HOW TO LOWER A CAR-THE RIGHT WAY
This is just something for reference for beginners starting, those who are new to the site, or those whole are lazy and don’t wanna use the search function.
Basically just a FAQ/Tutorial on lowering a cavalier in specific. Most things I write from experience, others I write from events that have happened with others who have posted about their gains or misfortunes.
The only way you will get anything out of this is by reading it in full and asking questions if needed. The suspension forum, as well as ALL of JBO has MANY people who help out with forums and individuals needing help. One thing to realize though is learning from others mistakes. If not, the saying of a hard head makes a soft @!#$ can and usually does hold true.
To start of, the suspension is the main thing that SUSPENDS your car in the air with the base being the wheels and tires. Those are the 4 points that touch ground. Suspension arms, struts, springs, shocks are all components in helping keep the car up off the ground/road and also controlled so the inside components of the car (aka you, the passenger(s) are not shaken nutty.
Through this post I will cover a few points that are now frequently asked and give explanations and or proof in form or logic, quotes, or posts made on JBO which can be referenced.
Starting off, WHAT SHOULD I CHOOSE? WHATS THE BEST…?
Firstly, BEST? Drop that word from you vocab. Seriously…Obviously what’s “best” for you isn’t gonna be best for marky mark, and what’s best for you two isn’t gonna be what’s best for jimmy jam. There isn’t a “best” you can just look up on a chart. There are plenty of parts that are good for a certain person or application that aren’t for another. SO……What should each person choose? What is better? These are two commonly asked questions by newbies and people who aren’t new overall, but new to suspension. What SHOULD you choose? Well look at what you want to use your suspension for and what you plan to accomplish. Ask yourself these questions:
How low do you want to be from stock? The lower you go the harsher the ride.
How soft or stiff do you want ride quality?
How much do you want to pay?
How many times do you want to half-@!#$ this before its done right?
How quick do you want to be able to adjust it? Or are you into adjusting at all?
How critical are you when it comes to being COMPLETELY EVEN?
How are the roads in your area?
Those are just a few questions to ask yourself. Those are to help YOU decide what YOU need and or WANT.
When you get that figured out, here is an overview of the choices for suspension. In all choices however, there are CHEAP and QUALITY choices. This will obviously help you in figuring out what way you wanna go. But do realize that cheap isn’t always good and neither is expensive. Going cheap will obviously get you a cheap product. Cheap products I tend to view as this: “if this was underwear, would you want it housing family jewels?” you normally don’t put cheap stuff for protection. Cause in essence, your suspension can and will be part of the equation of keeping you safe on the road or having your car, body, and hopefully not…other passengers from being harmed, if there ever comes a time when you need to brake hard, swerve, or use some other evasive driving moves in an emergency.
*** Don’t be one of the ones, I don’t have enough money. Instead of giving the BS I’m poor story, do realize its not gonna hurt you to save up for a part you need. Everyone here is not a millionaire. If need be get a job, get two, or simply save up. There are people here with a house, 2 kids and working minimum wage and can save up. If saving up is a problem for you, then its time to start growing up. All the people who don’t wannt spend that much money, but have their car loaded with audio equipment, get real. Quality costs, and you get what you pay for. No bullsh*t. no excuses***
In a quick overview, the main choices for suspension are:
Stock: Obviously, the smoothest but prob the most sloppiest, when it comes to crisp handling. Also the cheapest.
Lowering springs: These NOW come in linear and progressive springs. They are not adjustable, so what you put on is really what you get unless you wanna pay money to buy more stuff to try and adjust em. This, in an aftermarket sense, is the “low-cost” way of lowering a car. All it really involves is a change of springs, but strut change is also HIGHLY recommended.
