crossing speed bumps and driveway enterances

[grumpyvette]

Every once in a while I see, some guy driving a corvette try speeding over speed bumps, or turning into a drive way with a noticeable dip or stepped concrete rain gutter at the entrance,too the property or man hole covers that stick up well above the road surface level, the usual result is damage to low hanging chin spoilers or the suspension, or deeper oil or transmission pans or low headers etc. you quickly learn that these low clearance performance cars like most corvette, and similar cars , that they have limited ground clearance, and you have little choice but to slow down, and cross over these hazards slowly or do your very best to avoid them, I know several places I choose not to drive my corvettes due to excessively steep drive way entrances or speed bumps, if you drive a corvette youll quickly realize its NOT a 4x4 truck, and can,t drive over stuff that would hardly be noticed by one.
Now purely from a geometry and clearance perspective , many times you effectively gain a bit more road to under the car clearance, if you use an angle of 30-45 degrees of approach vs perpendicular to the dip in the pavement on entering a drive way or trying to cross a speed bump AND REMEMBER too cross it at very low speed,.... obviously not always an option. but failure to anticipate and drive carefully can get rather expensive and time consuming as a result of damage inflicted to the cars lower areas
I added a deeper trans fluid pan to my corvette it was about 1.5" deeper than the stock pan, and reduced the ground clearance by about 1" I avoided issues with ground clearance by having previously swapped to larger diameter rims and tires which had previously raised my under car clearance by about a similar 1.5", but without that previous wheel and tire upgrade I think I would have been in serious trouble with the lower ground clearance under the vette!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qhxgglcO0
viewtopic.php?f=80&t=1158&p=2361&hilit=skid+plate#p2361

IF YOU DON,T THINK OIL PANS AND FRAMES HIT SPEED BUMPS WHERE ARE ALL THE GROOVES IN THE CONCRETE FROM??







IF YOU DON,T THINK GETTING YOUR OIL PAN,TRANS PAN,HEADERS,AND FRAME UP AT LEAST 4" UP OFF from the pavement as you drive is important!

HERES A RATHER TYPICAL RAISED OBSTACLE, (its a fuel tank access port but man hole lids can be very similar)that can cause quite a bit of under car frame, and oil an damage

HERES AN UNLUCKY CORVETTE FRAME THAT HIT IT


viewtopic.php?f=80&t=10730&p=46843#p46843



just a few pictures I found posted that easily demonstrate internal tire damage can cause serious issues with stability, braking and control, and yeah, hitting a few curbs, chuck holes and speed bumps with your corvette,or muscle car,will be unlikely to help tire durability

[philly]

SOMETIMES ITS UNAVOIDABLE, especially since my vette is lowered. i just go slow and try to avoid as much crap as possible... every time i scrape it hurts tho.

[NOT A TA]

The video with the Chevy II looked like it had a really deep trans pan. Guess he never looked to see how close to the ground it was. My bird had less than 3" clearance to the exhaust so I had to be very cautious.

A lot of the newer cars have plastics that take a beating like the Corvettes. I've been learning and practicing plastic repair/fabrication/paint techniques recently. Hopefully I'll be learning Nitrogen welding plastics sometime during the next couple weeks.

[87vette81big]

I never lowered my 87 Corvette convertible.
I never will.
Need the extra ground clearance for real world driving.
The C4 Verts sit 1/2 -5/8" higher than the coupes.
For extra room to get 5" inches to the ground with the Big X-brace intact.
If anything it needs to be higher up in the air.
Fitting 31" meats out back would do it.
Then can use 4.30 to 5.38 gears in the 9.3 Pontiac rear I want to 4-link in.
Turbo 400 trans.
Drag Race. Old School Gasser Tech that still works.
I have the parts & lots of them.