But why lowering the C8 tho?? My C8 is lower than my GT500 so i don’t see a point of lowering the C8 even more. I changed my wheels to the 20” front & 21” rear is for me is perfect
Hey Will23 thanks for the comment. Honestly for me the lowering doesnt have as much to do with getting my C8 lower but rather trying to remove a bit off the excessive wheel gap even with my 20/21 front/rears wheels. Least for me it felt a bit excessive. The lowering that I did just matches to the max lowering your able to do with the Z51 coilover suspension. Never wanted a crazy amount of lowering. Regardless figured this was a good informative video about my experience. Nothing im mad about just is what it is. 🤷♂️ Have a good one! 👍😎
I realize this is 10 mos old however just wanted to add my story. I just had the same thing happen. And unfortunately Chevrolet also just released a bulletin in January of 2024 stating that any modification done on the front of a lift system car, voids the warranty. In this Chevy released bulletin are pictures and one of the pictures is the paragon lowering collars so they have this particular mod on their radar. The dealership is mandated to take pictures before work begins. Anyway, I was getting the same message but I actually had a pump failure which in turn caused both struts to have damage and they started leaking. Because this bulletin had come out and I had the paragon lowering collars on my car, it voided the warranty and I spent $4K for a new pump and two new struts. The dealership even told me they are pretty confident the lowering kit had nothing to do with my failure, but,,,, Anyway, I am not bashing paragon or their product, but this story is real and I have actually heard of a couple more this has happened to. It's unfortunate. One that chevy is having such trouble with the lift systems (still) and two, an awesome mod was the reason I paid out of pocket but not directly the cause.
Going to finally be doing this Paragon lowering this upcoming week after buying everything many months ago. One thing I'm not understanding. Didn't the people (like me now) who used the front lowering collar do the installation themselves? Wouldn't people simply save the OEM collars and reverse the Paragon collar install, putting it back to spec before taking their C8s into the dealership?
@@michaelservetus5340 You are absolutely right, if I knew now what I didn't know then,,,, I definitely would of done this. For my situation, I had not seen this video, I was under the impression I was in warranty even with the mod, and I definitely did not know anything about the bulletin. Secondly. my lift was still working, it was only leaking from what appeared to be from the pump or cap. Why would I of thought I needed to take the lowering kit off for a cap leak or a pump? NOW,,, lesson learned and a costly one at that as there was way more wrong that moved them down to the struts,,,, So, I realize people can be on here and say "Why didn't you just,,,," Other factors involved, but you are not wrong either, I really wish I wouldn't of assumed so much in my particular situation. That is why sharing this information is important no matter what the factors are,,, hopefully people take note and remove the kit.
Carlos, This is great information for many people as they would probably be affected by this issue too! Sorry to hear about your issue though! I have also heard some conflicting stories on weather or not switching to high flow cats will void GM's warranty as well!? A dealership just installed a set of FabSpeed Exhaust and Cats and said it doesn't void the warranty. Many others say it does? Have you heard about this? Be well -Shane
Hey Shane thanks for the comment! So its honestly one of those gray areas and is dependent on the service dealer you work with whether it will void or not. The big difference is if GM has a specific bulletin out for an aftermarket part that they say WILL void warranty. In those cases its a bit more clear. Generally my philosophy though is if the part directly connects to the issue part or if they are separate systems entirely. Like my Borla exhaust is a completely different system than my front suspension so warranty shouldnt be voided because of that specific part. It gets into a gray area if your playing with exhaust as it does connect to the motor and change out the full system headers midcats and catback (which why theres mixed thoughts). In your case id argue it doesnt void warranty because your improving efficiency of the motor performance and the OEM ecu will actually adjust for the better exhaust output. When you get to the point that your throwing a supercharger or turbo and forcing the system to perform a way it cant adjust without piggyback or re-tuning is when its more clear to me your on voided warranty territory. Hope that helps! 👍😎
I am older….The less mechanical functionality of cars, the better. No front end lift or lowering for me. Lowered Vettes look better than stock, however, those are some of the issues you have to deal with when you add the lift and lower your car. Good luck. Sorry about your C8 issues. Love your content.
Thanks for the comment Ellie. I do agree, the simpler a design or less mechanical systems, the less likely something is to catestrophically break if its well designed to begin with. Thanks for the compliment on the videos! Means alot 🙏👍
So quick thing I forgot to mention in video. This MOD Ive had on my C8 for about 10 months and 8k miles on it before getting this error message. I dont directly believe its responsible and I do alot of work as you see from alot of my HowTo videos so theres multiple factors in play. Just sharing my experience regarding warranty and being very transparent with the service dealer who were great also. Did you have a similar experience and Void your C8 warranty or know extra info from experience? Comment below!
