"Flexable flyer" was given to the C4 by Gm people when the car would shake when you take the top off! some are smooth, some vibrate a little at around 60 and other will rip the wheel out of your hands at 20. Not a good nick name!
1984 Z51 Silver/Gray & as Much SS & CFibre we find
Jim...it may seem a derogatory term....but it is accurate.......isnt it a testiment to GM's stupidity that they went with the design to begin with then failed to correct the problem? (although adding the convertible cross bracing to coupes as a "fix" was at least an effort)
I really wouldnt have minded a T top configuration with a 1 piece removable top like the retrofit for the sharks........but ouh well GM is so predictably inept!
I agree 100%, I learned this from a GM service manager! He told me about all the shakers people would bring back just hours after buying them and they would just give them another Vette knowing there was nothing they could do! (about 30% are really bad) this is a 30 to 40k car? it's amazing how this C4 corvette fact is seldom talked about. How the subject came up was when I took my vette in to have my SUPER bose reset and I asked him to take a look at my front end because it would shake when I took my top off, HE JUST SMILED and said there's nothing I can do for you sir and told me about the infamous C4, but they did make some improvements in 91.
Before I bought my GS last summer I was looking at a tripple black '96 LT4. I took it for a drive with the top on, and the later with the top off. I did notice a slight vibration in the car with the top off but nothing too bad.
With the GS, I've noticed it more, but I think it's cause she's equiped with the Z51 suspension and without the support of the roof she just twists a little more at cruising speeds. I've been up to 100+ with the top off and she's perfectly stable, a little more bumpy but stable none the less. Tought it is kind of un-nerving to be running the twisties up here in Oregon with the top down and hear the top pop and creak in it's brackets as the car flexes around the turns.
It must be a coupe thing because I don't notice the convertible flexing like that. We drive with the top down all the time. We laugh because the top will hardly go up in fact, because it stays down so much. We maybe put the top up 3 or 4 days a year.
1984 Z51 Silver/Gray & as Much SS & CFibre we find
I think they added the convertibles X brace in 87 0r 88 to the coupe as well ...........U guys should folow a convertibe sometime over a speedbump...where I went to college there were about 6 sequential speedbumps in front of the rec center.........it was quite amusing when a vette would go over....the whole bloody thing would shake like jello!!!!
Jim reminded me of what a Chevy shop Guy once told me...they had a Great # of complaints regarding door mirror shake.......the unofficial "fix" was they rolls up a piece of cardboard and shoved it behind the mirror......by the time the mirror started shaking again when the cardboard deteriorated the cars were already out of warranty so few owners complained and if they did they charged them a "small" fee and just stuck more cardboard back there!!!!
Where Gm designers failed........Mr Goodwrench solved the problem...ah "american ingenuity"
Of course the shaking is also relative as to where U drive ........while in NJ once I sheared off a lugnut/wheel stud..........now THATS a rough road!!
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