Patman

I just went out to the garage to check the gap on all four corners and discovered something interesting, the gaps on the front are both even however on the rear the passenger side actually sits 5/8" lower than on the driver's side. That seems like a big difference considering both rear bolts were turned to their lowest setting. I wonder if the driver's side might settle a bit more and be as low as the passenger side? Or maybe it's possibly designed for the driver's side to be slightly higher, because I bet that when you add the extra 180 pounds of me, the driver's side rear will drop enough so that it's even with the other side.

LT4CMG

You probably already thought of this, but keep in mind there is a pitch in the garage. In my case, much more pronounced on my left bay than my right. When I park on my left bay, there is a visible difference in my wheel well heights front to back. But in any case, wait a while, it really took a good couple hundred miles for all 4 corners on my car to fully settle

ZO ZICK

Congrats on the detailed write up!

Patman

I'll have to double check the height on different ground for sure, but I do know that when I checked it in the garage when I first got it home, all four gaps were exactly the same. I also thought that I noticed visually whenever I stopped and parked the car yesterday that there was a bit more gap on the driver side rear. I do know that whenever I had my C6's stock bolts adjusted that it took about 500 miles to fully settle, although it was never uneven from one side to the other at any point.

I only have one picture of my car so far from the driver's side view, and it was taken after just driving the car one mile around the block, so keep that in mind, but here is that picture to compare to the others (keeping in mind the car had been driven about 70 miles since the lowering in those shots)

Avanti

If not mentioned previously in the voluminous posts here, which admittedly I gave up on after my first lifetime, it would be interesting to go to a dealer with a reasonably large number of C7s and actually measure the fender-well edge heights at all four wheels on a selection and compare.

Patman

So for the past week this has really been bothering me that my driver's side rear sits 5/8" higher than the other side, and I haven't been able to drive the car at all (winter is back!) so I can't see if it will settle some more on that one side, nor can I drive the car to different areas to see if my garage isn't level (I am pretty sure it's perfectly level though) So let's just say that once all is settled, that the driver's side rear is still 5/8" higher. What can cause such a huge discrepancy? Both bolts are definitely cranked down as far as they'll go. I love the ride height from the passenger side point of view, I just really want the driver's side to come down just as low.

This might sound crazy but I went into the garage today and loaded up the driver's side section inside the cargo area with over 100 pounds of extra weight, so that it would compress that side. (and it did actually compress it by 5/8") I'm not sure if that'll help speed up the settling process at all, but if I can't drive the car for the next few weeks, maybe this might have a minor effect in helping that side settle a bit more quickly? What if I load it up with even more weight?

SterlingDrive

My Z06 was settling for almost six months and now is more even on all four bolts and a full 1" lower all the way around. I would get the car aligned and drive it awhile and go from there.

Dave

Patman

I think I should wait on the alignment though, especially if it's not fully settled and the driver's side rear still might come down that significant amount. (fingers crossed that it actually will!)

c54u

You can check visually to verify that the rear driver bolt is still dialed in to its' lowest position.

ImpliedConsent

New to Corvette (been drooling for 30yrs) but this video is exactly what I was looking for. I love my 1day old car, but that gap! TY!

Patman

My friend who did the work is a mechanic and has lowered many Corvettes and he definitely cranked every bolt to it's lowest setting.

Patman

I think you were right about my garage after all! It looks perfectly flat but when I was at the gas station today with my car, I checked all four corners and they were all roughly equal. After that, when I got back home and parked in the garage I checked it again, and the passenger rear was slightly lower than the driver's side rear (but not my as much as it was before today, as I purposely drove 50 miles today on some of the roughest roads around here to give the suspension a real good workout to help it settle)

Also, I forgot to mention that the weight that I put in the driver's side of the trunk a few weeks ago actually did help to settle that side of the car a tiny bit as well (at first it was about 100 pounds but then I added another 100 more)

So I'm no longer worried about my ride height, I think even if the driver's side rear is 1/4" higher than the rest it's not a big deal, especially since that side will come down with me in the driver's side.

Pizz

I had the dealer give me the bolts and I put them in today. Took all of 10 minutes. Back to normal....

The Chevy service guy said they can back out if you are cornering hard. Really???? How about a little locktite?

guido7834

Nice write up, but hardly looks much different IMO.

Patman

Once the suspension settles (after driving a few hundred miles) it comes down a bit more than those pictures would indicate. Most people will see about 3/4 to 1" drop, which is enough to get rid of that 4x4 stance from the factory.

sunsalem

Mine is still settling down, so I'm not sure what my final height will be.

ANYTHING to get rid of the ridiculous 4x4 look is worth it to me.
A Corvette should look like a serious Sportscar, not a Grand Cherokee.

pnsnkr

In this Ask Tadge thread: [ANSWERED] Melting AFM Actuators:

Has anyone observed noticeable degradation in cooling efficiency in either daily drive use mode or on track after lowering the car by this method?

Patman

Notice that Tadge also says lowering the vehicle below spec. That could possibly mean that if you set it to the lowest height on stock bolts, it's still technically within spec. But anything lower than that, such as with coil overs or aftermarket bolts, would then be below spec.

SMT1004

Quick question. Process to lower shows putting car on jack stands then to jack up each wheel off the ground by jacking up on the leaf spring to off load the wheel. Any problem just jacking up on the leaf spring, while car sitting on the ground?

Pizz

If you can get to it with your jack, that would be quickest. There wouldn't be much room under the car to get to the bolt you need to adjust. If you have a built in bay in the floor, it might work.