Help! $2800 wasted on shocks; rear driver side too low; electrical problems caused the dealership

[gsbarry]

I think you can get a socket on the top of the bolt straight away, and back it off enough (with the car jacked on the frame and wheel off of course) to squirt some grease in there. There's not enough room to remove the bolt, but should be able to create a bit of a gap between the pad and LCA.

 

[madcurl]

Stealership; my new word for 2014

Wow! A $60 part and the dealership (stealership) wanted to empty out your wallet.

 

[lextoy]

thx for the "how to" get grease i there.
am i correct that that bolt is used to adjust suspension height somehow?
so if we loosen it we need to set it back to the original tighness?
like mark it before we move it with a paint pen.
20 turns out
grease
20 turns back in and align the mark?

or is it just torqued down tight?
forgive my down-up in-out loosen-tighten analogies, goal is to gain a space under the rubber to get some grease in there.

would any synthetic axle wheel bearing grease be ok?

 

[gsbarry]

Ya return it to original position. It doesn't torque down, it goes through the spring. I imagine bearing grease is fine.

 

[MarkSki]

Now that you have 4 new shocks you should not have to worry about them for many years. I have a 2004 XLR and I notice the difference in the ride with these shocks. They really suck up the bumps. The roade in the cities aroun my state are all beat up and these shocks really make a noticable difference, at least they do to my and my wife's butt meter .

Sorry you had all of these problems. Most of the part under the skin of our cars are Corvette and most good Corvette shops can and will work on them for much less per hour labor fees than a Caddy dealership.

 

[GizmoQ]

any way to lube that part without full dissassembly? think if you spread some grease around the edge it could work its way in? does it flex inward or outward when loaded unloaded? for those of us who wont disassemble just to lube...

Yes you can. I jack the car up and have a 2x2 block that I insert as close to the a-arm as possible under the spring and slowly lower the jack. The block will raise the spring pad off the a-arm. Be careful not to drop the weight of the car on the spring, just slowly transfer the weight gradually until the pad is clear and turns freely.

Because I make adjustments so often, I greased the bottom of the pad as well as all the threads. Greasing the threads will also prevent the ride height adjuster from seizing. (I had to replace the entire spring because one adjuster was frozen.)

This is how I adjust the ride height for my 3 different sets of tires. I have also been known to do this between race sessions to balance the car for the particular race course.

 

[ras]

Gizmo,
Can you also use the 2x2 block method for changing out the entire pad & bolts? Thanks...
ras


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[gsbarry]

Gizmo can chime in here, but I found that putting the vehicles weight on the spring flexed it only a minor amount, not providing enough clearance for bolt removal. Jacking directly on the spring produced a small amount of flex, then the entire vehicle just started rising. If you think about it, this makes sense, the spring supports the weight of the vehicle. Maybe adding weight to the corner would provide more flex, just be overly cautious here.

 

[ras]

Thanks, gsbarry...


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[GizmoQ]

Gizmo,
Can you also use the 2x2 block method for changing out the entire pad & bolts? Thanks...
ras

Gizmo can chime in here, but I found that putting the vehicles weight on the spring flexed it only a minor amount, not providing enough clearance for bolt removal. Jacking directly on the spring produced a small amount of flex, then the entire vehicle just started rising. If you think about it, this makes sense, the spring supports the weight of the vehicle. Maybe adding weight to the corner would provide more flex, just be overly cautious here.

NO! Not with the OEM style adjusters. I replaced all of mine with hardbar USA (that are evidently no longer made) - the pads are made from delrin, a race grade "plastic" material of some kind. They go in real easy because of their two-piece construction.

 

[ras]

Thanks, Gizmo


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[fcarga]

Try Corvette C5, C6 Delrin Leaf Spring Ride Height Adjusters 97-2013 - Lingenfelter Performance.

 

[ras]

Thanks for the link, fcarga.....They're expensive little buggers.....I'd like to change all 4.....The labor' s prob gonna be up there in $$, too.....
ras


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[fcarga]

You might want to give LG--Plano, TX-- a call C5, C6, Z06 Corvette Parts and 2010 Camaro Parts - LG Motorsports

 

[ras]

Thanks, fcarga, for the website & tel # in Plano....They're definitely cheaper than Lingenfelter's...
I didn't see any pads included w/the lowering bolts...is that something I would need to come up with on my own (MacGyvering)? Thanks again...
ras


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[fcarga]

Talk to them, tell them what you need and if they can't help you ask them who can.
Another place to try would be VBP (in FL) as they supposedly made some of Hardbar's
parts. You might want to think about buying from Lingenfelter and have LG install.

 

[lextoy]

so kinda like this? but not so extreme? is it similar front and rear?

 

[lextoy]

also looks like those rubber pads/bolts are easily found for not much money at all sorts of corvette shops online. like 4 for $50...
can adjust the stock ride height too. anyone lowered the XLR a bit for performance, or looks?
stock wheels stock suspension, how low can you go without issues?
here is a whole write up with 29 pictures!! on a C6, note its 3 pages long, go to page 2 and 3 for all the pics, thats where my original pic came from, google images is sooo helpful!!
C6 Chevrolet Corvette - Lowering Ride Height On A Budget - Vette Magazine

 

[xlrlist01]

Gizmo can chime in here, but I found that putting the vehicles weight on the spring flexed it only a minor amount, not providing enough clearance for bolt removal. Jacking directly on the spring produced a small amount of flex, then the entire vehicle just started rising. If you think about it, this makes sense, the spring supports the weight of the vehicle. Maybe adding weight to the corner would provide more flex, just be overly cautious here.

To increase the separating effect without lifting the vehicle at the same time, it is necessary to lift from further away from the center of the vehicle. If you could attach a long lever to the spring and lift on the end of it, the spring will bend upwards without lifting the vehicle anything like as much. The opposite is true, the closer to the middle of the vehicle that you lift the more the vehicle goes up without the spring being separated from the suspension. It is one of those rules of geometry that can't be escaped. Thus, if you fit wider wheels on the same offset (that is, the center line of the new wheel is further from the center of the vehicle), you make the suspension ever so slightly softer.

BTW, if anyone wants to lubricate the rubber, make sure you use a grease that is safe with rubber. Many ordinary greases cause rubber to perish. There are rubber safe greases.

 

[GizmoQ]

... anyone lowered the XLR a bit for performance, or looks?
stock wheels stock suspension, how low can you go without issues?

I'm sure someone else will chime in, but most who lower ride height from stock aren't running stock wheels and stock tires. This leads to a number of lengthy discussions on wheel width, offset, stagger; tire width and height; along with personal preferences on outward appearances. I'm sure you could lower the car an inch to 1 1/2 inches without a problem; performance-wise it's not appreciable, but may cause issues down the road with bearings , alignment, endlinks, etc.

My daily wheels are 8 1/2x 18 all around and I've lowered the car almost 2 inches to close the gap in the wheelwells, but this was more a matter of changing the springs than lowering the ride height adjusters. My changes required an alignment change and I'm much harder on the bearings and endlinks than most.

I race with a staggered set of 9 1/2 x 18 rims with different offsets so I can fit 265 fronts & 285 rears. These tires are much, much shorter than OEM and lower the car another 1 1/2 - 2 inches from my daily setup depending on the corner balance used.





Here's my daily setup:



And my autocross setup: