in advance for any help :cheers:
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
You should be able to get several more turns from the front bolts. If the bolts are difficult to turn, put a jack under the spring with a towel between the jack and spring to protect it and slowly jack the end of the spring up until you can easily turn the bolt. The jack will take pressure off the bolt.
Drive it for several days after lowering it to let the suspension settle and then get a 4-wheel alignment.
:cheers:
Drive it for several days after lowering it to let the suspension settle and then get a 4-wheel alignment.
:cheers:
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 7,370
Likes: 8
From: Slave to the evil empire
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
I put a jack under the caliper but all I do is raise the car, I can't get it to compress the spring :confused:
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,879
Likes: 157
From: Pleasanton CA
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
I think many of us who've lowered our C5's have had the same problem. The back is easy, the front is harder to find and MUCH harder to turn. What I found to be most effective is to jack the car up nice and high, crawl under and put some SERIOUSLY MANLY MUSCLE INTO IT. That's all there is to it. Spraying a lube like WD40 on it beforehand and using good tools will help some too. Just be patient. :cheers:
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
The jack must be under the black leaf spring itself inside the lower A-arm legs. If you jack on the caliper/rotor, you will raise the car. You must jack on the end of the leaf spring just inboard of the bolt you're trying to turn.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 7,370
Likes: 8
From: Slave to the evil empire
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (Patches)
OK, I this time I put the jack under the leaf spring and raised it until there was plenty of clearance between it and the lower a-arm, I turned the bolt clockwise and after it broke loose I was able to turn it by hand until the rubber bushing got to the lower a-arm, then I turned it counterclockwise until it came all the way back up and it definately snugs up tight going counterclockwise.
between the leaf spring and the a-arm is a bushing that looks exactly like the rear bushings (it has 3 layers and looks like it could be cut if I could figure out how to remove it) and after the bolt is turned as far as it will go counterclockwise it is sticking up a little more than an inch above the leaf spring, I have a 2003 car, does this setup sound the same as the other year cars?
Thanks for all the help
:smash: :smash: :smash: :cheers:
between the leaf spring and the a-arm is a bushing that looks exactly like the rear bushings (it has 3 layers and looks like it could be cut if I could figure out how to remove it) and after the bolt is turned as far as it will go counterclockwise it is sticking up a little more than an inch above the leaf spring, I have a 2003 car, does this setup sound the same as the other year cars?
Thanks for all the help
:smash: :smash: :smash: :cheers:
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 46,766
Likes: 5
From: Boynton Beach Florida
St. Jude Donor '07-'12, '20
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
I have a 2003 car, does this setup sound the same as the other year cars?
Thanks for all the help
:smash: :smash: :smash: :cheers:
Thanks for all the help
:smash: :smash: :smash: :cheers:
Bob
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
If you want to lower the front even more, sheck out this Tech Tip:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=90&TopicID=1
To lower the rear more, you need to get longer bolts to replace the existing ones.
:cheers:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=90&TopicID=1
To lower the rear more, you need to get longer bolts to replace the existing ones.
:cheers:
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 5,381
Likes: 87
From: Houston TX
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
Take a look at what I did... my front end was in the SKY!!! Make sure you turn your bolts in the right direction! :cheers:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=311973
[Modified by darkmercury, 1:01 PM 9/19/2002]
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=311973
[Modified by darkmercury, 1:01 PM 9/19/2002]
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 7,370
Likes: 8
From: Slave to the evil empire
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
Thanks for all of the help everybody :) I got it now, with the front as far down as it will go the car sits level, the only problem is I have about an inch gap beetween the rear fender and tire and in the front I have about 3 inches, so it doesn't look right. I'll make the final adjustments after I get my new tires and wheels http://www.picturejudge.com/rating/i...?catkey=152153 :lol:
:cheers:
:cheers:
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 26,714
Likes: 344
From: Houston, TX
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (n6607)
I agree with the advice you have been given. I hang out with a bunch of guys who have lowered many, many C5's. I have now lowered a base suspension car, and a Z51 car. The different suspension setups lower to differing degrees. The reason I bring this up is that yours is the first F55 car I've heard of being lowered. Maybe it has some quirks that we don't know about yet.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 26,714
Likes: 344
From: Houston, TX
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (jschindler)
Hey, one more thing. After you dropped it off the jack, did you drive the car and look at it again? If not, your suspension is not set right because the A-arms drop in towards the car and hold the body up higher until you roll the car around some.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 7,370
Likes: 8
From: Slave to the evil empire
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '04
Re: Help, I'm having trouble lowering my car (jschindler)
Well I also added a Corsa cat back system, so I drove the heck out of it!!! :D but still to high, after a little thought and reading the other tech tip on dropping the front by cutting the bushings, I remember seeing a saw that somebody got at a camping store that is just 2 rings and a serrated piece of wire, I'm going to see if I can find another one of those and try to cut the front bushings, if I have good luck doing that I'll post it on the board otherwise I'll drop the lower control arms and cut the bushing that way. Thanks :cheers:
