C6 Corvette General Discussion General C6 Corvette Discussion not covered in Tech
Sponsored by:
Sponsored by:

"Scraping the Driveway" discussion

Old 08-02-2010, 03:40 PM
  #1  
vette-oholic
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
 
vette-oholic's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: Burlington County NJ
Posts: 2,858
Received 1 Like on 1 Post

Default "Scraping the Driveway" discussion

I am in the process of buying a new home and I am trying to observe hoe steep the driveways are at the curb so that i can minimize scraping (I know that it's just the airdam scraping, but still)

I was wondering if anyone has made modifications to their driveway to alleviate this issue...or any other ideas... Are there certain requirements for the sidewalk?

thanks.
vette-oholic is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 03:49 PM
  #2  
GSRANDY
Burning Brakes
 
GSRANDY's Avatar
 
Member Since: Oct 2009
Location: Mid Michigan
Posts: 973
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Default

This can be a tough one at times.............

Try entering and exiting your driveway at a 45º angle with the front wheels straight and well as keeping your speed down to a crawl.

Regards,

GSRANDY
GSRANDY is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 03:55 PM
  #3  
bob guzzy
Safety Car
 
bob guzzy's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jan 2006
Location: shavertown Pa.
Posts: 3,940
Received 41 Likes on 37 Posts

Default

just angel your car and you will keep the scrape to a minimum, or you can raise the front end a bit.

I would raise the front on my car if it didn't throw out the alignment, but all said and done it's cheaper to replace the air dam later on.
bob guzzy is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:00 PM
  #4  
Mark VerMurlen
Drifting
 
Mark VerMurlen's Avatar
 
Member Since: Sep 2000
Location: Bothell WA
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts

Default

I've learned to live with it. I've confirmed its just the air dam that scrapes and not the actual nose of the car, so its no big deal to me. I just go slow. I'll replace the air dam when it wears down too far. However I'd never be able to have a ZR1 style front splitter on my car.

One suggestion I have is to look at the crown of the road in front of your driveway. Most of my trouble is due to the downward slope of the road itself due to the crown as it comes into my driveway. It puts the car into a nose down position just as my driveway is ramping upward. If I could do anything to reduce the crown of the road, it would help me a lot. But of course that's not going to happen. As to the actual driveway, most of this involves how much length you have to work with in your driveway. If you can move the house further back from the street to give you more driveway length, then you can make the transitions more gradually. Lastly, some neighborhoods have standard curbs with nice low driveway entrances. Others use the intermediate curbs everywhere so they don't have to try to match the location of the curb to where the driveway is put. For this case, there are products sold that will help bridge the intermediate curbs so they aren't so abrupt.

- Mark
Mark VerMurlen is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:18 PM
  #5  
0WCC Royce
Former Vendor
 
WCC Royce's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jul 2010
Location: Huntington Beach California
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

these would be a great "safety" piece to install even if you do the 45 degree angle, which is the best method

http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/p-7...0-c6-only.aspx
WCC Royce is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:26 PM
  #6  
Mad*Max
Race Director
 
Mad*Max's Avatar
 
Member Since: Apr 2007
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 15,942
Received 1,494 Likes on 815 Posts
C7 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist 2021

Default

Originally Posted by vette-oholic
I am in the process of buying a new home and I am trying to observe hoe steep the driveways are at the curb so that i can minimize scraping (I know that it's just the airdam scraping, but still)

I was wondering if anyone has made modifications to their driveway to alleviate this issue...or any other ideas... Are there certain requirements for the sidewalk?

thanks.
You should see the ones out West, I don't know how those guys get their Vettes over them. I was scraping my family sedan on them.
Mad*Max is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:29 PM
  #7  
06 C6 vert
Melting Slicks
 
06 C6 vert's Avatar
 
Member Since: Sep 2008
Location: foothills of Northern California
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Default

Dont worry about wearing down the rubber air dam. As long as you arnt grinding down the plastic nose of the car. My rubber air dam rubs every day and I dont give a crap.

If the house is cool, ferget about it.....
06 C6 vert is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:46 PM
  #8  
lost07
Intermediate
 
lost07's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jan 2007
Location: Mandeville, Louisiana
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

This might work, little pricey
http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...curb+bridge.do
lost07 is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:48 PM
  #9  
Zoxxo
Safety Car
 
Zoxxo's Avatar
 
Member Since: Nov 2006
Location: San Jose California
Posts: 4,025
Received 266 Likes on 98 Posts

Default

Originally Posted by 06 C6 vert
Dont worry about wearing down the rubber air dam. As long as you arnt grinding down the plastic nose of the car. My rubber air dam rubs every day and I dont give a crap.

If the house is cool, ferget about it.....


The air dam on these cars is *tough*. My wife's car is *low* so that the air dam was scraping over all sorts of stuff for a couple of years (maybe 20k miles.) She'd finally had enough of everyone turning to stare at her when she drive in/out of a modest driveway so I crawled under there to trim the dam back a bit and I was amazed to find that the thing had barely been affected by years/miles of scraping! I was stunned by how good the condition of the dam was.

So, as long as you don't mind the occasional attention then I say just live with it. If you haven't lowered the car much (or at all) it really won't be a big deal anyway. It doesn't hurt anything and even if you have to replace the thing every 60k miles (which I doubt) the parts are *cheap*.

