Bought a 2008 vette last May the car was lowered from previous owner, want to get it back to original. I took it to a shop in Toledo, Oh and was told that both front and rear springs would have to be replaced because a bushing was cut away from the spring to lower it. I am not sure if there is a different way of having the car returned to orginal state without going throught all this exspense. The shop quoted me around $1400.00 Looking for some insite before spending this kind of money.

 

Unless the bushing is cut all the way off, (highly doubtful cause that would just squeak and generally destroy stuff) you can just turn the adjustment screws the opposite way and you will be able to get back to stock height, you just won't be able to go above stock height. I'd run away from that shop. You could do this yourself in about 15 minutes.

 

If it turns out you would have to get the replacments, do you want it raised back to stock height that bad?

 

Someone who has gone to coilovers, might be willing to sell you his adjustment bolts only.

The "stock" ride height varies from year to year (can't they make up their minds?), and requires a ~$250 GM tool to measure between two points on the suspension, at each corner, while the car is up on a level alignment rack. I have the tool and have used it a couple of times, but don't have much confidence in the accuracy of my measurements because of vague instructions in the Shop Manual and some slop in how the tool fits.

I'd recommend you find several stock 2008-2009 cars, and measure from the ground to the top of the wheel arch at each wheel. Set you car accodingly, being sure to correct for different tread depth on the tires of the cars.

Each turn of the adjustment bolts will raise the "trim height" by 2mm, which is about equal to 3mm out at the fender edge where you will be measuring.

Also, it takes several hundred miles for the suspension to settle down after being raised. At first, your car will look like a monster truck. 500 miles later, it will be somewhat lower.

Changing ride height will also change your alignment, but it will change again as the car settles. Best compromise is to adjust and measure, set it about 1/8" higher than you want so it will settle in about right. Drive it 100 miles, remeasure and re-adjust as necessary. When satisfied, get an alignment. Remeasure 500 miles later and adjust again as needed/desired.

Yes, this is a big PITA. Send me a PM with your phone number if you want to talk about it.

 

The factory ride height is measured from a suspension point, NOT from the body. Since there are lots of plus or minus tolerances in body panel fit the body height can vary from car to car and even from side to side on the same car.

I've bought two new C6's an '05 and an '08 and had alignments and corner weight checks done on both. The alignments were off on both but the corner weights were very close to correct. Any change I could have made to the ride height would have changed the corner weights also so I left the ride height alone even though it wasn't the same side to side.

 

Why not leave it low?

Unless you're actually scraping the paint it's not an issue. The normal scraping you hear from the air dam is fine and expected to happen. My air dam literally sits 1" off the ground, lol. I can drive on a straight, seemingly flat road and hear it scrap from time to time.

 

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