Hey Movie thanks for the comment. So I did know about some having front lift issues some time ago but it wasnt until after I had already lowered my C8 did I know about the GM bulletin that focused directly on that front mod to void the warranty. Otherwise i would have gone a different route most likely.
@@NuHorizonC8 If I remember right, they were covering it at first. Then they started seeing a pattern. I forget which UA-camr I saw with collars on his car. He did a big piece on it. Not long after the C8’s were being delivered. At first the dealer was assisting him. Then they backed out of it and said you’re on your own basically. Wish I could remember.
@@NuHorizonC8 Them anything at all that was front suspension related, lift or otherwise , was no warranty. Others have had fluid leaks but not sure if all were lowed.
Yeah i heard similar but couldnt tell you which UA-camr i heard it from first. If you end up figuring out who, please let me know. Id love to trace back a few things 👍😎
Main reason I didn’t lower the car. Looks great with that 1” removed but not worth it in the long run, plus I need that inch to get in my driveway. For me, lowering defeats having the lift system. I saw where Matt ‘RearwheelDriver’ in Orlando had the same issue and results back in 2021 and just not worth it.. sorry you had to experience this.
This was very interesting. My question is this. What’s the point of getting the front lift option and then lowering the car? It seems counterintuitive. I did get the front lift option on my 20202 C8. To me it’s a must have option because the car is low to begin with. It does “wonder me some” why you’d pay for the front lift option and then spend more money to lower the car. Anyway this was good information and I thank you for it. Cheers!
Hey Sherlock thanks for the comment. For me the point on lowering is not necessarily to get the car lower to the ground but to reduce the gap from the wheel and the fender. The stock height to me has a bit of a wide gap between the top of the wheel and that fender and this helps reduce that just enough.
@@NuHorizonC8 Do you notice any ground clearance issues in street driving? I agree about the look, but just hate hearing scraping noises when I’m out driving around. If you had to do it over again would you spend the money on the front lift option? Cheers!
Some clearance issues but honestly those are situations where there was a drastic curb that even at stock height i would scrape. I Definitely think its worth it as its saved me a few times. The alternative actually though is getting an undertray scrape protector like from acscomposites. It works with their front splitters and has a replaceable sacrificial layer that you can scrap with zero worries. It even protects the front lip of your splitter so the splitter nevet gets any of the damage. Definitely worth getting if especially if you dont have front lift.
@@NuHorizonC8 Nice chatting with you this morning. Now I’ve been out in the garage looking at my car. It would look better a bit lower I must admit. Take good care. Cheers!
The cars that don't have the front end lift can be lowered by the adjusting the factory adjustment nuts. I wonder why the lowering collars would pose an issue with the front end lift cars. Also the fluid in the hydraulic system should never go low, if it does there is a leak somewhere.
@@Walt1960 so calling a guy fat for no reason because clearly thats not the issue... based on your picture your an older guy... May I recommend you act your age instead of like a child... 🙄
Hey bryce yup thats the corvette world of Dallas. Im more in the west side of Fort Worth but go to corvette and car meetups throughout DFW. Its a good area for sure
Good question bro... I've seen my fluid level get low once in the 11 months since lowering and it was about a month ago id say. Never saw any specific spot ever in my usual maintenance.
