Lowering...would you do it? or do it again on your next car?

[volvoid]

Im not a chav
I dont live on a council estate.
If I wear a hat its the right way around.
A doughnut is a squishy bun with jam, not the remains of someones tyres
I rarely eat a burger, let alone leave half of it in Halfrauds car park
Wat de ef dus dis meen ?

[Alex121]

I lowered my T4, not for looks, but because it seriously lacked the handling that I thought a 'quick' car should have.

With the lowering and strut brace the car is so much better than it was when I got it. More planted around bends and much better when the brakes need to be put on hard when people doing stupid things - Less body roll. I've thought about making the move over to coil overs but unfortunately there are a lot of speed bumps around here and it just wouldn't clear them





The wheel gap on all R-Designs is way too big IMO. It looks daft - We have a 2009 T5 R-design and there's a massive amount of space on them!

[Antz]

Wow some comments here are hilarious. Mention lowering a car and suddenly you're a chav who enjoys revving up in car parks. Also this rubbish that manufacturers got it right so it doesn't meed to be messed with. If they got it so perfect then why do many of them then lower the cars further with stiffer suspension and call it a sport pack, gti, r design or whatever?...its not hard really. Science dictates that with a lower centre of gravity then a car will handle better. Sure you can go past that and have suspension too hard that the car crashes and skips over bumps with terrible ride quality but with quality components then you cant really go far wrong.

Ive lowered every single car Ive ever owned and not once have I ever died, broken my spine from the ride quality or wobbled off into the abyss. Guess that makes me a chav with no clue? Ill go sit in a car park and rev my engine now.

Daily: Volvo V40 T4 - Lowered on H&R springs with a Whiteline rear ARB and strutbrace


Project: Volvo 240. Lowering springs. Uprated anti roll bars. Polybushes suspension. Extra strut and body braces, uprated shocks. It handles nothing like a stock 240 (it handles!) and its low driving a cloud in comfort.


Now recoil in Horror. My BMW E36. Its incredibly low on coilover suspension and to be honest, its actually really comfortable (apart from the bucket seat) and from its ride quality I would honestly dare people to notice it was lowered if I took them for a blind folded drive in it.

[Thrustyjust]

My old mans 740, 245, 244 and all those Volvos handled like a stick in ****. They rolled like hippos in mud, they had no control, traction was crap and that's the 'standard' suspension.
My ST had quite unnerving back end roll during fast ( non chav manoeuvres) on roundabouts, which made the front lean and the start of open diff traction lights glimmering. The fitting of 'lowered' Eibach springs and a whiteline rear arb, complete neutralised this affliction the standard suspension had. If the standard suspension was good enough for the car manufacturer, it wouldn't have fitted stiffer ARB, lower springs on the Focus RS, as the ST would be fine.
We prefer a slightly stiffer ( not that you would actually notice) but less vomit inducing roll in our cars, as we do 'use' our cars and can feel when the limit is getting close, which by changing these parts has pushed that limit a bit further on. Next stage is coilovers, but that's not where I want the car to go towards and I am happy with the workings of the suspension it now has.



I have no issues with trolley jacks, but my mate has to use one particular car hoist to get under the sills to get it off the ground. Just a boring old focus, to be honest

[AcidicDavey]

Well said Antz! I agree with most of what you said.

Car companies do indeed spend a lot of money setting up cars' suspension but then so do the suspension companies themselves! They're the experts, not the car's manufacturer!

Yes, there are some people out there that seem to think a stiffer car is a better car and in some cases that simply isn't true, too stiff for a bumpy road etc and you simply aren't going to have contact with the road and just skip across losing traction and grip!

I've experienced the above first hand in a friend's car. Standard old shocks with cheap Apex lowering springs. Really really ruined! Totally no comfort or sophistication whatsoever! Mind, the car didn't exactly handle well beforehand anyway, this was done for looks only as it did look completely daft before. The steering has a nicer feel to it and it turns in better than before but a part from that... ruined!

