Lowering and ground clearance
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Ok so I pulled out the spacers and guess what.....it dropped almost a solid inch even though the spacers are only 1/2". Not sure how that works, but now the front and back are almost dead even. Front is roughly 26.75" and same for the rear. I'm hoping the front will drop down another 1/4", but if not no biggy. If I feel like it I can do the hose mod for the rear to bring it up a 1/4" or so. Anyways, it looks much better now, and I'm pretty happy overall.
Oh and someone recommended getting the car aligned with a 1" raise, cause doing so angles the wheel better when drag racing. He said that might give another 1 mph at the track possibly. Said its an old trick a lot of guys do for drag racing. Anyone ever heard of this?
Oh and someone recommended getting the car aligned with a 1" raise, cause doing so angles the wheel better when drag racing. He said that might give another 1 mph at the track possibly. Said its an old trick a lot of guys do for drag racing. Anyone ever heard of this?
Ok so I pulled out the spacers and guess what.....it dropped almost a solid inch even though the spacers are only 1/2". Not sure how that works, but now the front and back are almost dead even. Front is roughly 26.75" and same for the rear. I'm hoping the front will drop down another 1/4", but if not no biggy. If I feel like it I can do the hose mod for the rear to bring it up a 1/4" or so. Anyways, it looks much better now, and I'm pretty happy overall.
So now you have BMR springs in front with STR.T right?
I think an up to date photo is in order.
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Good deal. IMO the spacer was compressing the spring more and therefor changing the spring rate. Even though you only added a half 1/2" spacer the spring was compressed more too which caused additional hight.
So now you have BMR springs in front with STR.T right?
I think an up to date photo is in order.
So now you have BMR springs in front with STR.T right?
I think an up to date photo is in order.
Yeah maybe you're right. I really don't know. I was trying to beat the rain yesterday so I just hurried up home, but will get pics soon. Yes I have BMR springs front and rear with the Koni STR.T shocks and struts. The only thing that is slightly different is that I have the Moog isolator in the rear vs the stock one. It's slightly thicker. I'm guessing maybe a 1/4". Which surprises me since the car sits exactly level now. I would've assumed there would have been more of a rake from doing it like this
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Haha no the ride feels exactly the same without the spacer, just looks much better. I originally wanted a 3/4" drop for both front and rear and theoretically what I originally did should have gave me that. But now without the spacer I got around a 3/4" drop in the front, and the rear dropped around 1". Kind of strange when you think about it lol
Adding a spacer in that particular place wouldn't change ride quality at all, it's just a spacer in that location fortunately.
Reason why removing a 1/2in spacer caused more than a half inch drop is because of the mounting point of the lower shock on the lower control arm. If the shock was mounted at the end of the control arm (where the ball joint is) I believe then the 1/2in spacer would create exactly a 1/2in raise in the car's ride height. Since in reality, the shock is mounted almost halfway up the lower control arm, a 1/2in spacer would create more than a 1/2in raise/drop. Like the lower ball joint will move 7/8in while the point where the shock mounts to only moves 1/2in, something along those lines...Something to do with fulcrum points or something of that nature... I can't really explain it, I don't feel that smart atm
Reason why removing a 1/2in spacer caused more than a half inch drop is because of the mounting point of the lower shock on the lower control arm. If the shock was mounted at the end of the control arm (where the ball joint is) I believe then the 1/2in spacer would create exactly a 1/2in raise in the car's ride height. Since in reality, the shock is mounted almost halfway up the lower control arm, a 1/2in spacer would create more than a 1/2in raise/drop. Like the lower ball joint will move 7/8in while the point where the shock mounts to only moves 1/2in, something along those lines...Something to do with fulcrum points or something of that nature... I can't really explain it, I don't feel that smart atm
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Adding a spacer in that particular place wouldn't change ride quality at all, it's just a spacer in that location fortunately.
Reason why removing a 1/2in spacer caused more than a half inch drop is because of the mounting point of the lower shock on the lower control arm. If the shock was mounted at the end of the control arm (where the ball joint is) I believe then the 1/2in spacer would create exactly a 1/2in raise in the car's ride height. Since in reality, the shock is mounted almost halfway up the lower control arm, a 1/2in spacer would create more than a 1/2in raise/drop. Like the lower ball joint will move 7/8in while the point where the shock mounts to only moves 1/2in, something along those lines...Something to do with fulcrum points or something of that nature... I can't really explain it, I don't feel that smart atm
Reason why removing a 1/2in spacer caused more than a half inch drop is because of the mounting point of the lower shock on the lower control arm. If the shock was mounted at the end of the control arm (where the ball joint is) I believe then the 1/2in spacer would create exactly a 1/2in raise in the car's ride height. Since in reality, the shock is mounted almost halfway up the lower control arm, a 1/2in spacer would create more than a 1/2in raise/drop. Like the lower ball joint will move 7/8in while the point where the shock mounts to only moves 1/2in, something along those lines...Something to do with fulcrum points or something of that nature... I can't really explain it, I don't feel that smart atm
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Now that I really think about it what corvette z07 is saying makes perfect sense. The fact that BMR said the 1/2" spacers should raise the car a 1/2" really has me a little upset to be honest.