I'm writing all this in case it may help someone who wants to lower their C8 without voiding their manufacturer's warranty for their lift system. The non-OEM collar would not cause fluid to leak. However, in order to get the OEM collar off and the lowered collar on, you need to disconnect the fluid line from the front lift system. This involves taking off the respective bolts which connect the fluid line to the lift system on each side. There is also a copper washer which, when tightened, keeps the fluid from leaking out (in the same way a copper washer will usually be used in connection with the motor oil drain plug/bolt). When you disconnect this bolt, the fluid will leak out the same way brake fluid would leak out if you disconnect a brake line. You have to be careful when you disconnect or tighten the bolt (along with the copper washer) connecting the fluid line to the lift system so that you don't damage the bolt/threads. And, when you're done installing the lowered collar, you have to add fluid to the fluid reservoir for the lift system to replace the fluid that will have leaked out of the unattached line when you disconnected the bolts. When you're all done, you've got to make sure that the two respective lift system fluid lines you disconnected and reconnected are not leaking at the respective bolts or elsewhere. The manufacturer (Chevy) changed the design of the front lift reservoir cap after certain vehicles (although relatively few in number) had an issue with fluid leaking out of a pin hole in the cap (a pin hole designed as I understand it to allow the release of pressure in the reservoir). If you do it correctly, and make sure you don't have any leaks when your done (and make sure that no leaks develop later), I personally believe there is no real reason that using lowered collars should void the manufacturer's warranty. A dealership is almost certainly going to have an incentive to avoid doing warranty work based upon any excuse they can muster. whether or not that excuse is legit. I've had my C8 (with front lift and mag ride) for three weeks now and I'm definitely lowering it and widening the stance once my new wheels arrive. To the extent I might ever have any mechanical issue with the lift system in the future after lowering my C8, I will be certain that lowering it didn't cause the issue because I will absolutely make sure that the lift system fluid is not leaking and that the fluid level is properly maintained. In addition, I will certainly reinstall the OEM collars first on a temporary basis before ever taking my C8 into a dealership for front lift system warranty repairs or potential front lift warranty repairs. Provided the collar change is performed correctly and as a result it is clear that any problem that may arise with the lift system is not caused by the change, in my view, there is no ethical or moral obligation to unwisely inform a dealership that you've used any non-OEM collars at any time. There is absolutely no legal obligation to do so. I will not be giving the dealership an excuse to get out of doing warranty work even though the the dealer's excuse for voiding the warranty is not truly the cause of the mechanical problem which may need to be repaired. Nothing in this post is legal advice to anyone.
Hey Bro. So the lowering springs is a gray area for voiding warranty. Technically they can but depending on the dealer you take it to for the work, some dealers will say yes it voids while others say it wont. Ive had other C8 owners experience both and tell me their versions. The lowering collars are the only thing atm that GM has a hard service bulletin on that will be flagged as voiding warranty for suspension issues. Hope that helps.
I had the collars and tried to install them , however I couldn’t get the top hat off. After trying 2x I just put it back together to stock however by then I had cracked open the front lift multiple times, it leaked and gave me the same message. I ended up buying the special GM copper washers , fixing the leaks myself and that stopped the leaking brought back the front lift … sounds like I dodged a bullet installing the collars…😢
Hey David, yes I do believe keeping an eye out for the lift fluid level is definitely a good precaution. I did have one instance where I saw the level get low on my C8 and topped it back up. I do think thats a good regular maintenance to check maybe every 2-3 months id say.
Hey D thanks for the comment. So im working on an upcomming video talking about all of that. Found some new info and did some testing of my own that definitely will be interesting to share. Hope to have that video out in the next few days. 👍😎
I know $2k is real money, but that's not that bad considering the cost of the vehicle being repaired. It cost $1300 just to get the rear hatch to open on my vw tdi sportwagen. It needed a new central locking module. So is your front lift warranty voided, or still intact because of no third-party inspection?
Hey Tracey thanks for the comment! And agreed all things considering the bill could be worse for sure. So my warranty is technically not voided because I didn't go through with the third party inspection. If I had, it would have definitely been voided. But I didn't know how that process would look like until I brought the C8 to the service dealer and that's what I figured was worth sharing in my experience going through that process.
They basically had said if I went with the repair through them that it would void warranty for the suspension but it could be considered the entire car depending on how they worded it. It would come down to the dealer from my understanding.
Hey FatCat thanks for the comment. 👍 So I wanted to see if they indeed would be an issue warranty wise or not. Its one of those I wanted to be as transparent as possible both with the service dealer and everyone who may have the mod so others could make an informed decision. Also the mod had been on for about 10 months before this error occured so it didnt appear to me to cause the issue. In fact thats why I dont say the collar caused the issue. Just what the technician told me. Ive come across some interesting new info actually that I may make a follow up video for. Thanks for the comment! 👍😎
I’m really sorry that happened to you! Sucks big time. Paragon should step up and take ownership of this!! They continue to sell the lowering collars, knowing that they void the warranty.. I was literally just about to order them
Appreciate the comment. 👍 Yeah stuff happens unfortunately. And theres always some level of risk when it comes to MODs and warranty coverage. But yeah id go with lowering springs instead of the collar. Theres no bulleten from GM on that direction of lowering so more likely to still have warranty coverage.