Z//
Zoxxo is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 04:50 PM
  #10  
BearZ06
Safety Car
 
BearZ06's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jul 2007
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 4,994
Received 1,311 Likes on 765 Posts
St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17,'22-'23


Default

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-driveway.html
BearZ06 is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 06:21 PM
  #11  
keyplyr
Le Mans Master
 
keyplyr's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 7,610
Likes: 0
Received 11 Likes on 9 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by WCC Royce
these would be a great "safety" piece to install even if you do the 45 degree angle, which is the best method

http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/p-7...0-c6-only.aspx
Not really a solution. If your car is so low it scrapes, then anything you add to the bottom will make contact even sooner - thus those places where you wouldn't normally have a problem will now scrape.

My car is very very low and the air damn scrapes now and then. So what? I just got used to it and take my time.


keyplyr is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 06:36 PM
  #12  
0WCC Royce
Former Vendor
 
WCC Royce's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jul 2010
Location: Huntington Beach California
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by keyplyr
Not really a solution. If your car is so low it scrapes, then anything you add to the bottom will make contact even sooner - thus those places where you wouldn't normally have a problem will now scrape.

My car is very very low and the air damn scrapes now and then. So what? I just got used to it and take my time.

we all scrape everywhere we go and deal with it... its part of having the corvette. What i am saying is that if his driveway really is that much of an issue and he actually hits metal when coming in and going out, rolling over it would be a better option than not doing anything
WCC Royce is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 09:10 PM
  #13  
St.Char
Melting Slicks
 
St.Char's Avatar
 
Member Since: Aug 2007
Location: Indianapolis IN
Posts: 3,094
Received 282 Likes on 166 Posts

Default

Don't modify your driveway, make some ramps out of 2X12's
St.Char is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 09:17 PM
  #14  
VatorMan
Team Owner

 
VatorMan's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jan 2004
Location: Gaithersburg Maryland
Posts: 42,275
Received 44 Likes on 27 Posts
CI 6-7-8 Veteran
St. Jude's Donor '06-'10-'11, '15

Default

I really hate getting in and out of my driveway.

VatorMan is offline  
Old 08-02-2010, 11:44 PM
  #15  
TKgs2010
Le Mans Master
 
TKgs2010's Avatar
 
Member Since: Jul 2010
Location: Syracuse New York
Posts: 5,584
Received 406 Likes on 273 Posts

Default

The 45 degree angle thing works as well as anything for me, and like they said, it's only the flexible rubber part that scrapes anyway, just keep it SLOW!! I've got a new house too, and they're pretty much all like that. Griot's Garage does make an insert for the rain gutter at the end of your driveway, I may look into that myself.
TKgs2010 is offline  
Old 08-03-2010, 09:58 AM
  #16  
Vettin08
Safety Car
 
Vettin08's Avatar
 
Member Since: Aug 2004
Location: Euless Texas
Posts: 4,194
Likes: 0
Received 7 Likes on 4 Posts

Default

I took my corners off, they would have been ground to dust anyway. Took care of my problem. I don't drive 190, so I've noticed no ill effects on highway stability, fuel economy, or braking.
Vettin08 is offline  
Old 08-03-2010, 10:19 AM
  #17  
johnodrake
Moderator

Support Corvetteforum!
 
johnodrake's Avatar
 
Member Since: Dec 2002
Location: Lakewood Ranch, FL
Posts: 40,051
Received 3,569 Likes on 1,614 Posts

Default

Mine rarely scrapes and I am lowered .75"
johnodrake is offline  

Get notified of new replies

To "Scraping the Driveway" discussion

Old 08-03-2010, 10:43 AM
  #18  
TysonJones
Racer
 
TysonJones's Avatar
 
Member Since: Oct 2009
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 473
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Default

My GS never scraps anything. Im very careful though. My 2002 TA scraps alot though even while being careful. Its lowered 2 inches though.
TysonJones is offline  
Old 08-03-2010, 11:00 AM
  #19  
indyspeed
Instructor
 
indyspeed's Avatar
 
Member Since: Sep 2009
Location: Indianapolis IN
Posts: 155
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

I looked into all of this before I bought my second vette. But I just leave and enter my driveway at an angle and in reverse (read: I back into it with no problems.) It's just cheaper not to modify the driveway, and since I live in a regular neighborhood there might be some restrictions including if you use those rubber ramps at the base of your driveway. Obviously, your mileage may differ. But if you don't have too steep of a driveway, you might just backup into it if it has one those driveway gutters that seem to be so common in most newer neighborhoods...
indyspeed is offline  
Old 08-03-2010, 11:25 AM
  #20  
Hoonose
Team Owner
 
Hoonose's Avatar
 
Member Since: Feb 2000
Location: Arizona
Posts: 52,224
Received 77 Likes on 66 Posts

Default

Originally Posted by 06 C6 vert
Dont worry about wearing down the rubber air dam. As long as you arnt grinding down the plastic nose of the car. My rubber air dam rubs every day and I dont give a crap.

If the house is cool, ferget about it.....
My C5 and C6 daily drivers rubbed or rub twice a day almost every single day for 6 years each. And I never had to replace any dam air dam!
Hoonose is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
Quick Reply: "Scraping the Driveway" discussion



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:23 AM.