john5.7 87Iroc

I am thinking about lowering my car soon. I have stock Iroc springs on there now they let my car hit on every bump which I am sure is becasue of my stock shocks and not the springs themselves. But what I am worried about is my car always seems to die far from home and I have to have it towed all the time. It goes on a flatbed and they always scrape the hell out of my car, the nose and tail pipes, when they pull it up on the bed. This even happens when they use boards to lessen the angle of the bed to the street. If my car does this at stock height wont it be worse when lowered??? and like i said my car is towed ALOT. Any of you lowered guys have this problem when being towed worse than I do? What do you do about it? I dont want my car scraped or ripped up.

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1987 Iroc 350
GTS headlight/tail light covers
Camaro SS Wheels w/Sumitomo HTR ZII 275 rear, 255's in front
K&N filters
Adjustable Borla cat back
SLP 1 3/4 headers
w/ Air born coating
3" Catco cat
Large tube runners
ported plenum
Holley afpr

FUTURE GOAL:
To go really F'in fast!!!

Some pics of it at
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...949&Auth=false or http://members.cardomain.com/john87iroc

AlkyIROC

yes

My car sits so low that I even have problems getting a jack under it to do routine maintanence. I have to turn the front wheels and slid the jack under the car between the wheel and fender. I've had mine towed after blowing an engine earlier this year and the boom that goes under the front to slid around the front wheels bent up my rad airdam. I was surprised that it actually went under.

If you want the lowered look you must be prepared to deal with the problems that come with it also. The factory put the car at the higher level for a reason. If they came from the factory at that low level everyone would complain.

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Follow my racing progress on Stephen's racing page
and check out the race car

87 IROC-Z SuperPro ET Bracket Race Car
461 naturally aspirated Big Block

Best ET on a time slip: 11.242 altitude corrected to 10.89
Best MPH on a time slip: 121.52 altitude corrected to 125.89
Altitude corrected rear wheel HP: 497.9
Best 60 foot: 1.546

Racing at 3500 feet elevation with a typical race day over 5000 feet density altitude!
Member of the Calgary Drag Racing Association

87 IROC bracket car, 91 454SS daily driver, 95 Homebuilt Harley

87RS402

All I can tell you is that when I drove tow trucks lowered cars cost more to tow. I spent 2 hours loading a lowered Toyota truck one day and charged the guy $65 per hour while I was loading and unloading the truck. That's in addition to the towing charge.

If you want to measure things, the front needs to have 4" of clearance for the stinger if it's going to be wheel lifted. IIRC ramp approach angles for most flatbeds is around 15 degrees. Never ever let them tow an F-body from behind, that will rip the nose off of the car if they a pothole or medium size bump in the road.
EDIT: I just noticed your sig pic. Towing from behind will rip the rear louvers off the car. Don't ask me how I know.

If you must lower your car get towing insurance. That way if they damage your car your towing insurance carrier will make them repair it and/or lose all buisness from that company. (That can add up to millions depending on the city the towing company is in.)

[This message has been edited by 87RS402 (edited September 06, 2001).]

john5.7 87Iroc

Dont worry that will never happen I always demand a flatbed. I did see them tow a 4th gen from behind once. I felt sorry for that guy.

What makes me worry though is even at stock height when the car is pulled off the back of the flat bed the nose of the car scapes the ramp of the flatbed and looks like it is going to rip it off. Lowered and it would be off. Same goes for my tail pipes. Other than towing problems I dont think any bumps around me will be TOO much of a problem if I lower it, just the towing I am worried about.

Which leads me into my next question about handling when lowered. Wait Ill just ask this in a seperate post.



[This message has been edited by john5.7 87Iroc (edited September 07, 2001).]

RICH92RS350

My car is lowered quite a bit, and yes the air dam drags and even folds under itself when being winched up on a flatbed.Someone
has to pull up on the front fender so I can get a floorjack under an A-arm,and after I get it up a couple inches I can put one side on a stand and get the jack under the crossmember.Both of these minor inconveniences are worth dealing with (for me, at least) since the handling is so much better.If you wanna play, you gotta pay.
Just have touch-up paint on-hand to deal with the chewed-up air dam, and a little more routine maintenence will keep you from being towed so often.