@@NuHorizonC8 So, did they say that Lowering springs would not void the warranty? Can you use lowering springs and not adjust the front lift?. I need to explore this option, thanks
They didnt say that specifically for obvious reasons but my incline is that the bulletin from GM is specifically targeting the lowering collars. So theres a better arguement to be made that lowering springs would not get flagged on a voided warranty. Like i said its all varying levels of risk when it comes to that. Im seeing theres less risk of voiding warranty using the springs.
I can’t imagine putting them on my car! It is low as it is! You have a front lift! Why? So you don’t scrape on shit bro. It seems to be contraindicated. I will never modify anything on my C8. Im good with how it was built.
FYI: The main objective is usually not to make the bottom of the vehicle closer to the ground, although that is one of the results or side effects. The objective is to reduce the gap between the fenders and the tires/wheels. If you have the front lift option, whether or not you lower the stance of your C8 to reduce wheel gap, using the front lift will likely reduce the likelihood you're going to scrape the front lip. In addition to lowering the vehicle to reduce the wheel gap, many people who lower their vehicle will also use fitment methods so that the wheels will be wider with respect to the fenders. This can be done by getting wider wheels/rims, by getting wheels/rims with a better offset with respect to the fenders, or using spacers to push the wheels out for a wider stance. People do it because it looks way better when there is only a very minimal wheel gap between the wheels and fenders. I'd be willing to wager a lot of money that something like 9 out of 10 people would pick a C8 which has a stance with a very small wheel gap compared to a C8 with a larger wheel gap as the better looking car (all other things being equal). If you want the stance of your C8 to look more like a Porsche Safari than a Porsche GT3 RS, then keeping the wheel gap of your C8 completely stock is for you.
@@sterlingcorbett1681 FYI - I have over 50 years experience with modified cars. Very modified. One example is my 1967 Chevy II. A 6-71 blown Dart Little M Pro block 406. The car is modified from the ground up and was built on a rotisserie. A true 9.? street car. It is for this reason - and the highly modified state of my other cars currently owned or sold in the past - that causes my deep commitment to NOT modify by C8. At my age and mindset, I see no reason whatsoever to change this car. I want it to look like what it is, not another car. Now that I have popped off, allow me to soften by saying: to each his or her own. I added vent screens. But I will never do anything else to it. The other cars? I’ll wrench and bang the dog shit out of them. In the end? I am a 66-year-old curmudgeon.
Hey Simply thanks for the comment! I had wished i had mentioned this in the video but missed saying it. So the MOD was installed 10 months ago and had 8,000 miles on it before getting the error message which leads me to believe that the issue is not related to the Mod. What I state about the cause of the failure is what the GM technician had stated to me based on their feedback from GM. Ive actually gotten new info, that im still confirming, that may point to the issue being sensor related actually and may do a follow up video once i know more. Thanks for the comment!
When they asked if I was interested they had started at a 50k markup. But they were willing to work with me though and actually gave me a decent markup deal that was really tempting but im a bit away from pulling that sort of trigger. If this happened a few month from now, this would have been A VERY DIFFERENT kind of video lol. 🤣😎
This is great info, and could possibly affect a whole lot of people. Good job reporting this.
Thanks bud I appreciate it! 👍
But why lowering the C8 tho?? My C8 is lower than my GT500 so i don’t see a point of lowering the C8 even more. I changed my wheels to the 20” front & 21” rear is for me is perfect
Hey Will23 thanks for the comment. Honestly for me the lowering doesnt have as much to do with getting my C8 lower but rather trying to remove a bit off the excessive wheel gap even with my 20/21 front/rears wheels. Least for me it felt a bit excessive. The lowering that I did just matches to the max lowering your able to do with the Z51 coilover suspension. Never wanted a crazy amount of lowering. Regardless figured this was a good informative video about my experience. Nothing im mad about just is what it is. 🤷♂️ Have a good one! 👍😎
I’m amazed at what UA-camrs do.
I realize this is 10 mos old however just wanted to add my story. I just had the same thing happen. And unfortunately Chevrolet also just released a bulletin in January of 2024 stating that any modification done on the front of a lift system car, voids the warranty. In this Chevy released bulletin are pictures and one of the pictures is the paragon lowering collars so they have this particular mod on their radar. The dealership is mandated to take pictures before work begins. Anyway, I was getting the same message but I actually had a pump failure which in turn caused both struts to have damage and they started leaking. Because this bulletin had come out and I had the paragon lowering collars on my car, it voided the warranty and I spent $4K for a new pump and two new struts. The dealership even told me they are pretty confident the lowering kit had nothing to do with my failure, but,,,, Anyway, I am not bashing paragon or their product, but this story is real and I have actually heard of a couple more this has happened to. It's unfortunate. One that chevy is having such trouble with the lift systems (still) and two, an awesome mod was the reason I paid out of pocket but not directly the cause.
