Some questions on suspension

[dawnst3ar]

I have had the car a few months, and love it with a few exceptions, which are now turning into questions - perhaps some other members can help me out?

The front of this car seems to scrape on EVERYTHING. It isn't the actual bumper, but the air dam underneath - does this tend to wear out over time, and is it something I should be overly concerned about?

The suspension seems incredibly spongy - The car is in no way stiff, and the rear end seems to want to slid out when you give it a little gas. I have owned other GM vehicles, and am beginning to wonder if it is just me (I have been driving cars with pretty aggressive sport setups for a while now, and think this car may just need to be tightened up) or if there is a problem.

The car is almost impossible to troubleshoot/diagnose - EVERYTHING on this car is tight - cant look under the hood, for example, as there doesn't seem to be any real room anywhere to try and find the annoying leak I seem to have in the coolant system somewhere. Is there some secret I am missing?

Parts are almost impossible to source, but I AM learning to look for 'vette parts instead.

Again, I do love this car, but there are a few things I need to work out, and wanted to be certain that it isn't just me, or that there are things I am missing/tricks I should know.

 

[rexster314]

I had mystery coolant leak shortly after getting our X. Had to add coolant about every third day or so. Engine never overheated however so I was lucky in that respect. I finally found a small pool of coolant on the concrete parking lot. Turns out I had a small leak from the plastic tank on the radiator. Upper driver's side. It was not noticeable just by looking at it. New radiator fixed it right up. Hopefully it's as simple for you.
How many miles on your car? Get it up on a lift and check the high dollar shocks you have on the car and see if there's any oil leakage.

 

[XLRATING]

The front of this car seems to scrape on EVERYTHING. It isn't the actual bumper, but the air dam underneath - does this tend to wear out over time, and is it something I should be overly concerned about?

The suspension seems incredibly spongy - The car is in no way stiff, and the rear end seems to want to slid out when you give it a little gas.

The front of the car is low -- I've learned to avoid entrances & exits where it might scrape, & I back in when parking. The big concern if you scrape involves the metal brackets painted black that you can see under the front on each side. They support the radiator so you do NOT want to smack & bend them or you will damage the radiator.

As for the rear end, check to see if the prior owner added a sway bar (the base did not come with a rear sway bar). If not, try adding that - it helped my XLR a LOT. Other than that, how old are your tires? We had the original Pirellis on the V that were 7-8 years old, tread was fine but the rear end was easily sent sideways. New Michelin Pilot Supersports completely took care of that problem.