torquetube

The rubber pads on the bottoms of my original-equipment "lowering bolts" have disintegrated into nothingness. The metal bases of the adjusters are now bearing directly on the lower control arms. As you can imagine, the car is riding lower than it used to.

GM in their stubbornness won't sell me new adjusters unless I spend $700 for brand new leaf springs that I don't need. That leaves aftermarket bolts, but I'm always seeing complaints about how quickly they wear out.

Given that the aftermarket is my only option, can anybody recommend a brand of lowering bolts which

1. last a long time and
2. have sufficient adjustment as to be suitable for a more-or-less stock ride height?

I'm not really trying to lower the car. At this point, I actually need to raise it a little bit. I just want to replace the pads so the adjusters don't trash the control arms.

Curt D

http://www.parts123.com/corvettecent...50h&ukey=51135

Dano523

New OEM style ride height adjusters now available from a Vendor,

There is a God!!!!!

sevinn

No kidding and not priced ridiculously high either.

torquetube

How do the Corvette Central stock repro bolts hold up? Does anyone have experience with them?

jp_tt_awd

Probably a whole lot better than aftermarket lowering bolts that hardly have any rubber on them. These have not been out very long at all, so really not much feedback on them yet. They are exact reproductions of the oem bolts so I don't see them wearing out too quickly, they are cheap enough to buy and find out.

-jp

torquetube

I ordered the Corvette Central reproduction adjustment bolts last Thursday. They arrived Saturday and I installed them over the weekend. Got the car as dialed-in as I can without corner weight scales. Now it's time to take it to the alignment shop.

The Corvette Central bolts appear to be copies of the OEM rear bolts. Corvette Central sells the same part for use in the front or rear. The OEM bolts, on the other hand, have a smaller diameter rubber pad on the fronts.

My OEM bolts were in bad shape after 132K miles, particularly the left front, which had disintegrated completely. I'll let you know how the new ones hold up.

Chiselchst

A question if I may:
Using the (larger pad - rear style) Corvette Central bolts on the front, did the bolts wind up at the same location on the threads? Meaning - would they have allowed the front ride height to be raised? I'm having trouble raising my car after a blower install, it's maxed out on the stock bolts.
TIA

CMY SIX

rant and rave rant and rave and do nothing yourself to solve the problem, ever hear of google you'd have found the vendor faster then your rant

torquetube

Near as I can tell, the OEM front and rear bolts have the same overall length. The front bolts have more thread and less pad than the rears. This only makes a difference if you're lowering; if you're going up, OAL is the limiting factor.

The Corvette Central bolts are copies of the OEM rears. With rears installed in front, the larger-diameter pad will engage the control arm at a slightly more inboard position. This will probably raise the ride height a little, but on the other hand it will probably settle down as the pad conforms to the arm.

The Corvette Central bolt also has about 1/8" less hex at the end of the bolt and therefore about 1/8" more thread length. This will buy you a little altitude, but not much.

el es tu

With the Vansteel/ hardbar design you can just buy longer bolts if they dont get the height you need



https://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?f...p=1951&ID=3476

torquetube

If somebody were to combine that removable bolt design with an OEM-style base pad, that would be perfect (and easier to install). Basically have a nut welded to the base instead of a threaded rod.

Chiselchst

Great information. I ordered the ones at Corvette Central, and this is the info I received:
PN 575020
Pad Diameter 2.25"
Pad Height 1"
No OAL.

Then they have these Derlin padded ones, from LPE - with the following specs:

2.195" Pad diameter
.366" Pad Thickness
No OAL...

Thanks to "el es tu" post above, I also ordered the Vanstar Delrin ones, they are 80MM in length. They have ones to lower the car, that are 60MM. You have to remove/smooth the A arm to provide a smooth surface for the bushing to contact/rub against or the Delrin will crack.

Does anyone know the stock OAL?

A friend from work had the same issue on an earlier year (C5?), and he used a Dremel tool to make a smaller bolt pad fit inside of a resized larger pad, then epoxied them together.

Thanks

PCMusicGuy

It's been a few years. Can anyone comment on how they like any of the ride height bolts shown/discussed in this thread? I'm to the point where I need to make a decision which route I'd like to take.

Dano523

Problem is the end of the ride height bolts see a lot of pressure, and most of the low profile after market tips just break off quickly/need to be replaced with about a year.


The oem's are rubber section ended, and although will compress and wear out of time, it a long time before they have to be replaced isntead.

Spaceme1117

I think the Van Steel parts are probably the best option. I have a set for when my stock ones wear out. When I do change them, I work out a way to attach some high density rubber to the control arm where the delrin ball contacts so that it will cushion it some.