Going to finally be doing this Paragon lowering this upcoming week after buying everything many months ago. One thing I'm not understanding. Didn't the people (like me now) who used the front lowering collar do the installation themselves? Wouldn't people simply save the OEM collars and reverse the Paragon collar install, putting it back to spec before taking their C8s into the dealership?
@@michaelservetus5340 You are absolutely right, if I knew now what I didn't know then,,,, I definitely would of done this. For my situation, I had not seen this video, I was under the impression I was in warranty even with the mod, and I definitely did not know anything about the bulletin. Secondly. my lift was still working, it was only leaking from what appeared to be from the pump or cap. Why would I of thought I needed to take the lowering kit off for a cap leak or a pump? NOW,,, lesson learned and a costly one at that as there was way more wrong that moved them down to the struts,,,, So, I realize people can be on here and say "Why didn't you just,,,," Other factors involved, but you are not wrong either, I really wish I wouldn't of assumed so much in my particular situation. That is why sharing this information is important no matter what the factors are,,, hopefully people take note and remove the kit.
Paragon performance needs to see this. I almost bought their lowering collars but decided to do it by lowering it the 3/4 inch on the factory shocks
Sorry about you having issues. It is a good thing to know.
Thanks Stupid Fast Truck. 👍 Hey things happen. Better to know and share than not. 🤷♂️😎 Have a good one bud!
Take off the lowering collars then take it to the dealer to get it repaired.
Carlos,
This is great information for many people as they would probably be affected by this issue too! Sorry to hear about your issue though! I have also heard some conflicting stories on weather or not switching to high flow cats will void GM's warranty as well!? A dealership just installed a set of FabSpeed Exhaust and Cats and said it doesn't void the warranty. Many others say it does? Have you heard about this?
Be well
-Shane
Hey Shane thanks for the comment! So its honestly one of those gray areas and is dependent on the service dealer you work with whether it will void or not. The big difference is if GM has a specific bulletin out for an aftermarket part that they say WILL void warranty. In those cases its a bit more clear. Generally my philosophy though is if the part directly connects to the issue part or if they are separate systems entirely. Like my Borla exhaust is a completely different system than my front suspension so warranty shouldnt be voided because of that specific part. It gets into a gray area if your playing with exhaust as it does connect to the motor and change out the full system headers midcats and catback (which why theres mixed thoughts). In your case id argue it doesnt void warranty because your improving efficiency of the motor performance and the OEM ecu will actually adjust for the better exhaust output. When you get to the point that your throwing a supercharger or turbo and forcing the system to perform a way it cant adjust without piggyback or re-tuning is when its more clear to me your on voided warranty territory. Hope that helps! 👍😎
Thanks for your transparency, this truthfully video will help many people who decide to do it.
Hopefully! Appreciate the comment bro!
I am older….The less mechanical functionality of cars, the better. No front end lift or lowering for me. Lowered Vettes look better than stock, however, those are some of the issues you have to deal with when you add the lift and lower your car. Good luck. Sorry about your C8 issues. Love your content.
Thanks for the comment Ellie. I do agree, the simpler a design or less mechanical systems, the less likely something is to catestrophically break if its well designed to begin with. Thanks for the compliment on the videos! Means alot 🙏👍
So quick thing I forgot to mention in video. This MOD Ive had on my C8 for about 10 months and 8k miles on it before getting this error message. I dont directly believe its responsible and I do alot of work as you see from alot of my HowTo videos so theres multiple factors in play. Just sharing my experience regarding warranty and being very transparent with the service dealer who were great also. Did you have a similar experience and Void your C8 warranty or know extra info from experience? Comment below!
You lowered the car maybe 1" ? Was it worth it? Who knows what other problems you caused. Yet to be determined I guess.
Think first. Act second.
I have heard of this a ton of times. Surprised you hadn’t heard of this already. Started almost the minute the C8’s hit the showroom floor.
Hey Movie thanks for the comment. So I did know about some having front lift issues some time ago but it wasnt until after I had already lowered my C8 did I know about the GM bulletin that focused directly on that front mod to void the warranty. Otherwise i would have gone a different route most likely.
@@NuHorizonC8 If I remember right, they were covering it at first. Then they started seeing a pattern. I forget which UA-camr I saw with collars on his car. He did a big piece on it. Not long after the C8’s were being delivered. At first the dealer was assisting him. Then they backed out of it and said you’re on your own basically. Wish I could remember.
