To those who have lowered their cars . . .

[urbanmonkeygod04]

I think it's time I start making mods to the Redline, as a little extra cashflow has come my way due to putting in some extra hours at work & a certain hot chick (see my post in the IRL Discussion forum) purchasing a Saturn. My first mod, however, is going to be suspension.

I want to drop down the car. I'd like a coil-over type setup, but I am not sure if anybody makes one at this point, or ever will.

So for those of you who have lowered your car:

What springs did you use?
What was the outcome? (did the ride get worse? did the handling improve noticeably? how low did it drop it?)
How much does it cost?
Would you recommend it to me?

Also, zFactor, I know that you have all the good info on stuff coming out for our cars in the near future; any idea about any coil-over suspensions about to be released?

Thanks in advance, everybody.

[zfactor]

there are 2 companies working on them but it may be a while at this point i am asked not to release any info. one is a ....get this.... japanese company, and the other is very well known in the suspension world.

there are numerous springs out and specific redline ones coming very soon...
ones out now that will work well:
sprint
intrax
h&r
progress
b&g
but remember these are not "for the redline" they will work but you will not get the advertised drop and also the spring rates are slightly on the softer side than out stock redline ones.

ones coming specific to the redline:
intrax
h&r
progress
goldline
sustech
these will be proper for the redline. they will lower the car a full drop for what they say they will not .5" less
in other words if you get the intrax springs out now they say 1.7" drop f+r
you will only "see" 1.2" drop same with all the others.
personally depending on what you will be using your car for i would just get springs and replace the stock struts and shocks with aftermarket ones.
koni and kyb's agx one will be here shortly. coil overs are awsome if and only if you set them up properly have the car corner weighted and balanced, get the right alighnment and chances are when they do this it will not be to your stock specs they will figure out the right amount of either pos or neg camber for the height you are set at. and EVERY TIME YOU ADJUST THE COIL OVERS you will need to be realighned. remember that to many put these thigs on thier cars and think they can raise and lower at will .... good luck. if you are going to be serious about road racing, drag, or autocross you may want to go this route. i install coil overs (real ones) al the time in supras and 300zx and rx-7 etc...... and very rarely do they offer a good ride they are performance parts not really desingned for street driving. some here may think i sound foolish saying these things. but let put it this way.... i know the owner of goldline, sprint, intrax, and engineers at tein, eibach, intrax, and hks.
they will all agree to everything i just stated to a tee. i speak to some on a regular basis and learned much from all of them.

so i guess my point to this long drawn out response is what do you want out of your car?? the lowered look with a little better performance.. less body lean ... less body roll..... less of a nose dive when braking etc.... get the springs and call it a day.....

or get the coil overs and dont say i didnt tell you how much work they really are. i have them on our miata and on my 300zx tt, i try never to adjust them i got tired of getting alighned.

[zfactor]

p.s. the sprints are not the best for performance but they ride awsome almost like its not lowered and they are only 135$$$$$$

[re1080]

I have the B&G springs they lowered the car about 1 1/4. the ride is about the same, it handles slightly better although it could be me. i bought them from sms for 199 and since i work at the dealership i had them installed for $100

[Black04RedLine]

Originally Posted by urbanmonkeygod04

So for those of you who have lowered your car:

What springs did you use?
What was the outcome? (did the ride get worse? did the handling improve noticeably? how low did it drop it?)
How much does it cost?
Would you recommend it to me?

It would be nice to see some people reply with some USEFUL information using the above format. As I am in the same predicament and am also probably going to be lowering my car in the near future as well. Keep the replies coming.

[Liljon]

Monkey, I payed 145 totall for my Sprints... they ride a little harder, but not unbearable and the handling is ALOT better. I can tell the diff because I take my car to it's tire screatching limit frequently. And EVERYONE notices the drop, its perfect I have not bottomed out yet. Check out my car on Car Domain.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/845271 (cut & paste).

[zfactor]

all as above agreed. but i paid 134.95 for mine...... teally they work well. i personally think the intrax will handle much better but #1 they are more money #2 the ride will be much stiffer with intrax than with sprints.

[Jim Lewis]

So when will we get REAL springs, instead of this poseur crap? I want stiff springs!

[zfactor]

h&r and intrax's will be out mid to end of july
eibach now tells me they have no plans on redline specific springs because the ion ones dont sell well. they were telling me they were in r&d but thats eicbach for you i have dealt with them for years now and they are always like this. the intrax should ride very comparable to the eibach type spring. they are usually very stiff and have very little give to them. if you really want FIRM go h&r they are about the firmest spring rates out there as far as aftermarket goes. i have the sprints now but i will be putting the intrax on after riding on them in my customers car (the reg ion ones not the redline ones yet) they are about 10X as firm as the sprints are. but the ride quality suckes ass!!!!!!! the did handle much better than the sprints as far as roll and lean go, but man the ride i cant imagine how stiff the h&r's are cause even they tell me themselves they are stiffer then intrax or eibach. the intrax out now will lower the car 1.2-1.4 inches even though they say 1.7. the redline ones coming from intrax will be 1.75 for the redline which is a little low for my tastes being the sprints now lower the car 1.4 and it really low for every day. tein says they are working on a set (they may not openlly admit this but i know people at tein usa) the teins are terrible as far as performance goes. they are great for look but tend to sag (they only come with a 1 year warr). if you want them now buy intrax or h&r if you can wait get the new h&r coming, but the intrax will be a close second.

[Jim Lewis]

Tien seems to only make drop springs for looks, and while that may be all the guys need who don't understand what lowering their car is really for, and what handling truly is, that may work - I'm looking for springs that are designed to make the car WORK, not just look lowered.

Most springs like Intrax, Springtech, Goldline, etc aren't much better than if you took a torch to your stock springs - pretty freaking pointless, based on my years of experience and talking to literally hundreds of hard-core enthusiasts.