side effect of lowered springs

**revhead1016** · 07-10-2009, 08:00 AM

hi bora drivers,

can anyone tell me what side effect will I get in short and long term if i just lowered my car by just replacing the springs and keeping my current shocks.

what effect interms of ride, cabin rattle, etc.

cheers

**DIDZ** · 07-10-2009, 09:33 AM

1) Expect your dampers to die within 10,000 km as the efficiency of the stroke travel of your existing dampers will be dramatically reduced;
2) Expect a bouncy ride;

3) Expect to fork out for a decent setup after both of the above occur.

I drive a Golf, but it shouldn't make much of a difference.

Originally Posted by revhead1016

hi bora drivers,

can anyone tell me what side effect will I get in short and long term if i just lowered my car by just replacing the springs and keeping my current shocks.

what effect interms of ride, cabin rattle, etc.

cheers

**JustCruisn** · 07-10-2009, 10:03 AM

Not a Bora but a GTI...
I replaced my springs with eibach pro kit with standard shocks.
Just ensure that the new springs have an appropriate spring rate to cater for the lowering.
Done at around 50K. Now at 120K the shocks are going.
So 120K from stock shocks is probably OK life.
The spring change certainly did not kill them in 10K like many say they will.
This was a 30mm drop.

I believe that these spring and shocks are exactly what the dealers used for the 'sport' lowered vehicles on delivery.

**gavs** · 07-10-2009, 01:35 PM

I put 30mm lowering springs into my golf, and found out while doing it that the shocks were rooted, this was on a car that hadn't even clocked over 100,000kms yet!!

I think if you fit them to a car with new shocks, the effects wouldn't be that bad, but I did notice on mine that the degradation of my worn shocks accelerated more rapidly with the lower springs on the car.

**revhead1016** · 07-10-2009, 01:46 PM

lots of intersting point to think about, thanks for your info. if you have any more info please post them in, more info the better decisions i made.

**GoLfMan** · 07-10-2009, 01:50 PM

you can get cup kits, which are lowered springs AND reduced stroke dampers that have matched travel. This means that the dampers wont poop themselves quickly!

alternatively, get coilovers and adjust the right height to whatever you want, and again the damper's are suited to the springs

I own 2 coilovered cars and have driven various "cup kit" cars and can honestly say the ride in both is fantastic!

**NJAY87** · 07-10-2009, 03:27 PM

you could be up for some ruptured kidneys !!

but i guess it comes down to which you value you more, comfort or style.. with springs just on its own your going to kill you shocks a lot quicker than normal obviously but im not sure how much truth the 10000km rule holds. Like Golf Loon mentioned if the budget doesnt reach out that much you might want to look at a cup kit which still has decent comfort.

If i was you personally i'd get coilovers. I wanted the drop but without sacrificing the comfort as mine is a daily driver as my nephews neices grandparents and the like all jump in the car every week so have to cater to them as well

Plus with coilovers if your handy with the DIY side of things, you can put them in your self and when it come to selling the car you can always take them out and reclaim you money back. Whereas with springs, unless you have a spring compressor, you'd probably have to take it into a suspension place to have fitted and probably not worth your time our money to take them out before you sell the car and either way in which if you decided to do that you probably get peanuts back upon resale

Just some food for thought

Cheers

**gavs** · 08-10-2009, 08:15 AM

If you do go for coilovers, don't fall into the trap of cheap ones. If you do go with coilovers, make sure you buy quality, otherwise you will have just waisted your money, which could have gone towards a quality spring and shock setup anyway....