As a car enthusiast, one of the most satisfying modifications you can do to your car is to lower it. By slamming it to the ground, you’re not only lowering its stance, but you’re also getting rid of those unsightly wheel gaps.
In Chevrolet Corvette C7’s case, you’d have more straightforward options to finish the job. If you’re planning on lowering a C7 Corvette, then the choices below are the best components to use.
Lowering Bolts
Corvettes are pretty easy to lower. That’s because General Motors made the Chevrolet Corvette so that it can be lowered on bolts. There are adjustment bolts located on the car that allow minimal ride height adjustment; hence the popular term “lowered on stock bolts.”
This is the simplest method you can do to lower your C7 Corvette, not to mention how cheap it is.
If you’re considering lowering your Chevrolet Corvette C7 with lowering bolts, you’re left with two choices. It’s either you use stock or aftermarket lowering bolts.
Stock Bolts
Using the stock bolts is the cheapest way you can do to make your car look more aggressive.
It’s actually free if you think about it. What you should do is turn the lowering bolt in your C7 Corvette counter-clockwise until the bolt pad’s bottom is close to the leaf spring. By doing so, you’re relieving up to ½” of your car’s height.
Be sure to relieve the pressure between the lowering bolt and the control arm. You can do this by using a jack or a lifting device towards the leaf spring’s end.
Aftermarket Lowering Bolts
Suppose you’re not satisfied with the ½” ride height reduction. In that case, you can opt for aftermarket lowering bolts instead. These can lower your car by about 1” lower than stock, or possibly even more.
And also, aftermarket lowering bolts offer more convenience when it comes to installation. Below are some of the best aftermarket C7 Corvette lowering bolts you can get.
aFe Control PFADT Series Lowering Kit
- Manufacturer: aFe Power
- Part Number: 410-401001-A
- Ride Height Reduction: 1.25”
- Vehicle Fitment:
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray (2014-2019)
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 (2014-2019)
The PFADT series is a popular suspension upgrade for many performance-oriented cars like the Chevrolet Camaro. They’re usually in the form of lowering springs and coilovers. Since we’re talking about the Chevrolet Corvette C7 here, we have the aFe Control PFADT Series Lowering Kit.
What you should expect with these lowering bolts is smooth suspension articulation, corrosion resistance, and quiet operation. aFe Power designed these lowering bolts for direct installation: no other modifications needed.
What’s more, these lowering bolts work well with the C7 Corvette’s shock absorbers and also the OEM transverse leaf springs.
The PFADT lowering bolts aren’t your typical run-of-the-mill bolts. They’re CNC machined and are made from stainless steel stud with wrench flats. They are also attached to an articulated foot.
And oh, they come with footpads too. The PFADT Series Lowering Kit can offer a ride height reduction of up to 1.25”, far from the ½” decrease that the stock bolts offer.
aFe Control PFADT Series Lowering Kit Features:
- Ride height reduction of up to 1.25”
- Bolts made from stainless steel
- Comes with CNC machined adjuster and wrench flats
- Comes with nylon foot pads
- Direct fit installation
- Backed by aFe Power 1-Year Warranty
Eibach PRO-KIT Lowering Hardware
- Manufacturer: Eibach
- Part Number: 410-401001-A
- Ride Height Reduction: 2.0”
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Corvette C7 EXCEPT for Z07 (2014-2019)
Now, if you want a more aggressive drop in height, then you should check out the Eibach PRO-KIT Lowering Hardware. The PRO-KIT series is a famous line within Eibach’s lowering springs, but for the C7 Corvette, Eibach has lowering bolts.
This bunch is an excellent tool if you desire a more aggressive-looking ‘Vette. That’s because it’ll lower your car by 2.0”.
The kit contains four lowering bolts and urethane pads. It’s incredibly cheap and has an excellent reputation amongst the Corvette community. Most car enthusiasts had zero to no issues with these bolts, not even the other Eibach products.
Overall, you’re going to get what you pay for with these lowering bolts: a great time and an excellent lowered car.
Drop Spindles
Aside from lowering bolts, you can also use drop spindles to lower your Chevrolet Corvette C7. Drop spindles may be far more expensive than lowering bolts, but they have much more benefits to offer.
Before we talk about the benefits, let’s briefly discuss what drop spindles are.
Your ‘Vette’s front wheels are mounted to the wheel hub. These wheel hubs are then mounted to spindles. Spindles, also known as steering knuckles, rotate sideways to allow vehicle steering through steering linkage or tie rods.
Your car already has a spindle, but an aftermarket drop spindle is much better in a lot of ways.
Drop spindles aim to relocate the shaft from its original position into a higher spot. This spot is usually two to three inches higher than the stock. By using drop spindles, you’re allowing your car’s wheels to be placed higher in the fender well and thus giving the appearance of a lowered vehicle.
And also, drop spindles can lower your C7 Corvette without affecting its suspension geometry. On top of that, you can use drop spindles along with the vehicle’s OEM springs and shocks.
That’s because everything mounted to the factory spindle will be mounted to the drop spindle as well, all of it in the exact location.
Suspension geometry is critical, especially if you plan to bring your Chevrolet Corvette C7 to the tracks. A good alignment is a difference between night and day when it comes to track driving.
Below are some of the best drop spindles you can get your hands on.
LG Motorsports Drop Spindles
- Manufacturer: LG Motorsports
- Part Number: LGC7DPS
- Ride Height Reduction: 1.0”
- Vehicle Fitment: Chevrolet Corvette C7 (2014-2019)
The LG Motorsports Drop Spindle is by far the most popular in the C7 Corvette community. That’s because the benefits it offers are real, and car enthusiasts are big fans of them. LG Motorsports claim to lower your C7 Corvette’s height by 1” without compromising both its shock travel and the suspension geometry.
