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After being "between Vettes" for about 6 months, I just acquired a 2006 Silver Convertible A6 with the gray top and 3LT package. It's a beautiful car and I love getting to know it.
One of the first things I noticed was one of the previous owners lowered the suspension to the bottom of the adjusters on the leaf springs front and back. Gave it a nice look, but given the pretty crappy roads here in rural NorCal, I was scraping the front end everywhere.
I got under the car yesterday and pretty much raised the adjusters to maximum lift on the leaf springs, leaving only about 3 threads showing on the adjuster bolt above the top of the leaf springs. Drove it around today and never scraped the air dam in the front of the car once.
May lower it in small stages over the next couple of weeks, but will be careful. The roads here are not Vette friendly....
Ride height looks great in the pics, that was before you raised it up? Did you happen to take any before and after measurements vertically at the center of the wheel to the bottom of the wheel openings? If you did what are the before and after measurements?
I am at factory height and still have to be careful entering
some parking lots and crossing speed bumps. Would not
ever think of lower no matter how good it looked. Atlanta
has vette traps everywhere
I am at factory height and still have to be careful entering
some parking lots and crossing speed bumps. Would not
ever think of lower no matter how good it looked. Atlanta
has vette traps everywhere
Exactly, could never understand the lowering thing. These Vettes sit low enough from the factory. I guess if you want the bottom of your frame and chassis all torn up then fine, go for it.
Guys always think they can out engineer the engineers. Some things can be fixed or improved yes, I agree.
Things engineers could have and should have addressed:
Dead Battery Syndrome on entire C6 run
Faulty Clutch Master Cyl. on 6 speeds
Faulty Harmonic Balancer
Faulty HB Bolt on early 05's
Over Sensitive AH TC causing unwanted brake apply
Separating Targa top
Just a few that come to mind. Ride height and appearance I feel they got right.
Exactly, could never understand the lowering thing. These Vettes sit low enough from the factory. I guess if you want the bottom of your frame and chassis all torn up then fine, go for it.
Guys always think they can out engineer the engineers. Some things can be fixed or improved yes, I agree.
Just a few that come to mind. Ride height and appearance I feel they got right.
I Will have to disagree with you on this. Lowering your vehicle has absolutely nothing to do with out engineering an engineer, to me it is a personal preference and actually prefer a lowered vette if the roads cooperate.
Besides, GM makes these cars to abide to the public in general, just because they make them a certain way does not mean they are perfect. They have to take what would work best for the public in general which means giving things up here and there because they will be driven in very different conditions.
Exactly, could never understand the lowering thing. These Vettes sit low enough from the factory. I guess if you want the bottom of your frame and chassis all torn up then fine, go for it.
Guys always think they can out engineer the engineers. Some things can be fixed or improved yes, I agree.
Things engineers could have and should have addressed:
Dead Battery Syndrome on entire C6 run
Faulty Clutch Master Cyl. on 6 speeds
Faulty Harmonic Balancer
Faulty HB Bolt on early 05's
Over Sensitive AH TC causing unwanted brake apply
Separating Targa top
Just a few that come to mind. Ride height and appearance I feel they got right.
Well said, as stated before, risk not worth any benefit
I Will have to disagree with you on this. Lowering your vehicle has absolutely nothing to do with out engineering an engineer, to me it is a personal preference and actually prefer a lowered vette if the roads cooperate.
Besides, GM makes these cars to abide to the public in general, just because they make them a certain way does not mean they are perfect. They have to take what would work best for the public in general which means giving things up here and there because they will be driven in very different conditions.
While we are posting opinions on how the factory made the cars let us remember that while designing them for the public in general the engineers also considered such things as maximizing shock and spring travel as well as alignment settings, each of which you alter when you change the ride height of the car.
If you want it lowered go right ahead. Your car. Your choice.
While we are posting opinions on how the factory made the cars let us remember that while designing them for the public in general the engineers also considered such things as maximizing shock and spring travel as well as alignment settings, each of which you alter when you change the ride height of the car.
If you want it lowered go right ahead. Your car. Your choice.
The factory ride height is set where it is for a reason.
The factory ride height is set where it is for a reason.
while the factory ride height if fine for almost all driving environments,
it was designed to be adjusted. the engineers can not design a system that covers all driving styles.
along with improving its looks ( subjective ), lowering any vehicle will increase its handling feel & performance ( fact ).
I keep thinking about lowering mine, but most of the roads I drive now, would not allow it. too many dips to navigate. I recently had to replace my lower radiator support after a "spirited" run.
kind of a gray area of preference vs. opinion.
like so many thing 'vette related, make YOUR own choice and enjoy!
My ride height was out of wack side to side, I've seen others complain on how they left the factory out of spec and out of alignment.
How do you know Bubba didn't have his tools on it? Or some alignment shop missed the setting?
Jim Stall, a retired tire and alignment specialist of nearly 50 years that I went to told me once that more than 50% of the cars he checked for alignment problems had just had the alignment set at a "tire shop"
I don't doubt you at all. I'm quite sure the factory made mistakes but doesn't change the fact that ride height is set where it is for a reason.
How do you know Bubba didn't have his tools on it? Or some alignment shop missed the setting?
Jim Stall, a retired tire and alignment specialist of nearly 50 years that I went to told me once that more than 50% of the cars he checked for alignment problems had just had the alignment set at a "tire shop"
I don't doubt you at all. I'm quite sure the factory made mistakes but doesn't change the fact that ride height is set where it is for a reason.
I believe the reason for the factory set ride height, is to cover what the majority of drivers are comfortable with. that doesn't mean that changing it, is saying the engineers are wrong. how many cars besides a corvette, have you seen that has mechanical ride height adjustability?
this would only be used for raising or lowering. and the only practical reason for lowering is to increase handling. the side benefit is a better look ( subjective ). what's your stance on tuning, or exhaust upgrades, or wheel/tire/brakes upgrades?
these are all no different then changing your ride height?
I'm guessing if the engineers had a choice, these cars would all be factory lowered, as they know the benefit of this stance.
I'm no engineer, but I do have over 40 yrs of driving experience.
after a lot of trial and error, if you're paying attention, will pick up a thing or two.
Exactly, could never understand the lowering thing. These Vettes sit low enough from the factory. I guess if you want the bottom of your frame and chassis all torn up then fine, go for it.
Mine is lowered all the way down on the stock bolts, and I have the Z51 option, which means it sits lower than a regular base model, and after two years running over speed bumps and potholes have yet to scrape anything other than the front air dam. I had my C5 lowered all the way as well, and after three years didn't scrape it once.
These cars come with lowering bolts for those who want to track the car, but it doesn't hurt anything to lower them either.
02-06-2018, 10:15 PM
C6 Ride Height / Lowering
