Stock ride height or lower?

[7thgear]

true say,

if only the choir was bigger

[Pekingduck]

I am going to lower my car as well, but not low enough where I will worry about it. I really don't mind if I have to angle a driveway or two everyday.

[7thgear]

ohh, so you're one of those people that slows down to a crawl driving on to a parking lot right after you did a flyby to change into my lane? (tongue in cheek)

[serialk11r]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm eyeballing side pictures of the car, and judging from the fact that the wheel bolts are 100mm diameter, it looks like the car has perhaps 5 inches of ground clearance. I see that for some American cars they make spindles that give 2" drop. I think this may be excessive since that would probably scrape some speed bumps.

So my question is, can I do dropped spindles, and then put like a spacer or something to gain about 0.5" back? Seems like a stupid idea, but this would keep the suspension closer to it's original operating range than coilovers which drop 1.5". Or is there an easy way of using coilovers while moving the joints?

[LSxJunkie]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm eyeballing side pictures of the car, and judging from the fact that the wheel bolts are 100mm diameter, it looks like the car has perhaps 5 inches of ground clearance. I see that for some American cars they make spindles that give 2" drop. I think this may be excessive since that would probably scrape some speed bumps.

So my question is, can I do dropped spindles, and then put like a spacer or something to gain about 0.5" back? Seems like a stupid idea, but this would keep the suspension closer to it's original operating range than coilovers which drop 1.5". Or is there an easy way of using coilovers while moving the joints?

Are you doing wheel to wheel racing or is this going to be a street car?

If not, don't worry about it. You don't need this stuff. They're for race cars. Drop spindles are overkill for 95% of consumers. If you want to do a subtle drop, shocks and springs will do what you need, coilovers if you're willing to set them up.

[old greg]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

So my question is, can I do dropped spindles, and then put like a spacer or something to gain about 0.5" back? Seems like a stupid idea, but this would keep the suspension closer to it's original operating range than coilovers which drop 1.5". Or is there an easy way of using coilovers while moving the joints?

Sure. You could use camber plates to do so up front, but I think you'd need longer than stock dampers in the rear. You wouldn't want to increase static ride height with preload though, totally wrong way to do it. The big downside is that doing so would raise the front roll center more than the rear (struts vs. multilink), which means more rear bar to maintain balance which may cause a tendency to lift the inside rear tire midcorner, hot hatch style, and that's very bad business for a rwd car with a torsen diff.

Originally Posted by LSxJunkie

They're for race cars.

And mini-trucks

[serialk11r]

Okay...so coilovers can preserve or improve ride quality while allowing a drop, am I reading this correctly? From what I am reading, springs and shocks will have a harsher ride if you lower it.
I would not do wheel to wheel racing, I would want to have at least stock comfort, but a little less ground clearance and perhaps 1-2 inches of fender gap showing.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Okay...so coilovers can preserve or improve ride quality while allowing a drop, am I reading this correctly?

Can? Yes. (emphasis on the possibility)

Will most of the offerings on the market? No bloody way.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Okay...so coilovers can preserve or improve ride quality while allowing a drop, am I reading this correctly? From what I am reading, springs and shocks will have a harsher ride if you lower it.
I would not do wheel to wheel racing, I would want to have at least stock comfort, but a little less ground clearance and perhaps 1-2 inches of fender gap showing.

i think its important to note that springs and shocks might not be any different than coilovers since some shocks have adjustable perches or are short stroke. as long as the shock is valved for the spring rates and the ride height you want is achieved by the shock spring setup there would be no difference between the two. adjusting ride height shouldnt be something you do more than once really since your spring rates arent changing so if a matched set is designed to give the suspension as much travel as it needs in both low and high speed shock rates there really arent any problems

[MrVito]

Originally Posted by LSxJunkie

They're for race cars. Drop spindles are overkill for 95% of consumers. If you want to do a subtle drop, shocks and springs will do what you need, coilovers if you're willing to set them up.

Or if you buy an A-Body, I still need to order some drop spindles for the Chevelle

[LSxJunkie]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Okay...so coilovers can preserve or improve ride quality while allowing a drop, am I reading this correctly? From what I am reading, springs and shocks will have a harsher ride if you lower it.
I would not do wheel to wheel racing, I would want to have at least stock comfort, but a little less ground clearance and perhaps 1-2 inches of fender gap showing.

No. Coilovers give you the ability, in most cases, to adjust your shock setting and ride height. The actual ride quality is still determined by the springs you select and your settings. They're also much more labor intensive to set up. You have to set the ride height even at all 4 corners, get the car aligned, get it corner balanced, and then spend some time dialing in your damper settings.

A well selected spring and shock combination, where the shock is designed for the rate and height of the spring, will give you the exact same result in terms of ride quality. However, you will not be able to fine tune your handling or adjust your ride height. If you get adjustable short stroke shocks....you really only lose the ability to corner balance and adjust your ride height, which is something you shouldn't be doing anyways.

Originally Posted by MrVito

Or if you buy an A-Body, I still need to order some drop spindles for the Chevelle

Conceded. I'd like to amend that to read race car, show truck, or car with ancient unequal length A-Arm suspension.

Originally Posted by fatoni

i think its important to note that springs and shocks might not be any different than coilovers since some shocks have adjustable perches or are short stroke. as long as the shock is valved for the spring rates and the ride height you want is achieved by the shock spring setup there would be no difference between the two. adjusting ride height shouldnt be something you do more than once really since your spring rates arent changing so if a matched set is designed to give the suspension as much travel as it needs in both low and high speed shock rates there really arent any problems

This. Very much so this.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Okay...so coilovers can preserve or improve ride quality while allowing a drop, am I reading this correctly? From what I am reading, springs and shocks will have a harsher ride if you lower it.
I would not do wheel to wheel racing, I would want to have at least stock comfort, but a little less ground clearance and perhaps 1-2 inches of fender gap showing.

i guess the internet never changes..


a coilover is a spring over a shock

this is to differentiate from leafsprings (such as a corvette, or any truck), torsion beams (like the rear of a 944), or setups where the spring sits independently from the shock (such as the rear end of a all but the new generation of VW Golf and pretty much any "econo" FWD car) and the other weird crap like airbags.

a "coilover" as we know them is simply a shock that allows height adjustment for its spring.

thats it.



coilovers that only shift the height of of the spring perch will never retain comfort while lowering, because you reduce the shock travel (distance between bump-stop and shock body shrinks), this means you better be driving on smooth roads.

coilovers that allow the body of the shock to adjust it's height relative to its mounting point can preserve comfort, HOWEVER, this depends on car design, as other factors start entering the equation.

for instance the wheel starts to move about in dimensions that the OEM didn't plan on doing, putting undue stress on things like tie rod ends, balljoints, and CV joints.


number # 1 rule of car tuning, there will always be compromise.

You must understand how the components all interact with each other and make a decision yourself, PREFERABLY by actually TESTING things or getting rides in cars with those modifications that you want done.

[meWant]

so what would you guys recommend for a 1inch drop? because that is the most i will do to the car and probably what i will do to the car

[LSxJunkie]

Originally Posted by meWant

so what would you guys recommend for a 1inch drop? because that is the most i will do to the car and probably what i will do to the car

Some companies say that their mild drop (.5-1") springs are designed for use with stock shocks. Usually that means they're not much stiffer than stock. Supposedly.

However, for a 1" drop on a street car, springs are really the only option. If you want the car to handle as good as stock or better, I'd pair them with a set of shocks, but honestly that comes down to personal preference. If you like the ride with the stock shocks, then just do springs. If you want the car to actually handle better, get shocks as well.