Local Place for Alignment....
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,340
Likes: 6
From: Redmond WA
It takes a while, a few hundred miles total, but most of it happens in the first couple of hundred miles.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,951
Likes: 449
From: Puyallup WA
When the spring moves, a point near the end like where the bolt pad contacts moves in an arc. When you push up on the spring to adjust the bolt, then lower it back down, the pad contacts the arm in a different location than where it sits with the car weight on it. You have to then drive it a while to let the pad slowly squirm to a neutral position. Until then, the pad is kind of bunched up and results in a higher ride height.
It takes a while, a few hundred miles total, but most of it happens in the first couple of hundred miles.
It takes a while, a few hundred miles total, but most of it happens in the first couple of hundred miles.
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 34,873
Likes: 487
From: Lacey WA RVN 68-69
NCM Sinkhole Donor
When the spring moves, a point near the end like where the bolt pad contacts moves in an arc. When you push up on the spring to adjust the bolt, then lower it back down, the pad contacts the arm in a different location than where it sits with the car weight on it. You have to then drive it a while to let the pad slowly squirm to a neutral position. Until then, the pad is kind of bunched up and results in a higher ride height.
It takes a while, a few hundred miles total, but most of it happens in the first couple of hundred miles.
It takes a while, a few hundred miles total, but most of it happens in the first couple of hundred miles.
I have been wanting to raise my C5 a small amount. Right now, it's lowered on the stock bolts (all the way down) and driving around the South Sound roads and city streets is a pain with all of the local speed bumps and poor roads. Parking lots are a PITA too. What I don't know is whether or not I should return the car to stock height and then drop it about 3/4" or simply raise it up to where I want it. How would that work given how the bolt and pad contact each other??
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,340
Likes: 6
From: Redmond WA
I have been wanting to raise my C5 a small amount. Right now, it's lowered on the stock bolts (all the way down) and driving around the South Sound roads and city streets is a pain with all of the local speed bumps and poor roads. Parking lots are a PITA too. What I don't know is whether or not I should return the car to stock height and then drop it about 3/4" or simply raise it up to where I want it. How would that work given how the bolt and pad contact each other??
I ended up using the "one turn = 1/4 inch" rule, which worked close enough. I think if you have to go all the way back up to the OEM ride height, wait for it to settle, then lower and wait for it to settle again, it's a much longer process than just figuring out how much higher you want it and just turning the bolts that amount, letting it settle, and then you can make some fine adjustments based on how much height change you actually get per full turn of the bolt.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,449
Likes: 409
From: Portland OR
In case you haven't seen what the working end of the "bolts" on your car might look like.
The pad being way off center on some I have and on center on others.
Btw, that material is a very hard plasticised rubber type of stuff.
Ron
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,951
Likes: 449
From: Puyallup WA
Time to go back to bed. LOL
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,449
Likes: 409
From: Portland OR
It's hard to describe, they don't look torn, just off center. So I wonder what they were like when new?
i just went and had a look at the 2 spares I have. The pads are a hard material. Sort of a 3 layer sandwich, and the inner layers appear to be rubber of some sort. The part that rides on the lower arm is like plastic. Both that I have are off center. The one that I have that is on center, is bent and I had to cut it to remove it.
Anyway, if you turn the bolt 1/2 turn, the part sits on the control arm wrong, and that is likely why the car doesn't lower. So a full turn woud be wise.
I actually put some antisieze on the control arm to help it slide.
i wonder what the c6 parts look like. And even he new c7? I assume they still use the leaf spring setup?
I think it's really sad that you can't buy new GM parts....someone has to make them....they come in new springs when you buy them.
Ron
i just went and had a look at the 2 spares I have. The pads are a hard material. Sort of a 3 layer sandwich, and the inner layers appear to be rubber of some sort. The part that rides on the lower arm is like plastic. Both that I have are off center. The one that I have that is on center, is bent and I had to cut it to remove it.
Anyway, if you turn the bolt 1/2 turn, the part sits on the control arm wrong, and that is likely why the car doesn't lower. So a full turn woud be wise.
I actually put some antisieze on the control arm to help it slide.
i wonder what the c6 parts look like. And even he new c7? I assume they still use the leaf spring setup?
I think it's really sad that you can't buy new GM parts....someone has to make them....they come in new springs when you buy them.
Ron
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Racer
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 254
Likes: 0
I wonder if a shot of silicone on the rubber pads wouldn't help them squirm into position faster and reduce the lateral tension placed on them as they reposition after lowering.
Those off center pads in the picture look like they never slid over and just stretched the rubber instead. I assume those are from a lowered car.
Those off center pads in the picture look like they never slid over and just stretched the rubber instead. I assume those are from a lowered car.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,449
Likes: 409
From: Portland OR
The one with the pad centered was off my car. Drivers side. It was frozen in place, as well as bent. I have no idea if someone else had lowered the car before I bought it. The other two were on a Z06 spring I purchased. So who knows.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 568
Likes: 0
From: Tacoma WA
When my C6 needed an alignment a couple yrs ago, I checked with the Corvette shop in Puyallup (that closed since) and with a friend of mine who owns UP Garage (a mostly Nissan tuner shop, but the owner had a C5 at the time). They both recommended http://www.kimballsalignmentandbrakecenter.com/ very strongly.
Kimballs was booked 2 weeks out when I needed the alignment, so I asked my source if they had a 2nd choice I should go to instead of waiting. Their answer was: Kimball's.
Tell them you have a Vette when you schedule. They have one guy who is fairly known in the South Sound for being very good at what he does and who spent the time explaining a few things to me after finishing working on my car. I would definitely go there again.
Kimballs was booked 2 weeks out when I needed the alignment, so I asked my source if they had a 2nd choice I should go to instead of waiting. Their answer was: Kimball's.
Tell them you have a Vette when you schedule. They have one guy who is fairly known in the South Sound for being very good at what he does and who spent the time explaining a few things to me after finishing working on my car. I would definitely go there again.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,951
Likes: 449
From: Puyallup WA
When my C6 needed an alignment a couple yrs ago, I checked with the Corvette shop in Puyallup (that closed since) and with a friend of mine who owns UP Garage (a mostly Nissan tuner shop, but the owner had a C5 at the time). They both recommended http://www.kimballsalignmentandbrakecenter.com/ very strongly.
Kimballs was booked 2 weeks out when I needed the alignment, so I asked my source if they had a 2nd choice I should go to instead of waiting. Their answer was: Kimball's.
Tell them you have a Vette when you schedule. They have one guy who is fairly known in the South Sound for being very good at what he does and who spent the time explaining a few things to me after finishing working on my car. I would definitely go there again.
Kimballs was booked 2 weeks out when I needed the alignment, so I asked my source if they had a 2nd choice I should go to instead of waiting. Their answer was: Kimball's.
Tell them you have a Vette when you schedule. They have one guy who is fairly known in the South Sound for being very good at what he does and who spent the time explaining a few things to me after finishing working on my car. I would definitely go there again.
I've only driven my vette 55 miles since the install, so I'll give it a little bit longer.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,951
Likes: 449
From: Puyallup WA
Kimballs did the alignment today and said it was all out of spec.
A very short man did it, so I had to put my seat, steering wheel and mirrors all back to where I could use them. Sheesh.
A very short man did it, so I had to put my seat, steering wheel and mirrors all back to where I could use them. Sheesh.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 568
Likes: 0
From: Tacoma WA
You should have been given a before/after sheet.
memory seats FTW 