I didn't find an easy answer with a forum search. I just picked up my 2021 non-Z51 with MSRC. How easy is it to lower? My 2017 Grand Sport was super easy to lower a small amount.

 

^^^
GM designed with what I have on the 4 corners of my street rod, adjustable coilovers. Just have to turn the spring seat that is on the threaded coilover. That is what it sounded like at first!

Well far from being as easy as my street rod- it's much more difficult! Most folks are removing the coilovers to make the adjustment.

And if you have a Lift Option and MRC need special aftermarket parts.

As with most searches use google you'll find forum posts, videos etc. Lots posted and on Net..

 

This says Z51, but it applies to the base model with MSRC. No need to remove the coil overs at all.

 

What options are currently available for lowering on a base C8
Non Z 51 non-Meg
thx

 

I was wondering the same thing..Not sure if you can lower a Non-Z51 car with the FE-1 suspension.

 

Paradon has springs and you can also get the Rear Z51 setup.
https://www.paragonperf.com/paragon-...hypercoil.html

 

This looks pretty easy with the Paragon tool. Can anyone who has done this confirm it. Also, can this be done easily with just a floor jack?

 

You can either replace the shocks with factory shocks that have adjustable collars or replace the springs. Paragon has lowering springs and eibach springs should be coming out soon. There are also aftermarket full coil overs that replace the factory shocks and springs.

 

Sorry but mods like this make me question why one purchased a C8 in the first place. Find a vehicle that meets your needs/desires vs doing a major redesign that is contrary to what the vehicle was designed to do in the first place. Those without the MSRC can not even add it after the fact- that should be somewhat telling. If all one wants is a "show" car, there are plenty of kits and parts that will allow one to build their dream car on the chassis of choice without waiting 2 years or spending in excess of 60K just to get on the game.

It is a free country and you have the right to do as you please: it's just not for me. Good luck.

 

Yep on rear, for fronts see videos of folks removing upper control arm and using a spring compressor. Did notice that even the Paragon video says use an extension on their wrench as with the fine threads could take a long time making small moves to lower. Others saying it's easier to remove coilovers.

I only do this on my street rod where all 4 coilovers are easy to access that takes one wrench. I have no plans to lower my C8 BUT will also be interested in someone posting what they did as a DIY for info!

For many of us with Lift Option (>50% of C8s) there are no front adjustments and have to buy special sleeves that have a fixed amount of lowering. That requires disassembling the coil over! NOT like adjusting transverse spring mount threaded supports!

 

I have a 2021 HTC Z51 , I lowered all 4 corners with paragon spanner tools . I lifted front with floor jack ,both sides to take the weight of the suspension. it takes some time but isnt that hard. I would say 2 -3 hours for front and 2-3 hours for the back.

 

Just watched a show on M/T channel called Two Guys Garage and the former host brought in a 2020 with the lift option and they did a bunch of mods including lowering the front.

Didn't look that difficult at all. Just remove the front coilovers and replace the cup with a deeper one.

Seemed pretty easy actually.

 

Summary of Adjustability based on different configurations. For the options with Front Lift, you will need to remove the coilovers and modify with lowering collars.

 

Bummer
had my 3lt rapid blue for over a year now and want to lower it but doesn't seem possible
no lift- no z51 - no mag ride
seems i'm out of luck
with my car below

 

I did mine by myself while my wheels were being powdercoated. I did have a helper in the shop who helped a little.
1) The rear coil overs were NOT easy to turn as others have said they should be. I had to use a spring compressor tool. (they are cheap, buy one). Once compressed, I was able to get the collar adjusted and I used a marking on the strut to measure off 0.5". By far, the rear was easiest.
2) I have a Z51 with front end lift and MSRC. The front was a bitch. You have to entirely remove the front struts. I used the paragon lowering collar (0.75" drop) and depinning tool. The instructions on the depinning tool were non-existent and there is a little trick to it, would have been NICE to have a blown up illustration of how it works. I have a lesson learned too for re-installing the pins into the MSRC connector! My struts wouldn't come out after removing the bottom bolt and putting as much downward force on the rotor as we could produce. Might have been able to make it work had we attached something to a wheel stud and then put a board on that and stood on it or something. We just gave up after elbow grease wasn't working at all, and removed the upper control arm. Be careful, there are washers behind it and in front of it that have to go back precisely in the same locations OR you will mess up your alignment. Once struts are out, you have to disassemble them and will also require a spring compressor.
3) The banjos for the hydraulics are pretty tight as far as the hose/line is concerned once the car is up on a lift and lowered. I have a little concern over it potentially cracking the metal tubing fitting/transition area because of the tension on it. It made it hard to re-attach the banjo fitting bolt which has a fine pitch thread when installing the modified struts. Had to lift up on the rotor a little. Was quite a bit concerned about possibly cross threading that strut. BE CAREFULL HERE, haste makes waste. I think you said no front end lift, so your procedure would be different.
4) I might have been able to get more downward force on the front control arms if we had the vehicle raised higher on the lift. I chose to keep it LOW and low enough to support the rear with some additional jack stands. I don't see any way you could accomplish this with the vehicle only lifted one wheel at a time because you would be fighting the sway bar. You need the entire vehicle on a lift.

 

I bought the Paragon kit and lowered my 2021 z51 convertible. I had it done (Aikman Performance just outside Austin) and they were cool about me hanging around in the garage and watching the operation. It was a significant effort, I applaud anyone who got this done without a lift, I'm amazed you could do it.

I love the look, super happy with it, but unless you are a skilled technician I recommend taking it in to someone, hopefully that has done one already! (Aikman had just finished one up!)

 

The hard part was fighting with the strut trying to get it out. Not sure why, but in my vehicle instance two relatively heavy men couldn't put enough force to get the strut lower control arm low enough for the strut to clear. I think if we had a wheel mounted on the other side it might have helped put some extra downward force on the sway bar. All my wheels were off getting powedercoated at the time however.

 

[QUOTE=JillyBean;1603753380]Bummer
had my 3lt rapid blue for over a year now and want to lower it but doesn't seem possible
no lift- no z51 - no mag ride
seems i'm out of luck

you can replace the 4 shocks on your car with z51 versions. There are a few for sale on eBay or can be purchased through a gm parts vendor (or dealership). The other way would be to replace the springs, paragon has springs and eibach should Have theirs available soon.

 

Haha, so I did my research BEFORE buying the car. I knew that getting the cheapest 1LT non-Z51 would be a dead end and would require 3rd party parts to do any sort of suspension mods. Trying to add on features like MSRC after the fact would be foolish.
I planned to lower it some before I even took delivery of the car and the only thing you need with a FE4 E60 / MSRC equipped vehicle are two simple collars which are relatively inexpensive for the front end. Very simple and when you look at C8R and other tracked cars, they are lower than the stock C8 Z51 that they sell to the public. This is because it has to work for a wider range of vehicle owners. The Z51 setup was designed to be lowered DAY ONE, it is not "contrary" to what the vehicle was designed to do. I got the E60 front end lift option because I knew this would somewhat negate the problems created by lowering it. Turns out even without lowering, it would still scrape going into my driveway without the front lifted.

 

Same here as I plan to lower right off but the thing is I wanted to do aftermarket coilovers and set the hight I want with those. Yet this still pushes me to an 2LT just to add the front lift as I know it will be needed. My daily is bagged and lift it often and can only imagine with the Corvette front with the splitter how useful this lift would be.