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1992 RS,5 Speed,T-Tops,Eibach Springs(cut), KYB's, Lakewood Trailing Arms and Adjustable Panhard Bar,Posi Disc Rear,3.73 Gears,Summit Rearend Support Cover,
Del-A-Lum Bushings,300 HP Crate Motor,Crane Comp-U-Cam,Edelbrock TBI Intake, Turbo City Ported Throttle Body and Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator,Open Element
Air Cleaner, Ground Control Strut Tower Brace and Caster/Camber Adjusters,SLP 1-5/8" Headers,Flowmaster 3" American Thunder Exhaust,3" Cat,Centerforce Dual
Friction Clutch,Hayes Billet Flywheel,B&M Power Steering Cooler,Big Thumpin' Stereo.

Omega

iTrader: (1)

If your car needs to be towed so much, why don't you spend the money on making sure it doesn't brake down? I would rather see a not so cool looking car that runs than a cool lowered car on a flatbed with the nose half ripped off!!

You have a nice looking camaro as it is, don't risk screwing it up.

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• 89 Formula 305 WS6
  SFC's, LCA's, Air Foil
  Spohn Panhard Bar
  Flowmaster Cat Back, Tranny Cooler
  A/F Ratio Meter (not a mod but it sure spurs interest)
  Trans Temp Gauge
  Most "Free" Mods
  3:73, Zexel Torsion Posi
  !cat
  CAI W/ K&N
  
  15.559 @ 88 MPH
  (Not good enough)

AlkyIROC

Mine has only been towed back to the pits 3 times in the last 12 months because of blown engines.

87RS402

I wouldnt worry about the nose or pipes rubbing, it's normal. If you want to see dragging watch a private property impound. I drug a 2000 Acura backwards, in park with the parking brake on, onto the deck. That's dragging.

My advice? Do what you want with the car and get towing insurance. A good driver will be able to get the car on and off without damage regardless of weather or not the car is lowered.
I hate to reccomend them but AAA contract towing companies do alot of lowered cars and are usually prepared for them. It just takes time and alot of lumber to walk the car on and off.

john5.7 87Iroc

I dont want to make my car sound like a piece of crap cause its really not. Its just that soo many little things happen. Like one time my brand new coil died on me and I couldnt figure out what was wrong in the parking lot so I had to have it towed home. Another time another brand new part, my radiator, something like a rock
Somehow hit it and broke a hole in it and had to have it towed home. And another time (I hate to say it in this post) but I bottomed out on a speed bump and it ripped my trans drain plug right off of the pan but that was due to stupidity, Higher than normal speed bump, and bad shocks. So its just that I have very bad luck. Maybe I should look into buying a trailer or something . Thanks

Mongoose

iTrader: (2)

My Formula is lowered with Eibach Sportlines and I've had to have it towed on two occassions. The first time was with a rollback that practically ripped the air dam off. The next time I had it towed with the front wheels off the ground without incident. The driver said he has better results with lowered cars using this method.


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Mongoose-NCTGA-1990 Pontiac Formula/305 TBI-700R4 with Edelbrock Performer TBI intake,TES headers,and STB,K&N,MSD-6AL,Holley laser shot coil,Accel Extreme 9000 wires,Jet Stage 2 chip,TCI shift kit with corvette servo,Richmond 3.73 gear with Auburn 3 series posi,high flow cat,SLP 3" cat back,Eibach sportline springs,Energy Suspension poly throughout,Lakewood LCA and adjustable panhard bar package,SSM subframe connectors,IROC wonder bar,Tokico 5 way adjustable struts and shocks,Autometer electric fuel pressure gauge,Alpine,JL Audio,MB Quart,92 GTA taillights,92 GTA aero wing and hatch,Steve Spohn LCA relocater kit and torque arm,MacEwen White face gauges,84 T/A cold air induction air cleaner,Grant Formula GT wheel.

87RS402

Except that your tranny had no lubrication the whole time it was being towed.