Lowering a ZR1

[HIZNHRZ]

New tires and wheels are going to lower my ZR1 1.19" in the front and 1.30" in the back.

- How difficult is it to lower the OE suspension of a ZR1?
- Anyone have destructions for lowering?

- How do I adjust to front end alignment after lowering?

Thanks.

Rear is a piece of cake. The front requires leaf spring removal and shimming. Alignment would be an advanced street or you could run a stock alignment.

[tccrab]

I just recently ran across this thread over at the Digital Corvettes forum.
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...ad.php?t=79763
He makes it look easy. With pics.

[HIZNHRZ]

I found instructions that seem to be fairly detailed:

http://webpages.charter.net/khasting.../lowering.html

Could someone who has done the job comment on how accurate they are?
Thanks.

[GOLDCYLON]

I must be the few or the only person who thinks the ZR-1 is already lowered enough. After the daily fight with Driveways and speed bumps I could never imagine wanting to lower it at all. Are you planning on autocrossing or something? GC

[We Gone]

When I did the wife’s 95 LT1 it took all day, most of the time spent doing the front, and you will need a lift. They look good but I think the ride suffers. With that said I will not do the ZR-1.

Only Lowered about 3/4 to 1 inch all round

[DaveK]

I'm with GC on this one. Mine is low enough at stock, especially with the quality of the roads around here!

Happy New Year everyone!

[HIZNHRZ]

19" wheels and tires will increase diameter a bit over an inch. Lowering the car one-half inch will not affect ground clearance. What am I missing?

[Aurora40]

Originally Posted by HIZNHRZ

19" wheels and tires will increase diameter a bit over an inch. Lowering the car one-half inch will not affect ground clearance. What am I missing?

So in your first post you mentioned 19" wheels/tires would lower your car. Did you actually mean raise? I assume the 19" wheels/tires are larger in diameter, not shorter.

Also if you increase the diameter by 1", you'll only raise the car by .5". So I think maybe your intial statement of lowering(raising) 1.19" in the front and 1.30" in the back is maybe actually double what will happen?

While it might actually raise the bottom of the car, it will reduce the visible gap in the wheelwell. If you further lower the car you might need to worry about the tires rubbing when the suspension compresses, especially if the wheels/tires are wider and stick out a little further?

At least I think I'm thinking that through right? What size are the wheels and what size tires are you putting on them?

[HIZNHRZ]

Originally Posted by Aurora40

So in your first post you mentioned 19" wheels/tires would lower your car. Did you actually mean raise? I assume the 19" wheels/tires are larger in diameter, not shorter.

Also if you increase the diameter by 1", you'll only raise the car by .5". So I think maybe your intial statement of lowering(raising) 1.19" in the front and 1.30" in the back is maybe actually double what will happen?

While it might actually raise the bottom of the car, it will reduce the visible gap in the wheelwell. If you further lower the car you might need to worry about the tires rubbing when the suspension compresses, especially if the wheels/tires are wider and stick out a little further?

At least I think I'm thinking that through right? What size are the wheels and what size tires are you putting on them?

You are thinking it through correctly. If I go with my most recent plan, I'll use 19X10 wheels with 285/35-19 tires on the front and 19X12 wheels with 345/30-19 tires on the back. The front diameter will be 1.19" larger; the back will be 1.30" larger. The larger diameter will raise the car and close the gap between the top of the tire and the inside of the fender. I don't want to raise the center of gravity of the car so if I go with this plan I would lower the car approximately .5"