Coilovers: Coilovers usually always came in Linear spring rates. But they now come in progressive. But these are usually higher priced coilovers. AKA not on EBAY. Coilovers are GREAT for adjusting as that is their main advantage. You can change the spring rate as well as the spring length, the height at which the car sits and if you are critical in all sides being even you can adjust these to the nearest micrometer if you have the patience. These are especially good in racing and in shows where height may need to be adjusted low for stability, or to wow the crowd and judges, but it allows you to leave the track or show at the height you came in with if it was higher. VERY versatile. Downside, more expensive, and there are so many cheap knock offs that come without essential parts for the car. These are the kits that are made for other cars, but can be adapted, so they change the part numbers, most put them on ebay, and they are usually less that 200$…but take a moment and think. A quality set of springs are around 200$ why are coilovers, with more parts less than a decent set of springs. If you cant conduce an answer from that, sit down, drink some milk, and have a nap, cause you are really muffed up!J
***Linear means the spring throughout the WHOLE coil is the same spring rate. So if the spring was 350lb/in, that means the spring would need 350 lbs to compress it EACH inch. Now, some coilovers, mostly FULL coilovers, not sleeve style kits are coming with progressive spring rates. Progressive springs DO NOT have a set spring rate as linear. The reason why is because each section of the spring has a spring rate that is different from the next. So the top half of the spring may be 115lb/in, then gradually reach 320lb.in by the other side. The spring rate of that spring literally would be everything between those two rates, but then it would be pointless cause you would have to list every rate and some springs do jumps like 115, 225, 320. point being there is not industry standard to measure it, or no real way to measure it at all. Some people may think that you can measure the ends and come up with a range to list., but it simply cant be donw with that. What if the first coil is somewhere in the ranges of 115 starting and slightly in the 200’s after the first inch. Then for that first inch, its not really 115 nor 200 is more of an average of the two… too technical and will never be solved, but if someone is bored, they are welcome to tryJ***
Air/Hydraulics: although this is a route lesser traveled, its definitely picking up as of late. To be honest I never saw the point of this as this is not big at all in Europe where I grew up, but the more I learn about it, the cooler it gets. Also people on the forum, like nickesix, snazziz24, bagdfire, cavattack2000, baggedcavy, and a few others def changed my opinion on it. You basically get the same effect as coilovers, a lot of adjustability, and all at the flick of a switch. Some of the myths of air ride is that they are accident prone. You have more parts and you are dealing with hoses, but once again, the statement holds true about the quality of the products. Make sure you buy something decent, not some schmuck on ebay who answers you question of “does this come with everything I need?” with a reply of “yeah I think so, so and so told me.” Check with a few of the names dropped above. They have the systems installed and damn well done. The only negative I really see with air rides, is that most tracks, US wise, pretty much the majority, will not let a car with them race. Sure many have snuck in, but during tech, if they see it, most will not let you race. Track safety hazard from debris hitting the bags or lines are the common reasons. Check with local tracks before you go to get rules and regulations.
STRUTS
Now that you have a base on what choices to choose from, start thinking and prepping to spend extra money on some struts if need be applies. Air struts are specially made with either bags on them or an air cylinder inside. So you don’t need lowering struts for those. However, on springs and coilovers, struts should be your first buy. Once you have struts, you can put almost anything on them and not have to worry about the struts failing. Once the struts fail, so has the stability of your car. The struts are the mainstay of mechanical suspension. They control the motion of the spring. The spring is there to help the car stay suspended, while the strut is to control the smoothness. Remember the POGO stick from childhood. It was fun cause you kept bouncing, but imagine how hard it would have been if pressurized oil was inside and controlled motion. It would have sucked then, but now with a car its what you look for. CONTROL…
Strut choices for the cavalier are LIMITED. And since there isn’t that big of a market, they will stay high in price. With the j-body platform, you might as well get used to it.
Out of the choices available:
OEM REPLACEMENT struts, are just as that. OEM STYLE replacement struts. Sure some say, valved stiffer etc, but when it boils down to it, they are not valved for lowering. Many have argued that KYB are not oem replacement struts, but if you take a few minutes out of your day and contact KYB AMERICA by phone, they themselves, will tell you that they WILL NOT honor the warranty these struts if on a lowered vehicle. So much for the ability of them to be lowered. Granted some do and have lowered on them for a while, don’t be shocked if yours don’t last long. Generally a strut should last well up to 5 years or more if not abused. But choosing a strut from this category and lowering past 1.5 inches or so, and you are definitely chancing it. If it does blow before time, then that’s more money to spend on new struts, alignment (you will need an alignment after every major suspension component change), and time wasted changing them, or time and money wasted for a shop to do so. These however have proved to be good for springs like the 1.2 inch lowering springs by progressive technologies and stracing. Anything more than that and you are chancing it.
A list of all the OEM style replacement are:
-KYB Gr2’s
-Gabriel VST’s
-Monroe (Sensatracs included)
-GM stock or upgraded suspension packages.
