Just Curious ( Lowering Springs )

Lotion · Jul 9, 2009

Im not the best when it comes to cars usually i just look on this here forums for your guys help. And i thank you. But im still rather confused about one thing. Lowering Springs. I have a BBK CAI and a SCT Tuner coming shortly once i get paid this weekend. Im then gonna work on Springs. The question and confusion i am having is that i understand that its not rec to change the springs with stock shocks on.

Would you guys say it would be alright to keep stock shocks on for say about 3-4 months?

Will it do any terrible damage to the chassis?

Any pics of 20's while lowered?

I know it will prolly be more work to do to wait to replace the springs to a later date i just would rather wait a bit.

Also should i get Caster camber plates when lowering? or any opinions on that?

Thanks for your time , i know the post alittle choppy - sorry lol.:SNSign:

Casey4s · Jul 9, 2009

I lowered my GT in Aug of '05 by 1.5" and I still have the original shocks and haven't found any problems that I am aware of. However, if yu lower your car you change the entire geometry of the chassis. I also installed adjustable upper and lower control links (BMR) and I installed a set of caster camber plates (MMR) because the wheels leaned inward at the top a slight amount and was wearing the tires on the inside a little bit in about 10K miles. So to do this properly it is a little more than just changing the springs.

You could always email someone like Eibach and ask for their insight.

rkovalik · Jul 9, 2009

Frist what is your plans for the car? if its for a daily driver with some occasional track time then I don't think lowering the car with springs and not changing out the shocks will do any harm. As long as your current shocks are not worn or have a ton of millage on them. Then they should be fine. But if you do have quite a few amount of millage on them then switch out both. Just to save you time and money. As far as the camber or caster plates its all a bout how low you go. An average drop 1" to 1 1/4" you should be fine with out them. Don't forget to get your car aligned by a good shop(very important).

Lotion · Jul 9, 2009

Sounds good - And yeah right now it is my DD so no track time here. In the future when i get more money maybe but wasnt in the equation.

Thanks for the input. Was jsut curious how mcuh i was gonna look to spending to keep things straight lol.

walter · Jul 9, 2009

Springs have to be matched to the shock's valving (dampening characteristics). If you install lowering springs on a car (aside handling issues that can happen by having mismatched dampening values) you are reducing the life of your shock.

When I ran my Roush lowering springs on stock shocks the ride was rough. Once I swtiched to the Roush shocks everything was nice and smooth again.

CPman · Jul 10, 2009

Other issues besides proper dampening to match spring rate is that depending how much you lower the car you could run into a condition where the shocks could bottom out because you are moving the range of motion or travel to a different position in the stroke of the shock. This would be an extreme condition, but it does happen and is something to be aware of. Having a proper pinion angle is also important but as far as having adjustments made to correct roll centers etc may or may not be necessary depending on how the car is to be driven. Unless it's going to see some track time or autocross use, I would think you would not notice if your roll centers were off a little bit. I guess it's kind of a personal preference. In my opinion if I was going to upgrade my suspension I would install a complete package, then you would not have to guess if your components are compatible. I also have the complete Roush kit installed and I am very happy with it but having said that, there are many other suspension kits available that others are also very happy with.

Steel Horse · Jul 10, 2009

CPman said:
Other issues besides proper dampening to match spring rate is that depending how much you lower the car you could run into a condition where the shocks could bottom out because you are moving the range of motion or travel to a different position in the stroke of the shock. This would be an extreme condition, but it does happen and is something to be aware of. Having a proper pinion angle is also important but as far as having adjustments made to correct roll centers etc may or may not be necessary depending on how the car is to be driven. Unless it's going to see some track time or autocross use, I would think you would not notice if your roll centers were off a little bit. I guess it's kind of a personal preference. In my opinion if I was going to upgrade my suspension I would install a complete package, then you would not have to guess if your components are compatible. I also have the complete Roush kit installed and I am very happy with it but having said that, there are many other suspension kits available that others are also very happy with.

Which kit did you get from them? I've been looking at their kits and am not sure if I want to spend that much cash if I can get springs and shocks from somewhere else that will feel pretty much the same through the corners.

CPman · Jul 13, 2009

I have the full basic kit (not the stage 3 kit) comes with springs, shocks and sway bars/bushings. This kit lowers the car 1"n the front and 1-1/2" in the rear and I like the ride I get with it, firm but not harsh. The only draw back to it is that it is not adjustable like some of the other kits that other people also are very happy with. I guess it all depends on how fussy you are and how much tweaking/tuning you think you might be interested in doing. Now is the time to make that decision so you are not changing your mind a year down the road and spending more money than you need to.

Just Curious ( Lowering Springs )

Lotion

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walter

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