man I hope this thing can be lowered

[htron50]

Not a whole lot of reason to lower this.....IMHO Im not sure I'd even appreciate the look. It's about as low as it can go without hitting the roadcoarse corner curbs as it is...

[GoldenBear]

Originally Posted by toilets

Sits way to high in my opinion.

Sits way too high for optimum performance or visual aesthetics?

[payne.jeremy82]

Originally Posted by IOMZL1

Just think about it… physically lowering the car but essentially ‘tricking’ the car to think it is still riding at the original height by modifying the potentiometer. That would be like making the steering wheel look straight when the wheels are turned 1” to the left, making the throttle petal stop at 80% when it hits the floor, or changing your brake pedal so that you press it for an inch before anything happens. Now get in that car and do a lap time.

The suspension geometry acts differently at different ride heights. So now the MR shocks are flying blind so to speak. Add a changed spring rate on top of that and you throw another wrench into the system. With the steering wheel, throttle, and brake example above you have the ability to compensate and get used to these things and could eventually drive the car well. The MR suspension has to do what it is told, what its programming is.

Normally for the suspension to be compressed 1” the car has to be under some heavy load, in a turn, going over a large bump or curb… Now you are riding there all the time because you are lowered but the MR suspension doesn’t know that.

The MR suspension will still ‘work’ but won’t be tuned properly IMO. It can’t be because you are feeding it the wrong information. You might not even notice this unless you are on a track, or you might actually notice subtle changes in ride characteristics on the street because the proper ‘corrections’ can’t be made.

Lowering a car with a normal damper doesn’t matter because the damper has the same characteristics regardless of ride height. The MR damper characteristics vary depending on multiple factors, one of them being ride height. If you ask what X+Y+Z is with Z = 1; Y = 2; X =3 and now you change Z to 4 but don’t tell anyone everyone will be wrong even if they think they are right.

Maybe someone can design a system that mechanically corrects for these changes, not just ‘tricks’ the system. Maybe the MR dampers can be reprogrammed. If they can’t….

IMO ff they took it to the ring after just making this one ride height change you would probably see the car wasn’t as good anymore. You might not even be able to place a finger on it, but it wouldn’t handle as well. It might run a 7:45, or a 7:50, or a 7:59, or who knows. If you want to lower it for looks that’s great, but I’d ask myself if it was worth it. On a car like this I personally don’t think it is.

Well I want to say Thank You because I had not thought of it that way and how it would react being compressed an extra inch when the fluid is told to react by the input that is given to the damper I dont really understand the mag ride and I would have screwed it up and for what an extra inch that really it does not need I mean this car looks great and the suspension has been proven on the track so what I think I will do when I buy my Hotchkis Race Pack I will find someone who wants a set of 1" springs and give them away

[55Designs]

Companies will make compatible springs with shorter rods, I did this on our CTS-V it does look awesome and the springs are stiff and the ride and cornering is excellent. I will say the OEM springs and the OEM mag ride settings are superior in terms of the cars performance. The cars compression and rebound is also better with the OEM springs.

So there will be a trade off because I do not think Mag ride in a GM likes being messed with.

The only car I have ever been blown away with Mag ride is the Ferrari 458, just amazing how that system works but he GM has budgets.

Looks aside i think the ZL1 will feel amazing out of the box because of the really aggressive wheel and tire set up. Maybe bigger sway bars and end links wouldn;t hurt but id almost leave the mag ride alone.

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

I'd rather keep the front splitter when I clip the apex's on the track! Mine will stay stock height!

[Shurenuff]

Originally Posted by GoldenBear

Sits way too high for optimum performance or visual aesthetics?

Visual aesthetics IMO. I really prefer the looks of very minimal wheel well gap. The only problem is I'm not sure how lowering would affect the front splitter since it already sits pretty low. Don't want to run into a bunch of issues with a front end that scrapes everything.

Here's the wheel well gap that I think is too high and detracts from the look IMO



and here's what I'd consider to be the perfect ride height with minimal wheel well gap.



While I love the look of lowering, I'm still not sure if I'm going to go that route. I'm going to play this one by ear and probably let others report back on their experience before I decide.

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

The suspension is lowered 7 mm from the SS...and we calculated that the tires are 3/4" shorter...which makes for about a 1/2 - 5/8" overall drop...

If the car is lowered 7mm compared to a stock SS and the tires are 3/4" then that means the wheel gap should be about just a hair bigger than on the SS.


In most pictures the wheel gap doesn't look bad, but then in some pics, not so much.

Car looks like a 4x4 in this pic.

[The IOM Ninja]

Originally Posted by BiggFoot

LOL, how much lower do you want? Looks like eye level with a crocodile now.

Am I the only one that thinks the tyres/rims look staggered? I mean it's probably the angle but the rear looks higher. That is one of the things I love about my sisters GT500.

[GEEo]

I think the aftermarket parts for the ZL1 is gunna be pretty sufficient.

I'm pretty sure PFADT is gonna come up with something to make the ZL1 even handle better.

[toilets]

I love the look of a lowered car but Im getting this car for handling and its track expertise. If I can lower it without affecting the handling, then I will, but I definitely wont if it will compromise the MR's capabilities.