@@NuHorizonC8 Them anything at all that was front suspension related, lift or otherwise , was no warranty. Others have had fluid leaks but not sure if all were lowed.
Yeah i heard similar but couldnt tell you which UA-camr i heard it from first. If you end up figuring out who, please let me know. Id love to trace back a few things 👍😎
Thanks. 👍
Main reason I didn’t lower the car. Looks great with that 1” removed but not worth it in the long run, plus I need that inch to get in my driveway. For me, lowering defeats having the lift system.
I saw where Matt ‘RearwheelDriver’ in Orlando had the same issue and results back in 2021 and just not worth it.. sorry you had to experience this.
This was very interesting. My question is this. What’s the point of getting the front lift option and then lowering the car? It seems counterintuitive. I did get the front lift option on my 20202 C8. To me it’s a must have option because the car is low to begin with. It does “wonder me some” why you’d pay for the front lift option and then spend more money to lower the car. Anyway this was good information and I thank you for it. Cheers!
Hey Sherlock thanks for the comment. For me the point on lowering is not necessarily to get the car lower to the ground but to reduce the gap from the wheel and the fender. The stock height to me has a bit of a wide gap between the top of the wheel and that fender and this helps reduce that just enough.
@@NuHorizonC8 Do you notice any ground clearance issues in street driving? I agree about the look, but just hate hearing scraping noises when I’m out driving around. If you had to do it over again would you spend the money on the front lift option? Cheers!
Some clearance issues but honestly those are situations where there was a drastic curb that even at stock height i would scrape. I Definitely think its worth it as its saved me a few times. The alternative actually though is getting an undertray scrape protector like from acscomposites. It works with their front splitters and has a replaceable sacrificial layer that you can scrap with zero worries. It even protects the front lip of your splitter so the splitter nevet gets any of the damage. Definitely worth getting if especially if you dont have front lift.
@@NuHorizonC8 Nice chatting with you this morning. Now I’ve been out in the garage looking at my car. It would look better a bit lower I must admit. Take good care. Cheers!
You should contact the manufacturer of those collars....see what they say!
The cars that don't have the front end lift can be lowered by the adjusting the factory adjustment nuts. I wonder why the lowering collars would pose an issue with the front end lift cars. Also the fluid in the hydraulic system should never go low, if it does there is a leak somewhere.
You might think about the amount of weight on your lift system. May I recommend a treadmill.
@@Walt1960 so calling a guy fat for no reason because clearly thats not the issue... based on your picture your an older guy... May I recommend you act your age instead of like a child... 🙄
I have my rims on the way 21/20 setup. Im going to have my dealership lower my car a 3/4 to 1 inch by adjusting my mag ride suspension.
Was that a shot of corvette world in Dallas? If so, what part of DFW are you in?
Hey bryce yup thats the corvette world of Dallas. Im more in the west side of Fort Worth but go to corvette and car meetups throughout DFW. Its a good area for sure
This totally sucks man. I wonder why the collar would cause fluid to leak?
Good question bro... I've seen my fluid level get low once in the 11 months since lowering and it was about a month ago id say. Never saw any specific spot ever in my usual maintenance.
I'm writing all this in case it may help someone who wants to lower their C8 without voiding their manufacturer's warranty for their lift system. The non-OEM collar would not cause fluid to leak. However, in order to get the OEM collar off and the lowered collar on, you need to disconnect the fluid line from the front lift system. This involves taking off the respective bolts which connect the fluid line to the lift system on each side. There is also a copper washer which, when tightened, keeps the fluid from leaking out (in the same way a copper washer will usually be used in connection with the motor oil drain plug/bolt). When you disconnect this bolt, the fluid will leak out the same way brake fluid would leak out if you disconnect a brake line. You have to be careful when you disconnect or tighten the bolt (along with the copper washer) connecting the fluid line to the lift system so that you don't damage the bolt/threads. And, when you're done installing the lowered collar, you have to add fluid to the fluid reservoir for the lift system to replace the fluid that will have leaked out of the unattached line when you disconnected the bolts.
When you're all done, you've got to make sure that the two respective lift system fluid lines you disconnected and reconnected are not leaking at the respective bolts or elsewhere. The manufacturer (Chevy) changed the design of the front lift reservoir cap after certain vehicles (although relatively few in number) had an issue with fluid leaking out of a pin hole in the cap (a pin hole designed as I understand it to allow the release of pressure in the reservoir). If you do it correctly, and make sure you don't have any leaks when your done (and make sure that no leaks develop later), I personally believe there is no real reason that using lowered collars should void the manufacturer's warranty. A dealership is almost certainly going to have an incentive to avoid doing warranty work based upon any excuse they can muster. whether or not that excuse is legit.
