My girlfriend got the car (01 Cavy base model 2 door 2.2 5 speed) from a good friend of mine who owned it nine years. When she first got it my friend said it has been going through strut mounts. Well struts were bad and mounts so I replaced them... still bottomed out easily with cut bump stops. Then I decided thecheap eBay lowering springs were just worn the hell out so I got ksport lowering springs. That stiffened the ride up a little better but still bottomed out on even slight bumps so I figured the weak Autozone struts were garbage so I bought her "lotech" struts that I found online, claimed to be for lowering springs and I'm guessing they have a slightly shorter shock body to prevent this bottoming out issue but that didn't solve anything. Question is, is this a common thing for cavaliers? Like should it just not even be lowered with out going to coilovers or should I just put the stock springs back on for my gf so we can stop wasting money and drive like a normal car... appreciate any help
KYB AGXs, Tokico D-specs, Tokico blues, Koni red, and Koni yellows are the only struts available that are safe to lower on besides coil-overs. Replacing the struts with a proper set should help because the internal valving is different.