I just checked out the spacers online and they don't actually list the thickness of the spacer. They list that it'll give a 1/2in raise in height for 1 spacer.
Just wondering, did you loosen anything else up when you removed the spacers? Sway bar end links or any bushings?
Just wondering, did you loosen anything else up when you removed the spacers? Sway bar end links or any bushings?
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
I just checked out the spacers online and they don't actually list the thickness of the spacer. They list that it'll give a 1/2in raise in height for 1 spacer.
Just wondering, did you loosen anything else up when you removed the spacers? Sway bar end links or any bushings?
Just wondering, did you loosen anything else up when you removed the spacers? Sway bar end links or any bushings?
As far as bushing and end links I didn't loosen any of that.
I don't see a reason to be upset with BMR. We all suggested lowering the car with no spacers. You seem to have been pretty worried with ground clearance even after several others mentioned that you will be fine(including myself). BMR provided a solution "in case" you needed more ground clearance, but you decided to install the spacers first instead of just installing the springs first. I understand they said 1/2" but not all cars are the react the same from lowering. Its a simple case of paralysis from analysis my friend. And sometimes it causes more headaches...been there done that!
Pics of car?
Pics of car?
Well, I'm glad you were finally able to achieve the stance you were after
I'm a little confused how they raised the car 1" though. That is really odd. The most I have seen is around 3/4" of difference with them, but that was an extreme case, light weight car.
Either way, if you ended up not needing them, I will gladly take them back and credit you for them.
I'm a little confused how they raised the car 1" though. That is really odd. The most I have seen is around 3/4" of difference with them, but that was an extreme case, light weight car.
Either way, if you ended up not needing them, I will gladly take them back and credit you for them.
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Find a Quality alignment shop near you!
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
I don't see a reason to be upset with BMR. We all suggested lowering the car with no spacers. You seem to have been pretty worried with ground clearance even after several others mentioned that you will be fine(including myself). BMR provided a solution "in case" you needed more ground clearance, but you decided to install the spacers first instead of just installing the springs first. I understand they said 1/2" but not all cars are the react the same from lowering. Its a simple case of paralysis from analysis my friend. And sometimes it causes more headaches...been there done that!
Pics of car?
Pics of car?
I'm gonna get pics soon for sure. Drove the car home that day after pulling the spacers, and haven't drove it since. My garage has crappier lighting and is small so it's kinda hard to snap nice pics in there lol
Last edited by HCI2000SS; Aug 22, 2016 at 12:41 PM.
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Well, I'm glad you were finally able to achieve the stance you were after
I'm a little confused how they raised the car 1" though. That is really odd. The most I have seen is around 3/4" of difference with them, but that was an extreme case, light weight car.
Either way, if you ended up not needing them, I will gladly take them back and credit you for them.
I'm a little confused how they raised the car 1" though. That is really odd. The most I have seen is around 3/4" of difference with them, but that was an extreme case, light weight car.
Either way, if you ended up not needing them, I will gladly take them back and credit you for them.
Thank you for offering to take them back, I do appreciate that. I think i'll hold on to them though since they may come in handy down the road
Last edited by HCI2000SS; Aug 23, 2016 at 07:40 AM.
I'll have to find my measurements but I put 1/4" worth of washers to raise it up a little so it sat like your old 1" springs and those spacers ended up raising the car about 1/2". I'm fixing to tear it all back apart to rebuild the suspension and install some Koni's and will be removing a washer or 2 since I already planned on getting it re-aligned.
Awesome. That's about perfect. Looks like just a tad high in the rear(which I prefer... I might prefer a tad more.... if any, but that's easy to get). Any HFM required with those big 315's?
Whats your clearance now and how do you feel about the height? I have had a similar mentality as you and was thinking about going less than 1.25".
Whats your clearance now and how do you feel about the height? I have had a similar mentality as you and was thinking about going less than 1.25".
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From: Howell & Fenton MI
Awesome. That's about perfect. Looks like just a tad high in the rear(which I prefer... I might prefer a tad more.... if any, but that's easy to get). Any HFM required with those big 315's?
Whats your clearance now and how do you feel about the height? I have had a similar mentality as you and was thinking about going less than 1.25".
Whats your clearance now and how do you feel about the height? I have had a similar mentality as you and was thinking about going less than 1.25".