LOWERING STRUTS
These struts are valved stiffer to handle stiffer springs and increase the stability of a lowered car. They aren’t cheap. Our struts on the J platform generally cost around 500$ besides the mantapart sport struts, most all of them are adjustable. The only self adjusting struts alone are the billsteins, converted for our cars by mantapart. The most popular strut choice for these cars are without a doubt Koni. They are two selections, the Reds and the Yellows. Both are pretty much good for whatever you plan to do, the yellow just go to stiffer damping rate than the Reds and are adjustable while they are on the car. With the Reds, you have to take them off the car to adjust them and guess what…another alignment as well. Granted once most people find a good setting for them, they usually stick with it. Now you can use other struts. ANY strut when its new and freshly installed will work good for a while. Hell a 10 matchsticks can hold up 50-100lbs, but after a while they fatigue and wear. Obviously, 10 sticks of the same size in metal would be better, or even of a better wood, would be better, but once again the fact prevails, quality you pay more for. You get what you pay for in this area. You get cheap struts, the don’t last as long. Some have been for 2 weeks, some 2 years. But most don’t have that warranty like koni and other warrantied struts. Learn from others experience and losses, get the right thing upfront and don’t wast time changing cheaper struts, and spending more money replacing things and more alignments. Although some will not listen.
Lowering Struts are as listed:
Koni (Red and Yellow)
Mantapart Sport struts
Mantapart Billstein
KYB AGX—these are not out at the time. There have been many who said they have em, but usually turn out to be liars. The company states they are not released yet for the j-body
Tokico- still not out yet
***SLAMMED CARS with struts. Most companies…EVEN KONI will not warranty a strut if you ABUSE it. Riding around on a strut with the car slammed is abuse. Your car is a 2600+ lb vehicle. The equivalent of that would closely, be related to a large person on your back and you have to walk around all day in a squatted position. Your legs wouldn’t like it and neither does your struts. They have ways of testing to find out if you have done this or not. Simply put, you know how you can tell which part of a metal bar as been used by where the wear marks are concentrated. Well they can do the same with your strut shaft…***
Now hopefully we have struts down. Now since you should have by this time made the decision on your own from reading above what you want to put on the struts/shocks….springs or coilovers kits. Generally speaking, “how low should I lower my car” are to be decided by YOU not us… YOU. If you have a body kit, you need to go outside, measure how much clearance you have and how much you can get rid of safely. This can be done by anyone on any car. Find the lowest point on your car and then simply measure from the bottom of it to the ground. Lets say you get 5 inches, and you want to take off 2 inches, then look at the chart below and make the decision.
SPRINGS
If you choose springs here are your choices: ***Courtesy of BearsFan (Jerry A)***
Spring Choices
1- Apex (1.6") - - - (Need Info & Input)
2- B-G Sport Springs (1.6") - - - (Need Info & Input)
3- DropZone - - - (1.7")
4- Eibach Pro kit (1.4") - - - (Great Choice/ Watch For Uneven on 2.2)
5- Eibach Sportline (1.7F - 2.3R) - - - (Great Choice/ Watch For Uneven on 2.2)
6- Fastco (1.6") - - - (Need Info & Input)
7- GoldLine (1.75") - - - (Nice Firm Ride, Popular Choice)
8- H&R Springs (1.6F - 1.4R) - - - (Need Info & Input)
9- Intrax (1.7") - - - (Need Info & Input)
10- MantaPart Sport Springs (1.5" or 2.0") - - - (Need Info & Input)
11- Progress (1.7F - 1.5R) - - - (Need Info & Input)
12- Spring Tech (1.8") - - - (Need Info & Input)
13- Sprint (1.8") - - - (Nice Firm Ride, Popular Choice)
14- Suspension Tech (1.2") - - - (Nice Ride, Small Drop)
Basically here quality will pretty much show in price. The smaller drops will obviously cost less, only a little is changed from stock. So quality shouldn’t really be an issue there. But once you pass the 1.5 mark, when you hear someone’s springs like Intrax for example which are rated for 1.7, they say they are at a 2-inch drop or 2 and a quarter, that means the spring has SAGGED. Like a woman’s mammaries, we all should know sagging is NOT GOOD. Sure some people may still like the ride that’s their preference. Getting used to something isn’t always the best thing. People do it, but so do inmates when they become bubba’s b****. Eibach, H&R, B-G are among the top springs, with goldline in there as well. These are the springs that get low past 1.5… Bearsfan has also had success with the 1.2nch dropping S.techs. They are one of the only sets that are linear springs. They have a decently low spring rate being linear and being spring only. Usually, even though those give a decent ride, people prefer stiffer springs, and most times lower, for increased handling and stability, but do keep in mind. There is more to the setup THAN JUST spring choice. It is possible to have a baddazz-handling car with a soft suspension and proper bracing and the correct anti-roll bars (sway bars). I will cover that a bit more in another post. Big Notice…springs and coilovers on ebay are cheap for a reason. As you see most quality springs are 150$-220$+, when you see springs on ebay being sold for 60$ there is a reason. I seriously hope logic kicks in for you.
