I'd dare to say the most abused part of our Corvette is not the engine, the brakes or the recently replaced tires. I'd say it's the air dam.
With every sound of scraping plastic, I clenched my teeth and white knuckled the steering wheel, wishing for the sonic misery it to end as soon as possible. My weekend in the Corvette was stressful.
I guess for people who drive cars this low to the ground, looking for clearance and ways to get into parking garages and over speed bumps is a way of life. After my weekend in the Corvette, it's no everyday way of life for me. Sure you might say "It comes with the territory" or "Stop being a panzy and suck it up." Do you drive a low slung car like this all the time? I'd bet most do not.
I scraped the plastic more than I care to remember this past weekend. Even when I thought I was being super careful going through a rain run off trough in an intersection, it scraped. Taking the angle over a speed bump at low speed, it scraped. Just driving down the road and hitting a small bump, it scraped. Ok, it might just be a piece of plastic, but sound it makes me think I'm about to rip off a piece of suspension.
The high point of stress was going into a parking structure I'd never been to before late Saturday night. I didn't notice the entrance had a ridiculous change of angle until I was right on top of it. I entered the parking structure at a meticulously slow pace, hoping not to drag the nose. The guy behind me decided he could beat the light too. He took the left turn and tucked in close behind me. The fact I was trying to be careful didn't bode well for him as the oncoming traffic let him know he was being a jerk by honking at him, which he in turn started to honk at me. If I knew of another entrance to the garage I would have taken it, but I was stuck in the situation and had to deal with it. Despite the careful speed, the angle of approach, there was a sickening thud as some chunk of metal hit the cement. Garage entrance FAIL.
There is no doubt that the 'Vette is a blast to drive on flat, predictable surfaces. But the real world responsibilities are more than what I'd want for my day to day lifestyle. I guess if I was really into our Z06, I'd find ways to get around and minimize the abuse. This just makes me realize I'm not that into our 'Vette to overcome those difficulties.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer @ 49,670 miles.
editor_karl says:
11:59 AM, 07/12/10
Welcome to life in a C5 Corvette. My driveway is extremely flat (as driveways go) and I never have any vehicle scrape, even in my Ford GT or the numerous exotic test cars I've taken home. But whenever I've tried to park a C5 Corvette in my garage..."SCRAAAAAAAAAPE!!"
I try to tell myself the flimsy black plastic is just an "early warning system" and so it's almost meant to be scraped -- just to keep driver's from being any more aggressive about speed when going over uneven pavement or speed bumps.
But again, no other sports car I've driven (many of them more expensive, more exotic and more capable than a C5) are as scrape-prone as the C5. I'd be more annoyed, but my apathy takes over pretty quickly when I hear the car's incessant scraping on anything short of a pool table, bowling alley or putting green driving surface.
Silly, but whatever...
tmanz says:
12:33 PM, 07/12/10
The guy following you into the parking garage should have realized that you never try to jump in after a low car when it is entering any parking lot, driveway etc.
Think the Z06 is fun try it with an old lowered car with a fiberglass spoiler in the front. Those don't forgive like hidden black plastic.
lmbvette says:
01:05 PM, 07/12/10
The plastic wind deflector always makes that grading noise, but you do get used to it (I'm serious). However, while looking at that picture's upper right-hand corner, I noticed that you (and/or others) have hit the metal frame on some concrete bits. I frequently hit that metal brace on parking blocks or my own garage step-up when not paying attention. That is the piece you need to worry about.
steevmitch says:
02:18 PM, 07/12/10
my 2010 Genesis Coupe rides low and i've murdered the underbelly more than a couple times. these things hate me: speed bumps, parking stops, curbs, edging, etc. the garage where i work has these heinous bumps between the rises and the middle section and if i don't go at an angle, i scrape both the underside of the front scoop AND the underbelly. so painful. was a hard transition from my Toyota truck, for sure.
csubowtie says:
02:47 PM, 07/12/10
At least it's plastic and not $$$ Carbon Fiber...
ttopjohn says:
03:28 PM, 07/12/10
The noise is something I try to avoid, but I take consolation in the fact that the air deflector is designed to contact the pavement. The center section anyway - it has a spring loaded hinge so it can fold back when you scrape on something. Still wears it a bit, but not so much as it would if there was no hinge. Nice touch from the Corvette engineers.
hybris says:
07:00 PM, 07/12/10
Anyway of adding air bags or something to the Vette to give it a small 2"- 3" lift to make it a little more livable?
super_ongoy says:
02:08 AM, 07/13/10
Abused! I thought the entry was going to be about how you drove the heck out of the vette instead of trying to climb over a hump.
You should have gotten out of the car and started abusing the jerk behind you. What was he driving anyway?
fundango says:
11:10 AM, 07/13/10
As lmbvette pointed out, that piece of metal frame in that picture really looks like it's taking a beating.
This is the reason cars like the M3/RS4, Evo/STI, and even the M5/CTS-V really make some sense. They offer a lot of the performance that genuine sports cars do, but in more practical packaging. And that's not just in terms of ride height/ground clearance, but also seating, storage space, and foul weather capability (with the AWD cars).
Don't get me wrong, I love the feel of driving a low-slung, track-focused sports car like the Vette, but I completely agree they have their drawbacks as real-world cars.
stingray454 says:
12:17 PM, 07/13/10
An aftermarket company makes little roller wheels to protect the metal brackets (I think it's the radiator support frame). They work great for those "sickening thud" times. FWIW, for all the scraping and thuds my '02 Z06 has incurred over 8 and a half years and 54k miles, I've never had to replace the plastic front spoiler, and the nose and body panels themselves (the painted parts) have never hit anything. If you do have to replace the spoiler from scrape wear, I think it's like $70 or something. So really, don't worry about it.
c5z06er says:
01:36 PM, 07/13/10
I have a gravel driveway 1/2 mile long and once the spoiler got caught on grass and flipped over and began to funnel gravel up towards my radiator. That sucked. Luckily I could tell what happened immediately from the noise... stopped and backed up. Had to replace the spoiler. It was about $70 (you are correct, stingray454) and was a piece of cake. I've had no other problems with it. The vette has a long nose, so I'd rather have the piece of plastic as a warning than not have it there and just smash some important bits instead.
v8vroom says:
07:42 PM, 07/13/10
yaaaawn
I'm surprised at how something like this can generate so many responses. A Corvette without that long, low nose would look like............something else.