Izover4u

Well I lowered the front 2/3 bushings cutt and lowered the rear as low as stock bolts could go. The ride was not affected at all. I had 2 finger gap in the front and a 3 1/4 finger gap in the rears. I decided to getr longer bolts from the rear so i could lower it a bit more. Thanks to a fellow member VinnyG he sent me rear lowering bolts w/red bushings from WCC. I installed those tonight and I left about 6 threads showing. The car looked way in the rear. I only had a 1 finger gap between the tire and the wheel well fender. As it turned out the rear sat lower than the front so I will be lowering the front a tad bit more (1 finger gap) and raising the rear so ill have a 2 finger gap... I did get a chance to drive her and man the ride was bruttle , Felt like i was driving a lowered civic on cutt springs. I was bouncing all over the place. I am thinking maybe when i raise her up a bit tomarrow to use the stock bushing (rubber) rather than the new red bushing (which i believe are Polyurethane). I am hopeing it will give a better cushing and make the ride better. If the ride is still terrible what shocks should i buy? I want the ride to be like stock. I guess i will have to find a shorter shock that preforms like the stock shocks. Ive read that people go with the 04 Z06 shocks but that will not help me in this case since i need a shorter shock correct?

Thanks guys

Mikelly

On my 99 C5 I was able to drop both the front and the rear down to 2 fingers clearance, but found the same harsh ride. I had swapped in the Z06 shocks and sway bars, and wanted a better stance... Car was in the weeds to me, and I had two other issues besides the harsh ride...

A: I couldn't get my lift arms under the car so I could lift it (I have my own lift at home)!

B: The shop I use couldn't get the car onto the alignment rack.

I raised it back up to 3 fingers clearance front and rear, and the car handles better, rides smoother, and now clears the lift arms.

Mike

ArKay99

I put those same bolts in. What I did was crank them down to the end of the thread and it was lowered just right. The reason the ride is harsh with the car that low is you are riding on the shock bumpstops. You have no more suspension. I know because this happened to me. No, you can't use Z06 shocks and springs because they just sit on the bumpstops also. This si what needs to be done:
1: tighten the rear bolts to the end of the threads. This will put the rear to about 2 fingers and give your shocks a little room between the bumpstop and the shock tower.
2: I put in HAL QA1 shocks in with 1" shorter fronts and removed the bumpstops. You don't have to put HAL's in but the bumpstops could be cut down or find thinner ones.
3: Get 1" shorter shocks for the front and cut the bumpstops down or find thinner bumpstops. I had my car lowered in the front all the way with the bushings intact. With the Z51 shocks I actually had to raise the read to keep the slight rake. After I installed the HAL's and removed the bumpstops the front lowered another 1". It was sitting on the shock towers. It was so low I had to raise it about 3/4".
The car is low now, about 2 fingers all around, has a smoother ride than stock, and handles like it is on rails.

On shorter shocks. I spoke to Mark Stein at Motor Sport Image (supporting vendor). I told him what I was doing and he got me the right parts and gave me great advice. Give him a call. I'm sure he can help you.

Mikelly

Arkay99, You are 100% wrong with regards to the Z06 Shocks. Who ever told you this was wrong. Before I installed them, I checked the stroke and length. Side by side with the stock C5 shocks, the piston is almost identical in length... I forget the exact measurements, but the difference was insignificant. The Z06 shock and sway bar swap are EASY, and inexpenisve alternatives and DID NOT cause adverse handling to the car. They actually helped improve the handling significantly. I've driven on them for 6 months now with no ill-effects.

Mike


[Modified by Mikelly, 8:39 PM 7/3/2004]

allanlaw

Good luck. IMHO it is impossible to slam the car and have a stock ride. Of course, you can spend a fortune changing every other suspension part to compensate for lowering, and maybe get close.

Davesredvette

I too believe you have lowered so far in the rear that you are bottoming out the suspension. If you have lots of money the best fix is coil over shocks.

I did a search on bump stops a while back and found an old thread regarding this very topic and it talked about modifing the stock rear shocks for lowered cars. Here are the notes I kept. You might want to search for the whole article. Good luck...

Cut the bump stops in half, flip the top plate and elongate the lower mounting holes in the shock. I make these holes about 1/2 to 3/4" longer and weld a couple of washers back over the hole. This basically shortens the shock. It works on stock ones or Bilsteins.

If you add an inch of shock travel , it actually adds about 1 1/2" of wheel travel because of the leverage. It make a world of difference, modifying them as I suggested.

The rear upper shock brackets are steel stampings with a formed ridges on the underside for stiffening. If you flip these brackets over, they will seat
against the chassis supports on these ridges. This contact would have very little surface area resulting in high stresses and possible cutting of the chassis support. I'm just guessing, but these ridges are probably what he recommends grinding off. I think the smart thing to do is shim the area where the 2 bolts are to prevent the ridges from contacting the chassis supports. You can do this by stacking 5/8" O.D. washers until they are higher than the ridges. Better yet, what I am doing is fitting triangular shaped 1/4" thick aluminum shims.

BQuicksilver

I'd consider the bilstein sports, they are about 1 inch shorter than stock at full travel. Thus, they're not hurt as much by lowering.

Get an alignment, you may have some issues right now, and the stock "normal" range is pretty wide.

In my experience, lowering the fronts makes the ride more jarring.
Lowering the rears makes the car more unstable.
I did about 0.4 more lowering in front than rear, it gave a nice subtle rake and the car can still handle. The stiff front end just takes getting used to.

leaftye

When lowering the car as much as you car, you're going beyond the limits for what the stock, even Z06, shocks were designed for. Shorter shocks are definitely a good idea. Another idea, albeit expensive, is to use the 3R Racing upright. Their upright actually moves the wheel bearing up an inch or so, which allows the front suspension to keep it's normal geometry. This costs about $4000!

ArKay99

Mike, I think you misunderstood what I wrote. I stated that Z06 shocks won't help the harsh ride on a lowered car because they are the same length. I had a lowered car and a harsh ride. When I put the shorter shocks in the front and removed the bumpstops the ride was better that stock and it ran like it was on rails. I agree with you that the Z06 shocks and swaybar are a nice upgrade and help handling, but only on a stock height car. I don't know what else to say except that my car is lowered 1 1/2" all around and rides much smoother than stock and did not ride that way before the shorter shocks in front and bumpstop removal al around.


[Modified by Mikelly, 8:39 PM 7/3/2004][/quote]


[Modified by ArKay99, 9:22 AM 7/4/2004]

Mikelly

You're right, I misunderstood what you were saying. Just wanted to make sure he understood the issue had nothing to do with swapping in Z06 parts... They, like the stock C5 parts, work great within their range... He has lowered the car beyond the range.

Mike

Paras

I too agree with the fact that your car is lowered too far. Raising the car will do wonders. Someone had mentioned coilovers which are a good idea (I know cause I have 'em) but coilovers won't help improve your ride quality if your car is so low that it doesn't allow the shock to travel enough.


[Modified by Paras, 11:50 AM 7/4/2004]