The package comes with four spindles crafted from high-strength aluminum alloy, therefore offering a more robust alternative to your stock spindle.
Aside from an excellent construction that sets up your car, the LG Motorsports Drop Spindle will also prevent your wheel bearings from having less deflection. It also lessens the wear of your car’s brake components.
These kinds of spindles don’t just lower your car but also improve how it handles. This is amongst the reasons why most car enthusiasts prefer to use LG Motorsports Drop Spindles on their C7 Corvettes instead of stock/aftermarket lowering bolts.
And also, this drop spindle sets your car up for a great time on the track because it doesn’t mess with your car’s suspension geometry.
LG Motorsports Drop Spindles Features:
- Ride height reduction of up to 1.0”
- Improves handling
- Increased strength to handle caliper and wheel bearing mounts better
- Made from 6061 aluminum
- Improves bump steer geometry
- Backed by LG Motorsports Lifetime Warranty
Coilovers
Suppose you’re planning to transform your Chevrolet Corvette C7 into a dedicated track car, or maybe just make it handle sportier. In that case, coilovers might be for you. Coilovers are popular amongst performance-oriented cars because it sets their vehicles up for a sportier ride.
This is ideal both for spirited street driving and as well as the occasional or competitive track racing.
Coilovers, in a nutshell, are just coils over struts. It combines the function of both lowering springs and shocks. The only difference is most aftermarket coilovers these days offer both ride height and damping adjustability.
These come in handy, especially if you want your suspension fine-tuned.
And although the Chevrolet Corvette C7 chassis was not built to accept coilovers, many car enthusiasts still love their coilovers, to the point that they’re willing to do a coilover conversion.
To give you an idea of what coilovers are the most popular amongst the community, here are some of them below.
aFe Control PFADT Series Featherlight Coilover System
- Manufacturer: aFe Power
- Part Number: 430-401004-N
- Cylinder Design: Monotube
- Vehicle Fitment:
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray (2014-2019)
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 (2014-2019)
The aFe Control PFADT Series Featherlight Coilover System is clearly optimized, so you can use it both on the track and the streets. This kit, however, requires a C7 Corvette coilover conversion, which means you’d have to get rid of transverse leaf springs.
But, by doing so, you’re putting your car in a position where it can handle better, which is ideal for the track or any driving style that involves challenging maneuverability.
Made from 6061-T6 aluminum, you’re assured that these coilovers are made to withstand harsh situations. And also, it’s packed with features like a monotube design that uses a floating piston to split the oil and nitrogen gas.
This makes handling more predictable. On top of that, you’ll also experience a more consistent feel. All of these features match with springs specially selected for street and track use.
The aFe Control PFADT Series Featherlight Coilover System utilizes a Concentric Integrated Remote Canister, wherein the gas volume of the shocks is tripled when compared to a standard aftermarket coilover.
In addition, this CIRC’s head is a ball-on-axis, which allows you to fully articulate the front suspension.
This coilover kit is expensive, though, not to mention the fact that you’d have to do a coilover conversion in the first place.
If you’ve got deep pockets and you really want some top-tier coilovers for your Chevrolet Corvette C7, then you might as well get your hands on one of these.
aFe Control PFADT Series Featherlight Coilover System Features:
- Ride height and damping adjustment
- Lightweight and durable materials
- Integrates BOA (Ball-on-axis) for better ride and quiet operation
- Integrates CIRC (Concentric Integrated Remote Canister) for predictable handling and a more consistent feel
- Backed by aFe Power 1-Year Warranty
KW Coilover Kit V3
- Manufacturer: KW Suspension
- Part Number: 35261024
- Cylinder Design: Monotube
- Vehicle Fitment:
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray w/o Magnetic Ride Control (2014-2019)
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 w/o Magnetic Ride Control (2014-2019)
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Grand Sport w/o Magnetic Ride Control (2017-2019)
The KW Coilover Kit V3 is another one of those expensive coilovers you can have for your Chevrolet Corvette C7. We included it here because KW Suspensions are incredibly notorious for making performance cars handle even better than they used to be.
So this coilover kit, in particular, packs a lot of punch for your coilover-converted C7 Corvette.
So what does this expensive mod bring to the table? First is the coilover’s extremely durable construction. KW Suspension made these coilovers to tolerate high loads and they are wear-proof, even after long-term use.
On top of that, it has a trapezoidal thread to make sure that you’d have an easy time adjusting your car’s ride height.
Perhaps the best feature about these coilovers is the damping adjustment. These coilovers have unique damping force adjustments that work individually. You can adjust the compression in 14 ways, and the rebound infinitely.
Yes, infinitely. It’s crazy how much R&D KW Suspension has put with their coilovers.
KW Coilover Kit V3 Features:
- Inox-line stainless steel technology
- Individually adjustable
- 14-ways of compression adjustment
- Infinitely variable rebound adjustment
- High-quality components for extreme durability
- Backed by KW Suspensions 2-Year Warranty
A Quick Note You Lower Your C7 Corvette
Here’s an unwritten rule amongst experienced car enthusiasts: whenever you work on your car’s suspension, be sure to do some realignment afterward. A car suspension realignment, although often misunderstood, actually helps your vehicle perform better.
This is because it takes care of wheel toe and as well as caster and camber alignment.
This kind of car maintenance, when done correctly, will save you from a lot of unnecessary stress and wasted effort. However, taking it for granted will potentially set you up for a terrible time and a lot of wasted money.