When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My 2011 GrandSport is still stock height and i'm considering going with coil overs, my question is this. When you lower a C6 does anyone remove the black plastic guard under the front bumper, it runs side to side right in front of the wheels, i'm guessing it's just to protect the bottom of the car or used as an air dam or whatever it's main purpose is. it scrapes on EVERYTHING already especially getting in and out of the driveway, if i lower the car it'll just be worse, does this thing serve and real purpose that i would need to leave it on for ??
The 2 outer plastic pieces direct air up to your front brakes. The middle piece is just there, pliable and made of rubber, and made to scrape.
IMO...they are all made to scrape and it won't hurt a thing...mine has been less than an inch off the ground for over 4 years of driving....yes they are beat up...but still on there.
Yea the middle one is what i'm talking about, getting out of my driveway sounds like my bumper is being tore off but its a good ways from the ground, may just take it off seeing as it serves no real purpose, plus think of all the horsepower i'll gain due to the weight reduction lol
It is made of rubber and flexes easily to take the abuse. You if your car is 100% street car, you could take all of it off....on the street, you'll never get brakes hot enough to need the air directed to cool them.
It is made of rubber and flexes easily to take the abuse. You if your car is 100% street car, you could take all of it off....on the street, you'll never get brakes hot enough to need the air directed to cool them.
It is made of rubber and flexes easily to take the abuse. You if your car is 100% street car, you could take all of it off....on the street, you'll never get brakes hot enough to need the air directed to cool them.
93K miles of daily driving and autocrossing scrapping. While both my air dam and nose has some cosmetic damage, they're both decent shape.
You can minimize the scraping with the standard "enter driveways at an angle" advice. Basically you're driving one tire up the driveway first and lifting the nose with it to avoid the scrape before the second tire starts to climb the driveway.
Another something that I do all the time that's a little unnerving the first couple times you do it. Next time you get to a dip in the road or a high speed bump that you know a scrape will happen try this: Brake till you know your nose is inches from the scrape (to compress the front springs a bit), then just pop the gas a bit to lift the nose of the car up (and get a little bounce from the front springs decompressing). It's totally counter intuitive the first couple of times, but once you've got it figured out, you can avoid 90% of the scrapes that you would normally have if you just crawl over or through the obstacle. It's a bit of an art form (kinda like learning rev matching), but it's second nature to me now, and darn it, it works like a dream once you've got it figured out. Although admittedly, you sometimes look like a douchebag when you pop the throttle in a parking structure or something.
Either way, no need to remove that air dam. I'm sure you're not going to be any lower than I am. The scrapping isn't too bad if you learn how to avoid most of them.
This probably isn't relevant, but my '00 Z28 had a front air dam that actually drew air up from under the car to the radiator. I had replaced the stock two piece front spoilers with a really slick single piece unit and it created turbulence in front of the air dam. Car overheated. I removed the aftermarket piece and went back to the two piece and the overheating problem went away. Is the center section on the C6 related to radiator air flow in any way?
Although admittedly, you sometimes look like a douchebag when you pop the throttle in a parking structure or something.
Several years ago I was at Hot August Nights in Reno, NV with my '69 Mustang. I was staying at the Silver Legacy and they had provided two full floors of their parking structure for cars in the show. I decided to take off the caps for my cutouts and run with open headers on the evening cruise. As I left the parking structure I must have set off every car alarm on the lower couple of floors.
This probably isn't relevant, but my '00 Z28 had a front air dam that actually drew air up from under the car to the radiator. I had replaced the stock two piece front spoilers with a really slick single piece unit and it created turbulence in front of the air dam. Car overheated. I removed the aftermarket piece and went back to the two piece and the overheating problem went away. Is the center section on the C6 related to radiator air flow in any way?
Widebody C6s are 100% front feeders for air. I believe the base C6 however does bring air in from the bottom a little bit..so NO, I would not remove the center piece from a base C6.
That doesn't appear to be a random question...try using a more descriptive title for your thread. I know nothing about lowering and have now wasted one minute of my precious life.
It is not a useless piece of plastic otherwise GM would not have spent the money putting it there. In addition to help cooling brakes or radiator depending on base or GS/ZO ZR1 different models, it is also for aerodynamic reasons. It additionally reduces the air flow under the car by diverting it at speed therefore reducing lift.
On the C5 the middle portion helps with airflow to the radiator. Not sure on the C6, but just in case, I left it in place and just removed the side ones. Big improvement tackling my driveway and other obstacles.
It is not a useless piece of plastic otherwise GM would not have spent the money putting it there. In addition to help cooling brakes or radiator depending on base or GS/ZO ZR1 different models, it is also for aerodynamic reasons. It additionally reduces the air flow under the car by diverting it at speed therefore reducing lift.
On a widebody C6, it actually increases lift, so when removed it does indeed reduce lift. This was found by windtunnel studies from Katech.
Random question here
