The Chevrolet Corvette has a racing heritage that dates back over 65 years when five Corvettes raced the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956. And since this time, we have seen the car only get better as technological advancements have become available. However, one area where the sports car remained consistent for the most part is in the suspension. Instead of coil springs or coilover shocks, engineers used a transverse mono-leaf spring on the front and rear of the car up until the C8. And while this suspension did well on and off the racetracks through the years, QA1 saw room for improvement in the C5 and C6 Corvettes.
QA1’s new coilover system ditches the antiquated transverse mono leaf design and replaces the factory spring and shocks with a state-of-the-art coilover system. We talked to Damien Brase, the Fitment Technician at QA1, to get more details on this package.
Brase said, “We designed this system to bolt on a 1997-2004 C5 and 2005-2013 C6 Corvettes. This coilover system allows for height adjustments and fine-tuning the suspension with our adjustable shocks for added performance and handling.”
You can expect the QA1 coilovers to lower the base model Z51 1- to 2-inches, while the Z06 will be 1/2- to 1.5-inches lower than stock. The front and rear dampers both use a T-mount for a true bolt-on design. However, QA1 did come up with a new mount design for the fronts. Brase said, “We used a Delrin spherical ball which captures the frame in the factory location. This design allows for a solid mount design, but we don’t lose any shock height because there’s no bracket to bolt it in, giving us 4.5-inches of shock travel.”
For more information on this product and other innovative products from QA1, be sure to check out their website.