laxkeepa11

i am new to the corvette community and had a quick question.......when i exit my drive way the 2 black bars in front of the air dam gently scrape the end of my drive way when i leave.......is there any need for concern that i am damaging the underside of the car??

the front end doesnt scrape just the 2 black bars on each side of the dam.......you can hear that horrible sound of metal scraping the cement.......please advise

DP Dave

Try exiting at an angle, this may help.

talon90

Scraping the air dam is normal. Do watch out for anything taller that may come in contact with the radiator supports. Your owners manual has this to say about the air dam:

laxkeepa11

i found out today that the previous owner lowered the car 3/4 of an inch when he put on the cray wheels.

so that is why the radiator support bars do scape slightly when i back out of the driveway but NOT when i pull in........i guess i just need to find a sweet spot to back out cleanly.....

BRIANSC6

You say metal is scraping. Unless you lowered your vette are you sure you are not talking about the front plastic valance. It makes a horrible sound and is much more likely to scrape than the metal rad supports.

Here is a picture of my car showing the plastic valance and the rad support (which is scratched) I have lowered my car and have scrated the metal support but I much more frequently scrape the front lower valance.



If you are indeed scraping your rad supports there are vendors that supply protectors for it but if you have not lowered your car I am pretty certain it is the plastic valance and not the metal rad support you are hearing scrape.

SpankUU

Thats what I have to do when I back in.

laxkeepa11

the car is lowered and it is the aluminum radiator bar you have in your pic that is scraping.....

kind of like the scrapes shown in the pic

BRIANSC6

If it is your rad support that is scraping then consider something like this

http://www.engineeredcorvetteproduct...ge=framesavers

quickride

Have you tried BACKING the car into the driveway. My car scrapes pretty bad if I pull into my driveway forward. When I back the car in, nothing scrapes going or coming. Different geometry between the front end and the back end is what makes the difference.

LarryMJones

The air dam scrapes on even slight driveway slopes. I turn early and angle out, this helps a bunch.
I had a previous posting asking about cost to replace the air dam. It appears to be expendable, like tires.
Also be careful on crossing 4 lane highways that have different elevations or low places between the lanes. Leaving my area I have to cross an intersection like that, and you just can't go through it very fast or the dam drags.
LJ

loubob57

I would raise the car back up the 3/4 inches that it was lowered. Mine is at stock height and I never scrape anything but the plastic when I back out of my driveway. I'm sure somebody can post a link to instructions for raising it. I think it is pretty easy.

AORoads

I agree; if you don't find that "sweet spot" pretty damned soon, you could experience some expensive "issues." AAMOF, there are some who, in contrast, have raised their cars above the normal height. Just a thought.

NevadaVette

Unless you are really in love with the look, just put it back to stock. Your driveway is not likely to be a major problem. But sooner or later you might go through a cross gutter at speed and bottom out the front end and that is a gut wrenching sound that you don't want to hear.

The car will be more fun to drive without worrying about all that brain damage.

jabez

Been scraping for over 3 years No worrys here.

calemasters

It is OK for the air damn to scrape, but the radiator support bars should not scrape.


And here is why:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...post1563610909

RLSebring

Scrape marks will generally come off the cement with no problem.