[thedofuss]

not to sound negative, but i am not a fan of spoilers in general. on the C7/Z51, to me it spoils the great lines that the car presents to observers. does anyone else feel the same? i d like to have the spoiler removed, although i do understand that there is a tail light issue involved. what i d like is to have the non-Z51 hatch. has anyone done this? what are the issues and problems that you encountered? conceptually, it would seem to be not too problematic to unscrew the spoiler, and plug up the holes, but i realize that things can sometimes turn out to be more complicated than they would seem-- to the uneducated like myself. thanks for any comments.

 

[elegant]

There are nine holes on the top of the rear fascia that would need to be filled. Many who do not like the Z-51 spoiler choose to get the base car instead.

 

[greggshere]

That's one of the reasons I did get the base car, as I think from the side view and rear view it is closer to the original Stingray lines. I love the clean flowing lines without it. To each their own though, the car is beautiful with or without.

 

[U.S. Marine]

thedofuss, that's not a negative comment, it's just the way you prefer your Vette. Like we say in the Marine Corps, "Old breed, Young breed, it doesn't matter, just as long as it is Marine breed"!!! Base, Z51, or Z06 it's still a Corvette StingRay.

SF
Rick

 

[talon90]

Understanding how you drive your car will also have to come in to play. The Z51 gets a different rear spoiler because of the functional air ducts on the rear of the Z51. Air that normally would have gone over the top of the rear hatch area and over the CHMSL on the base car actually gets routed through the rear fascia and exhausted by the tail lights. This creates a lower downforce area (lower downforce translates in to a lift component at speed). Additionally, without the component of drag present at the spoiler, the intake ducts (which cool your transmission and rear differential) will be less efficient as without the spoiler more air will meet with less resistance and have less incentive to enter the ducts as opposed to just routing over the deck.

 

[Geo Vette]

Yes to each his own. I love my Z51 spoiler
to me it just goes with an awesome sports car
look. Wouldn't change it at all. Don't want my
2014 Z51 to look like the lines of an older vette.
But this is just my humble opinion. I think
GM designers got it right.

 

[JoshuaKM1]

I'm very OCD about aesthetics and design language and I have to say that I've just been thrilled with the lines of the rear spoiler. I recently saw a brand new Porsche GT3 on the streets of Charleston and I thought the rear wing looked ridiculous for non-track use.

That said - if you personally do not like the looks of the Z51 spoiler then I think you'd be thrilled with a non-Z51 car. As US Marine pointed out you really can't go wrong with any car you choose.

 

[glen e]

Personally i like the wing much more as its really not a wing, but an "open blade" that shows the shoulders much more.

Think $500 or so to get rid of the holes if you want to dump a z51 spoiler.

 

[Buzz]

ok:HERE'S THE THING

GM spends MILLIONS of dollars getting everything just perfect. Remember the issue with the bow-tie emblem on the Camaro or Volt where they ended up hollowing out the inside of the emblem which increased airflow by some incredible amount? everything in the structure is there FOR A REASON and if you mess with it, it just messes up the performance, sometimes in ways you could not anticipate. That is what shopping is for: to determine exactly what you want in terms of looks and features. I got a Z51 for the same reason I got my Grand Sport, because it sets me apart from the herd and the upscale mechanics and better resale value. Each to his own and there are always those who go absolutely mod-crazy and that's just the way it is. But don't complain when something no longer works the way it was intended by the designers as in the spoiler affecting the cooling issues.

 

[glen e]

ok:HERE'S THE THING

GM spends MILLIONS of dollars getting everything just perfect. Remember the issue with the bow-tie emblem on the Camaro or Volt where they ended up hollowing out the inside of the emblem which increased airflow by some incredible amount? everything in the structure is there FOR A REASON and if you mess with it, it just messes up the performance, sometimes in ways you could not anticipate. That is what shopping is for: to determine exactly what you want in terms of looks and features. I got a Z51 for the same reason I got my Grand Sport, because it sets me apart from the herd and the upscale mechanics and better resale value. Each to his own and there are always those who go absolutely mod-crazy and that's just the way it is. But don't complain when something no longer works the way it was intended by the designers as in the spoiler affecting the cooling issues.

no HERE'S THE THING - "all these things" are designed for a reason in a wind tunnel that won't mean a damn thing to me when I'm going and getting groceries or driving to see my grand kids, you can buy into "everything designed for daytona" and when I get invited to race there, I'll put the car back to the way they "designed" it...

we are all different with different priorities, and should not push our ideas of what the car SHOULD be on others....in fact, it's what make this forum different....

 

[elegant]

And all the above is why the Corvettes comes with different choices and options. Imagine if we had to all buy the exactly same Corvette, and every one we saw looked exactly the same. YUK!

 

[Buzz]

OK I agree with everyone: each to his own as It should be

 

[Geo Vette]

Glen excellent comment. Couldn't have
said it better.
Geo Vette

 

[MRACER]

form FOLLOWS function! Best you buy a base C7 rather than interfere with the good engineering that went into making the Z51 efficient and have better performing brakes....

 

[greggshere]

Other than being better on a track over the course of a race, it would be difficult to be much better on the street. My base brakes are the easiest best performing brakes I've ever experienced in a street car in 40+ years of driving. In fact around where I live you better be careful, because they stop so well someone is going to rearend me sometime, because their brakes pale in comparison. I always try to keep enough distance between me and the next guy so I don't have to emergency stop.