I've had my C8 (with front lift and mag ride) for three weeks now and I'm definitely lowering it and widening the stance once my new wheels arrive. To the extent I might ever have any mechanical issue with the lift system in the future after lowering my C8, I will be certain that lowering it didn't cause the issue because I will absolutely make sure that the lift system fluid is not leaking and that the fluid level is properly maintained. In addition, I will certainly reinstall the OEM collars first on a temporary basis before ever taking my C8 into a dealership for front lift system warranty repairs or potential front lift warranty repairs. Provided the collar change is performed correctly and as a result it is clear that any problem that may arise with the lift system is not caused by the change, in my view, there is no ethical or moral obligation to unwisely inform a dealership that you've used any non-OEM collars at any time. There is absolutely no legal obligation to do so. I will not be giving the dealership an excuse to get out of doing warranty work even though the the dealer's excuse for voiding the warranty is not truly the cause of the mechanical problem which may need to be repaired. Nothing in this post is legal advice to anyone.
Hey bro, do you know if the lowering springs void also?
Hey Bro. So the lowering springs is a gray area for voiding warranty. Technically they can but depending on the dealer you take it to for the work, some dealers will say yes it voids while others say it wont. Ive had other C8 owners experience both and tell me their versions. The lowering collars are the only thing atm that GM has a hard service bulletin on that will be flagged as voiding warranty for suspension issues. Hope that helps.
Ben there already. I got mine fixed at a local performance car shop because the dealer wouldn’t even work on it for cash $. I got it repaired though.
@korey what was the actual fix needed?
I had the collars and tried to install them , however I couldn’t get the top hat off. After trying 2x I just put it back together to stock however by then I had cracked open the front lift multiple times, it leaked and gave me the same message. I ended up buying the special GM copper washers , fixing the leaks myself and that stopped the leaking brought back the front lift … sounds like I dodged a bullet installing the collars…😢
Do you think keeping an eye on fluid levels for the front lift system may help avoid this type of scenario?
Hey David, yes I do believe keeping an eye out for the lift fluid level is definitely a good precaution. I did have one instance where I saw the level get low on my C8 and topped it back up. I do think thats a good regular maintenance to check maybe every 2-3 months id say.
@@NuHorizonC8 What did you end up doing to fix this issue? What actually failed and what was the total cost of the repair? Thanks
Hey D thanks for the comment. So im working on an upcomming video talking about all of that. Found some new info and did some testing of my own that definitely will be interesting to share. Hope to have that video out in the next few days. 👍😎
@@NuHorizonC8 Please do. I might be in the same boat.
Hey man just seen your car it was really nice
Thanks bud really appreciate it! 🙏
I know $2k is real money, but that's not that bad considering the cost of the vehicle being repaired.
It cost $1300 just to get the rear hatch to open on my vw tdi sportwagen. It needed a new central locking module.
So is your front lift warranty voided, or still intact because of no third-party inspection?
Hey Tracey thanks for the comment! And agreed all things considering the bill could be worse for sure. So my warranty is technically not voided because I didn't go through with the third party inspection. If I had, it would have definitely been voided. But I didn't know how that process would look like until I brought the C8 to the service dealer and that's what I figured was worth sharing in my experience going through that process.
Why did you not remove the collars before putting it in? Lower springs or collars put strain on the shocks that were not intended so they fail.
Did they void the warranty for the entire car or just for the suspension components?
They basically had said if I went with the repair through them that it would void warranty for the suspension but it could be considered the entire car depending on how they worded it. It would come down to the dealer from my understanding.
Moral of the story, wait till you are out of warranty to mod your $100k car!
