a lil confused about what to do (suspension)

**gimp1** · 03-12-2009, 04:27 PM

Hey guys, I'm just looking for a little guidance.
I'm wanting to get my car lower to the ground, i already have koni shocks(yellow) if that helps :S, im not to sure what model they are because the previous owner did it when he had the car, and i think i have H&R springs.
im wanting to gain a lil' tuck the cheapest way possible, i dont really want new shocks, so i was thinking about just replacing the springs. will this make my car significantly lower?, and if so some advice and tips on brands and such.

i hope u guys can feed off this info. im still just learning everything.

thanks for the help in advanced guys.
Gimp

**Manaz** · 03-12-2009, 08:59 PM

You can get lowered springs, yes. But you need to make sure they're well matched to your existing shocks, otherwise you'll upset the ride. Doing this also reduces the travel available to your shocks, meaning you may hit the bump stops sooner on big bumps. It's all a compromise.

**gimp1** · 03-12-2009, 10:13 PM

Is there any shops i could give a ring around to that have a good reputation. like i said im completly new, jsut some one whos honest and can help me out instead of rip me off??

**gavs** · 04-12-2009, 07:30 AM

If you're already on lowered springs and it's not low enough, I would look at just replacing them with a coilover setup and try and sell your current springs and dampers to help cover some of your costs.

To understand how your shocks are working try this if possible.
Get an old bike/ball pump, not one of the new double action ones. Put your finger over the end and try and compress it. Most likely, you're going to struggle to compress it more than 20-30mm. Think of this as your dampers in thheir home position. Now imagine trying to compress that same bike pump an extra 50mm, chances are you can't due to the pressure build-up inside the pump. The same thing happens with your dampers. If you go past a specified lowering height recommended by the manufacturer, then not only will you void your warranty (if it's still valid) but you run the risk of doing irrepairable damage to the damper, generally by blowing the top lip seal and forcing the gas and oil out of it over time.

If you're just after looks, go for a cheap set of Hot Tuning coilovers (recommended by several on this forum) and sell the H&R springs and your Koni Dampers.

**anth** · 04-12-2009, 08:26 AM

Koni Yellow are the damper adjustable shocks and they're really good, I had them in one of my previous cars.

You could get your current springs compressed to whatever height you want (pending shock travel and bumpstops of course), it costs about $50 a pair I think. I'd give that a shot considering you have good shocks

**Manaz** · 04-12-2009, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by gavs

If you're already on lowered springs and it's not low enough, I would look at just replacing them with a coilover setup and try and sell your current springs and dampers to help cover some of your costs.

Height adjustability is just one of their traits of coilovers - and is really only a big benefit if you're after an ability to change the ride height at various times. You'd want to be sure that you were happy to deal with the other traits (expense, ride quality, etc) before you went down that path rather than just picking up a set of springs and dampers that are well matched and ride at the height required.

**gavs** · 04-12-2009, 09:20 AM

For sure Manaz. I believe that unless it's a race car, coilovers are not the best option. I'm just suggesting that if he already has lowered springs on his car, then the car is probably already in the safe spectrum for the damper manufacturer. I know that if I go lower than 45mm on my KYB's, it will void the lifetiime warranty on their construction.

Anth, are the yellow ones the same as the "adjustable" reds, that you have to remove them from teh car, compress them fully, hold in the little button on top and rotate it into it's next stop? If so, these are just a wear compaensator that uses a disc, similar to this air vent, to close off the flow path of the oil. It "tightens" the damper back up again after ti's performance has diminished.

If you want really low, then go for an airbag setup.

**madglf3** · 04-12-2009, 10:46 AM

Also remember that if you go beyond a certain point of lowering (40mm?) you'll probably hit the driveshafts on the front sway bar. This (I've heard) can be fixed by either new swaybar droplinks or a replacement front swaybar.

**Manaz** · 04-12-2009, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by madglf3

Also remember that if you go beyond a certain point of lowering (40mm?) you'll probably hit the driveshafts on the front sway bar. This (I've heard) can be fixed by either new swaybar droplinks or a replacement front swaybar.

Not to mention that it screws with the suspension geometry and turns the handling to ****.