COILOVERS
Now on to coilovers, this section will be relatively short as I have already covered this. Instead there are 2 links posted that will reference you to information on what to look for and what not to look for.
***Once again courtesy of Bearsfan (Jerry A)***
Coil-Over Choices
1- AroSpeed - - - (So Much Conflict & Opinions)
2- APC "Next Level" - - - (Need Info & Input)
3- Ground Control - - - (Best bang for the Buck get w/ Konis)
4- HMS CoilOvers - - - (Need Info & Input)
5- HP CoilOvers - - - (Good for the price, most are Happy)
6- MantaPart CoilOvers - - - (Need Info & Input)
7- Number 1 CoilOvers - - - (Need Info & Input)
8- RK Coilovers - - - (can you say "Ground Control")
9- Skunk2 Coilovers - - - (Need Info & Input)
10- Spring Tech "Blue Line" - - - (Need Info & Input)
11- Tsudo Coilovers - - - (Need Info & Input)
12- Weapon-R "Circuit Pro" - - - (Not Much Info, but bad Info)
Now for info on coilovers go here:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=3&i=49870&t=40664&arch=1
additional info on lowering at all, especially on coilovers and rksport full coilovers listed:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=3&i=46968&t=43234&arch=1
I would higly advise that you def read the first and second post in full. It will save you headaches in the long run and you wont screw up your ride by being cheap or simply not knowing.
A few combos of note in the spring & strut/ full coilover area are
***Once again courtesy of Bearsfan (Jerry A)***
Complete Coil-Over/ Spring & Strut Combos
1- RKSport "Pro-Street CoilOver" - - - (Need Info & Inout)
2- MantaPart Sport Strut Coil-Over - - - (Need Info & Inout)
3- Bilstein Coil-Over Package - - - (Bilsteins, What Else can You Say)
4- Koni Reds w/ Eibach SportLines - - - (Very Popular & Satisfying Combo)
Also that should be on this list are the K&W’s which will be out sometimes soon. I may be switching to these in the future. I’m from Germany…whaddaya expect?J but once again there was a post about these in the past month where someone claimed to have them already for a week back then…. Once again another newbie liar. There’s no reason to lie to impress people.
Lastly we get to Air ride. Its way more expensive than any full coilover kit, usually by 300 dollars. The avg kit runs about 1500 dollars for starters…the avg full coilover is around 1200$ but while I’ll spend 20 minutes lowering or raising my car, most air kits will do that in 2 seconds. That’s the advantage. Quick raising or lowering. The weight isn’t too much heavier than most regular suspension setups. Granted you will use up trunk or backseat space with the equipment needed.
Air ride is def something you should look into if you should look into for sure IF you want to ride around slammed Reason being is that they are designed to ride low and be in that position…I mean, besides farting, when was the last time you hurt air? Air rides have a high level of instant adjustability and when don’t right can last a long time. But the same as the other two options…this one still lives by the same rule of thumb. You buy cheap parts, you get cheap results. From what has been posted the AIM and ART kits are usually the most popular. Look on the boards for JasonAudio, I believe his name is as he is a distributor for one of the kits. Also the members I listed above, and also including Darren Schiling.
Also a few links that will help people looking for an air ride are here:
Pictures of air rides:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=3&i=32617&t=31946&arch=1
Air companies:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=3&i=49892&t=49854&arch=1
and this link ALONE gives you hundreds of posts on air ride:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/search.php?f=3&search=air+ride&globalsearch=0&match=1&date=0&fldauthor=1&fldsubject=1
Well for now that’s a summed up FAQ on HOW and with WHAT to lower your car.
One thing of note, all the forums come with the search function. If you have questions, try using this function first. Its in the blue bar above where you post. All you have to do is set it to ALL DATES and search for a term or subject. This helps from repetitive posts being asked over and over. People don’t mind helping, but would also want people to take advantage of having all the information readily available. Some people don’t do it cause they really have a genuine question, others don’t do it cause they just don’t know, and the rest don’t use it cause there are just ignorant or lazy. But like the forum rules say:
