basic lowering question

spectre30075 · Aug 5, 2007

I'm switching from stock tires on my 05 GT vert to 245/45/17's, and I want to lower the car just a bit, no more than 1". All I need is new springs right? (and an alignment).

lightblade · Aug 5, 2007

busterc · Aug 5, 2007

1 inch isn't much so you could probably get away with tossin the springs on and just driving it.
Once you start going lower, you need to think about some Camber bolts or the Caster/Camber plates to correct the geometry of your suspension.......In other words, you'll totally wear out the inside edges of your tires in no time at all!

I lowered my car 1.75" in front and 2" in back and I recently replace the rear control arms and added the anti squat brackets....It made a big difference in how it rides/handles/launches.....Much better!!

spectre30075 · Aug 5, 2007

Thanks for the help guys.

blacksheep06 · Aug 5, 2007

I say do it right and put some tociko shocks and struts on with the springs. Might as well get an adjustable panhard bar too. You get what you pay for and I wouldn't get cheap with the suspension on a nice car.

LV51FER · Aug 6, 2007

I agrre with the above. It's such a PITA changing the springs out at the front that you might just as well replace the struts with a decent set. They're down to about $550 for the Tokico D-Specs now.

spectre30075 · Aug 7, 2007

Well I'm confused again now. Would new shocks and struts be necessary? What would be the ramifications of just changing the springs? Also, money is tight...

MikeysOTP · Aug 7, 2007

spectre30075 said:
Well I'm confused again now. Would new shocks and struts be necessary? What would be the ramifications of just changing the springs? Also, money is tight...

It really depends on what you are looking to do with the car and what expectations you have from swapping the springs. If you are like me and just looking to lower the car a bit while slightly improving the handling on an everyday driver then go for it. If you are building a car for the track, serious racing, or you just drive really hard on the street and need a big improvement in handling then now is the time to do the struts and shocks. You can save a few bucks by getting a package deal I would imagine. You would also save the four or five hours (that's how long the spring install took me....I am NOT a mechanic by any means) of labor it will take to do the shocks/struts later.

spectre30075 · Aug 7, 2007

I just want to lower the car a little for appearance, no more than 1 inch. I want to switch from the stock 55 sidewall tires to 45, then shore up that wheelwell gap some. Not looking to build a race car..my car will never see a track, but I do engage in 'spirited driving' from time to time. I noticed on another thread where people recommend getting an adjustable panhard bar though, and i'm wondering how necessary that is. If the car is going to be offcentered from the slight drop, even just a little, I'll spring for the adjustable panhard bar. I'm a noob and don't know a lot about this stuff.

MikeysOTP · Aug 7, 2007

If my car is off-center even the slightest bit it is news to me. I have looked at it very closely and I can't see any difference from one side to the other at all. The guys at Brenspeed told me that it wouldn't be a problem with these springs and as far as I can tell they were right. Apparently it only starts to happen if you go lower than an inch and a quarter in the rear.

spectre30075 · Aug 7, 2007

MikeysOTP said:
If my car is off-center even the slightest bit it is news to me. I have looked at it very closely and I can't see any difference from one side to the other at all. The guys at Brenspeed told me that it wouldn't be a problem with these springs and as far as I can tell they were right. Apparently it only starts to happen if you go lower than an inch and a quarter in the rear.

How much did the Steeda springs lower your car?

MikeysOTP · Aug 7, 2007

I didn't measure it ahead of time Kind of wish I did. They claim an inch in the front and an inch and a quarter in the rear and I would say it was at least that much.

McQueens Dream · Aug 7, 2007

running 245/45/17's will actually ADD more wheel gap than what came factory, those tires are too short for the newer cars...

spectre30075 · Aug 7, 2007

McQueens Dream said:
running 245/45/17's will actually ADD more wheel gap than what came factory, those tires are too short for the newer cars...

Yeah that's why I want to lower the car, but not a lot. I don't want to have to buy a lot of parts or sacrifice a lot of ride quality, i just want to make up for the added gap i'll get after switching to 245/45's.

McQueens Dream · Aug 7, 2007

ok, let me try to sum this up. if you switch to the 245/45's and drop it one inch, it will look exactly the way it does now, only closer to the ground. the tires will still look too small for the car. if you want to fill the fender gap up, switch to 18's or even 20's. i wouldn't go this route to get a "lowered" look, in the end, the car will look worse and ride even worse than the looks. the tires you are going to use are 25.68" tall and the factory tires are 27.12" tall. so that's a difference of 1.44". so even if you lower the car, you would have to drop it an inch and half to make it like factory with the fender well gaps. keep your stock tires and drop it, it will look so much better.

spectre30075 · Aug 8, 2007

That's good advice..I think that is what I will do. I would really like to have the wider footprint of the 245's, but I don't want to spend an arm and leg buying all the crap to do it right. Also, I don't want to go with larger wheels.

McQueens Dream · Aug 8, 2007

then get some 255/50/17's and be done with it, those are stock height and wider to boot...

blacksheep06 · Aug 8, 2007

McQueens Dream said:
then get some 255/50/17's and be done with it, those are stock height and wider to boot...

Yea, what he said is right but I would go for an 18" bullitt rim with 255/45/18 if your going to the expense of new tires. 18" bullitt replicas are actually cheaper than the tires. You can then sell your stock wheels and tires on ebay and cover MOST of the expense of the new wheels. That's what I did anyway.

My car rides great with these wheels/tires and the steeda ultralite springs. I don't notice much of a difference at all from the stock suspension and tires. And the car looks and handles much better. But the d-spec shocks/struts may be what's making the car ride so good.

spectre30075 · Aug 8, 2007

Good suggestion McQueen..that never even occured to me. If the chart I found online is correct, the height of the stock tire is 27.18", and the height of a 255/50/17 is 27.04"..barely over a tenth of an inch difference, I can live with that. I'll probably still get some springs if I can find any that will only lower 3/4" to 1", and no more.
Also, are there any potential problems with 255's on stock wheels?

spectre30075 · Aug 8, 2007

blacksheep06 said:
Yea, what he said is right but I would go for an 18" bullitt rim with 255/45/18 if your going to the expense of new tires. 18" bullitt replicas are actually cheaper than the tires. You can then sell your stock wheels and tires on ebay and cover MOST of the expense of the new wheels. That's what I did anyway.

My car rides great with these wheels/tires and the steeda ultralite springs. I don't notice much of a difference at all from the stock suspension and tires. And the car looks and handles much better. But the d-spec shocks/struts may be what's making the car ride so good.

That's a cool idea but honestly I wouldn't want to go through the hassle of selling the stock wheels, lol, plus I like the idea of having the lighter 17's anyway.

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