LowFlight

My bolts are all the way down and I am not sure if the gap wil be small enough if I get 19 inch CCW wheels. I have heard that the Z06's don't drop much. The car's bolts have been turned all the way for a year or so now...so does anyone have some pics of their car lowered on stock bolts?

Here is mine...


The back will go down farther...the front is the issue

LUCKYC5

Sorry that I don't have an answer to your question but I was wondering, what about the front damn/flap. Can you lower the car then take that off or what. Mine already has some gaps between it and the fiberglass. Is there anything I can do to make it look better or should I just lower it and take it off?

LowFlight

I think some people have removed it and trimmed it in 1/2 and put it back on. Not sure.

81c3

I lowered mine all the way down on stock bolts. The front air dam is a PIA. I scrape alot more than I did before, but it looks a bunch better IMO.

this is actually the after pic.




this is before.




It doesnt look like alot, but it dropped the front about 3/4" & the rear about 1/2"

LowFlight

DO you think 19 inch wheels will look dumb with my current ride level?

keith954

no, it will look good mine sits about that height

Sick Z06

get the car back up in the air. take the front bolt/cushion assembly out (same item you turned to lower it...)

Take it out, CUT the rubber pad on it, take about 1/2 of it completely off. Reinstall, adjust to your height liking.

Hatdude

My personal opinion is that a Z lowered as far as it will go on stock bolts, without cutting, is the perfect compromise for anything other than a show car. Mine's as low as it will go without cutting and I scrape the front getting in and out of my driveway all the time. I avoid speed bumps altogether. I think it looks great where it sits now. Get those new wheels then decide later. Cutting the bushings is an easy, inexpensive mod that you can do later anyway.

Upper Hand

When the fronts are all the way down you need to cut the rear bushings a little or get the longer bolts to make it level. Otherwise you get the 1985 "Jacked up" look.

bmg

The lowering bolts don't drop the car low enough for me. I am going to do a group buy and get a set of the Pfadt coilovers in the near future.

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/inde...e=pfadt-racing

Tact

I lowered my '04 Z on stock bolts with 19's in the front and 20's in the rear. I personally don't want it any lower for performance issues or dragging issues.

Ryan L

When I lowered mine, the front and rear were almost perfectly level, but the front has more of a fender/wheel gap. It is a little distracting at first, but I don't like a raked look so I will keep it as is for now.

Tact, do you have any pics?

LUCKYC5

I little gaps at each end of my damn.....what can I do? I want to lower it but don't want the gaps to get worse from scraping

Z06-Nomad

If you intend to drive at very high speeds, check with the Roadracing guys in that section of the forum. From what I understand, the cars come from the factory with rake, because it adds stability at high speeds. If you are a boullevard cruiser ignore my post...

MD

mqqn

Hi LowFlight -

Here is a pic of my lowered Z with 19" ccw's -



I would have liked it s little lower with the CCW's, but with the stock F1's it looks just right IMO -



best regards -

mqqn

jchayden646

Lowered mine all the way on stock bolts and cut bushing 2/3. Absolutely love it, no longer looks like a tractor. Front spoiler is 1.4" off the ground, scrapes every now and then but no big deal. Just gotta be a little more careful in driving, thats all...

TheDVS1

OK, I feel silly for asking, but what's done with the factory leaf springs when switching to coilovers? Do they locate anything in the suspension, or are they just tossed out when adding the coilovers?

bmg

That is not a silly question. I had the same thoughts about this too, since I have never owned a leaf spring car before and made major suspension changes. The coilovers do all of the work, so the leaf springs are tossed....

Aaron Pfadt

Just keep in mind that lowering without making some change to the shocks, especially if cutting the rubbers or going to longer bolts, will make the car perform poorly. The stock Z springs are soft enough that they will allow the car to bottom on the shocks when lowered. That bottoming can be harsh and dangerous.

The limiter of suspension travel in these Corvettes is for the most part the shocks. If you lift your car in the air and disconnect a shock, the wheel will drop lower. If you compress the suspension with no spring attached, the first thing to stop the movement is the shock. It limits travel in both directions.

There are shortened body shocks that can be purchased to solve this and many coil overs have shortened bodies. The Pfadt coil overs have adjustable length bodies to allow for a large range in ride height adjustment including very low and up near stock without compromising ride quality.

Here is a pic of a Z with our coils. It could be made lower. No risk of running out of suspension travel, just hitting the bottom of the car on the ground



-Aaron

TheDVS1

Thank you! I would imagine a semi-substantial savings in weight could be achieved by going to a coil-over system too. I like the adjustability offered by the solution. Looks like the right way to do things.