Does lowering affect ride quality?

[eleanor_350]

My car has 620 springs and the shelby drop in the front and 4-leaf standard-eye springs in the rear. With this setup the car had a slight rake to it. The ride wasn't bad, but it was a little choppy. I've put 5-6000 miles on the car with this setup, so everything has had time to settle.

Recently, I installed 1" lowering blocks in the rear which made the car sit pretty well level. The car seems to ride smoother now. Could lowering the rear 1" change the front/rear weight ratio enough to change how the car rides? Or is the smoother ride just my imagination? Anybody have similar experience?

By the way, it's a 65 coupe with a 351w and Toploader.

 

[SoCalCruising]

You did shift some weight rearward, but I doubt that is the answer. In my experience, a raised rear makes the car handle/feel differently - mine used to "dive" in to a corner, for example. After lowering the rear, that stopped. I didn't notice the ride being any smoother, though.

 

[bnickel]

it could be that at the previous ride height the shocks were at the edge of the travel length and when the car was lowered it put the shocks more in the middle of the travel length thereby slightly improving the ride quality. this may or may not be what actually happened and is only a theory, but it is very possible

 

[jerry S]

lowering your car can give rise to bump steer, which is a bad thing. Did you install a bump steer corrector while you were at it?

 

[eleanor_350]

Thanks guys for the responses.

No, I don't have a bumpsteer kit on it. Other than the shelby control arm drop and the 620 springs, I've only trimmed 1/8 coil off the front springs. Cutting 1/8 coil only lowered the front about 1/8", hardly noticable. I wouldn't think that I've lowered the front enough to have excessive bump steer problems. The only drastic change that I've made to the ride height is installing the 1" lowering blocks on the rear.