Good information
Thanks Jay! Much appreciated! 🙏😎
This is why you were kind of hard to stock before you take it to the dealer
Is there a real reason to do this besides "style"?
so why didnt you just take them off before you went to the dealership and had them replace the new actuators
Hey FatCat thanks for the comment. 👍 So I wanted to see if they indeed would be an issue warranty wise or not. Its one of those I wanted to be as transparent as possible both with the service dealer and everyone who may have the mod so others could make an informed decision. Also the mod had been on for about 10 months before this error occured so it didnt appear to me to cause the issue. In fact thats why I dont say the collar caused the issue. Just what the technician told me. Ive come across some interesting new info actually that I may make a follow up video for. Thanks for the comment! 👍😎
I’m really sorry that happened to you! Sucks big time. Paragon should step up and take ownership of this!! They continue to sell the lowering collars, knowing that they void the warranty.. I was literally just about to order them
Appreciate the comment. 👍 Yeah stuff happens unfortunately. And theres always some level of risk when it comes to MODs and warranty coverage. But yeah id go with lowering springs instead of the collar. Theres no bulleten from GM on that direction of lowering so more likely to still have warranty coverage.
@@NuHorizonC8 So, did they say that Lowering springs would not void the warranty? Can you use lowering springs and not adjust the front lift?. I need to explore this option, thanks
why would paragon be liable at all? It's a well known fact that if you have the front lift system, you can not modify the suspension. Period
They didnt say that specifically for obvious reasons but my incline is that the bulletin from GM is specifically targeting the lowering collars. So theres a better arguement to be made that lowering springs would not get flagged on a voided warranty. Like i said its all varying levels of risk when it comes to that. Im seeing theres less risk of voiding warranty using the springs.
@@mrodriguez728 "well known fact" is not a legal disclaimer. They need to post a new disclaimer for their product.
I can’t imagine putting them on my car! It is low as it is! You have a front lift! Why? So you don’t scrape on shit bro. It seems to be contraindicated. I will never modify anything on my C8. Im good with how it was built.
FYI: The main objective is usually not to make the bottom of the vehicle closer to the ground, although that is one of the results or side effects. The objective is to reduce the gap between the fenders and the tires/wheels. If you have the front lift option, whether or not you lower the stance of your C8 to reduce wheel gap, using the front lift will likely reduce the likelihood you're going to scrape the front lip. In addition to lowering the vehicle to reduce the wheel gap, many people who lower their vehicle will also use fitment methods so that the wheels will be wider with respect to the fenders. This can be done by getting wider wheels/rims, by getting wheels/rims with a better offset with respect to the fenders, or using spacers to push the wheels out for a wider stance. People do it because it looks way better when there is only a very minimal wheel gap between the wheels and fenders. I'd be willing to wager a lot of money that something like 9 out of 10 people would pick a C8 which has a stance with a very small wheel gap compared to a C8 with a larger wheel gap as the better looking car (all other things being equal). If you want the stance of your C8 to look more like a Porsche Safari than a Porsche GT3 RS, then keeping the wheel gap of your C8 completely stock is for you.
@@sterlingcorbett1681 FYI - I have over 50 years experience with modified cars. Very modified. One example is my 1967 Chevy II. A 6-71 blown Dart Little M Pro block 406. The car is modified from the ground up and was built on a rotisserie. A true 9.? street car. It is for this reason - and the highly modified state of my other cars currently owned or sold in the past - that causes my deep commitment to NOT modify by C8. At my age and mindset, I see no reason whatsoever to change this car. I want it to look like what it is, not another car. Now that I have popped off, allow me to soften by saying: to each his or her own. I added vent screens. But I will never do anything else to it. The other cars? I’ll wrench and bang the dog shit out of them. In the end? I am a 66-year-old curmudgeon.
how long was the time period and miles driven from install to failure?
Hey Simply thanks for the comment! I had wished i had mentioned this in the video but missed saying it. So the MOD was installed 10 months ago and had 8,000 miles on it before getting the error message which leads me to believe that the issue is not related to the Mod. What I state about the cause of the failure is what the GM technician had stated to me based on their feedback from GM. Ive actually gotten new info, that im still confirming, that may point to the issue being sensor related actually and may do a follow up video once i know more. Thanks for the comment!
What mark up are they asking on Z06?
When they asked if I was interested they had started at a 50k markup. But they were willing to work with me though and actually gave me a decent markup deal that was really tempting but im a bit away from pulling that sort of trigger. If this happened a few month from now, this would have been A VERY DIFFERENT kind of video lol. 🤣😎
why did you take the collars off before taking in for service?
How much was that red zo6 mark up?
What was the markup on the Z06?
Hey Rob. Markup was around 50k but they were open to some negotiation though.
@@NuHorizonC8 Yikes!!! So if you had taken the lowering collars off before taking the car into the dealer they would have covered the repair, right?
In theory yes. So long as the record doesnt exist of them being installed that is to begin with 😅.
Merch drop???
Hey Bud not yet! Trust me though youll be one of the first to know when it does 😎🤙.