I, a week or so ago fitted KW coilovers to my V70. So far, apart from ground clearance issues, I'm yet to find a negative. I've driven the car in all conditions and roads and so far so goo.
I've got them set very low with the rebound set about halfway with the rear set one or 2 turns stiffer than the front and the ride is only very marginally less comfortable than before. The rear suspension was way too soft before and the car felt like it was kneeling at the rear during sudden directional changes and fast tight cornering.
With the standard suspension it simply was not possible to really reach the limits of the tyres without throwing it around like a nutter. Now though the car is so much more confidence inspiring that the limits are within reach without the feel of being a scrote, the limits are definitely higher too. The car just corners flatter, moves around the road with more poise and and is so much more 'pointable'. Very happy with the car's newly found dynamic abilities....

....plus it looks badass

I admit though, I was one of those 'morons in a 15yo Golf bouncing the road' and that did handle like crap. I bought it with **** coilovers on it.

So, the point here is do it right and there are many many benefits, do it wrong and you will be crying!

[brickman]

Car manufactures design for the 95th percentile. I.E. the most average man (yes man not woman), 5'10, 75kg, average proportions, average habits, average driving ability, average desires and perspectives etc etc.

Everything about a car is designed to satisfy that person, as that is a good proportion of your market no matter the segment.

Factory ride height for a given market (Euro/US/SA/SMEA) are different to reflect the quality of their roads.

Europe has the lowest factory ride height.

However, Europe is a big place. You have countries like Bosnia and Croatia which have impeccable new, smooth roads with less than 10 potholes in each country, and at the opposite end of the scale you have mid-Scotland, who's roads are reminiscent of a years long, internal, hard all destructive warzone*.

So ride height must reflect the state of the average road that the car will be expected to face in that market.
In almost all cases, you can go lower, not firmer, beefier ARB's and bushs and not at a noticeable cost to ride quality and compliance. Although if you do it wrong, with spring/damper/ARB/bush combo's that are not suited (and do not think for a minute just buying (e.g.) Koni dampers + springs from the same product line means they will be matched/suitable for purpose), the ride will be spine crushing, the car will wallow AND crash, and it'll still roll around and try to tear its own tyres off whilst actually not being that quick around a corner.


*nope I have not got that wrong. Bosnia has better roads that central Scotland. And I have the three bent wheels to prove it.

///Car industry//Road maintenance rant /over

[clarkey1984]

I have lowered many cars over the years, I had a nova with -40mm springs which wasn't too bad, a little reboundy but manageable, I also lowered my mx5 with -60mm lowering springs, and while I know it's hard to envisage, try to conjour up what a car pogo stick hybrid would be like, and we are just about there, the worst thing ever to appear in my life.

After that I went down the coilover route, both with my bmw e46 320d and also my e36 328i sport, and no matter how low I went (and believe me, I had both cars very very low at times!) although the ride obviously stiffened the lower I went, i experienced little if any crashy bouncy behaviour like I had with springs, and I never went for big names either, FK tuning ones on the 328 and tuningart ones on the diesel, fully adjustable ride height that's none too shabby for about 150 quid, can't go wrong if you ask me.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Ninja59

I know some of us do love a bit of lowering (including myself albeit with the MX5). I am definitely a convert in that respect and am glad I got it done (even if it was me going I will ignore the bill entirely).

Those that have not done it would you consider it?

Never done it, probably never will at my age! Wrecks the ride.

Reckon the majority of manufacturers have got the suspension more or less sorted so why mess with it? I mean they have spent millions developing it haven't they? Not sure I could better it with a few spanners and a couple of hundred quid.

If a person wants a car that 'hugs the tarmac' then buy one that is designed to be but just a cm away!!!

Regards

[classicswede]

Manufactures get it wrong very often. Look at the problems with the early Audi TT and the Merc A class as examples of cars that badly went wrong.

Some cars come from the factory with suspension that is far to hard for most UK roads with things like the MG's and any car that was setup on the Nuremberg ring will be overly harsh.

Why is it that the normal 850 has different suspension to a T5? Why did the police use different suspension again?

Different road surfaces will need a differnt suspension setup to get the most from the car but in 99% of cases what the manufacture sent the car out with will be no where near what is ideal

[oragex]

Originally Posted by 500tie

I'll be going down the route of good quality coilovers again it really made the car a whole lot better

This, or even not lowering but just replace the suspension with some really good quality coil overs. The S60 is already quite low to the ground, and also the bushes in the suspension components are already quite under stress, even more so if the car is lowered.