guidance on where to start!

i have read a lot of threads dealing with lowering cars and adding wheels etc. but i want to know if my plan would require a different strategy.

first off, i would like to get a set of 16" wheels....
i also want the car lower, but NOT more than 1.5-2" from what it is at now.

i am not sure if adding wheels now would change the ride height by much, but i want enough clearence to get down my driveway, so it cant be lowered much (suuuuuper steep driveway)

another thing i would LIKE, is to have an aggressive rallyesque stance, where the ass end is up a TINY bit more (especially since i have 100lbs speakers back there all the time, hehe)

right now my struts are getting pretty bad, and its time to replace, so i figured i might as well go with the lowered setup while i am at it.

with these comments in mind, which set of struts/springs would be the smartest for my to buy?!

well, if your gunna have a big ass box, get slightly stiffer springs, and stiffer struts for the lowering

uhmm i'm sure someone will post brand names but i am getting 1.25" drop all around

if you go too far you need a correction kit for your camber
other wise your tires are like / \ and thats baaaad


my .02

well if money is not an issue here....You will want to go with tokico (250-300$) or KONI (450$) struts. As for the springs I would suggest either eibach or sprint (100-200$ or so) depending on which one, you can get a drop of 1.5" - 2.5"....however, if you are wanting the front to be lower than the back you are gonna want coilovers, and in that case I would suggest ground control (325$). In my opinion the brands above are the highest quality, so if money is an issue there are cheaper alternatives.

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Originally posted by bobafett
i have read a lot of threads dealing with lowering cars and adding wheels etc. but i want to know if my plan would require a different strategy.

first off, i would like to get a set of 16" wheels....
i also want the car lower, but NOT more than 1.5-2" from what it is at now.

i am not sure if adding wheels now would change the ride height by much, but i want enough clearence to get down my driveway, so it cant be lowered much (suuuuuper steep driveway)

another thing i would LIKE, is to have an aggressive rallyesque stance, where the ass end is up a TINY bit more (especially since i have 100lbs speakers back there all the time, hehe)

right now my struts are getting pretty bad, and its time to replace, so i figured i might as well go with the lowered setup
while i am at it.

with these comments in mind, which set of struts/springs would be the smartest for my to buy?!

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16" rims sound good to me. Make sure they are 4x100mm bolt pattern and that they have 40mm offset, stay away from 38mm or 35mm offsets, 42mm offset would be ok. Here are a few good places to shop for rims. www.rim1.com (1rim.com??), www.discounttiredirect.com and www.whalentire.com

I have to say that adding your 2 comment's together about the stance you want, AND the sub box's, makes me think you may want to go with sleve coil-over's like ground controls. That way you get to dial in the perfect (to your eyes) stance, no matter how much weight you've got in the trunk. But the ground controls are expensive $339. And from email's I have received I can no longer recommend any strut for them other than Koni's or revalved bilsteins. Yes you can get cheaper coilover's but they will still cost around the $200 mark. And yes you can get them for as little as $129, but I would not recommend them, people tend to complain about them.

So what about going with coil springs? Either go with H&R springs, which I have btw or B&G suspension springs, $159 and $169. Both are 1.5" drops, with the B&G springs being stiffer, front and rear. If you wanted to go to a 2" drop you just can't pass up the deal you can get on suspension techniques speed tech springs from www.nopi.com or www.fastfours.com.

As far as struts the minimum starting point would be Tokico H.P.'s from www.shox.com for $235. They are on the soft side, and you will likely have some bounce from the fronts. A better choice would be the struts I'm running, Koni special's, but they're not cheap $424+free shipping from shox.com. These struts do dish out a firm ride, never bounce EVER! and gave the car a much tighter feel. The koni's are not the end all, I have come into circumstances, where I wanted more dampning and more spring stiffness, but I highly doubt that very many people drive as aggressively as I do.

If you or anyone else has any questions, please feel free to ask.

well thank you all for your input, i will consider it all..

i think i will have to call up my friend and see if he can get me good deals on any of these products....

Call em up, but I highly doubt he can beat the prices I can find.:D
Let me know what you decide on and I'll tell you where to get it at the best price. ;)

thanks for your help! hopefully i will be getting enough money together to buy the struts and springs in the next month or so (going to disneyland with the GF will take like 700+ out of my cash flow... lol)

ok heres a question, if i were to buy just struts, or just springs, and then purchase the other later, would i be able to install it, or would i have to wait for it to be worthwhile, and go with its complementary piece?

sorry if that didnt make sense i am really tired!

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ok heres a question, if i were to buy just struts, or just springs, and then purchase the other later, would i be able to install it, or would i have to wait for it to be worthwhile, and go with its complementary piece?

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Hmm, I understand what your asking. Doing the install isn't that difficult. But it can be time consuming. If your struts are blown, then go ahead and install new ones first. If not I'd wait and install the new struts and springs together. It would be easier that way since you would not have to use a spring compressor to get the lowering springs ONTO the strut assembly. And stock struts will not feel very good with lowering springs, bounce bounce.

ok, thanks for the advice... well the struts are not blown, but they are pretty bad (according to my dad... lol) i dont really know much about cars at this point, but i hope to change that! so its not CRITICAL, i guess i would just rather install them both at the same time like you said.

well since i might want to tinker with the drop, i think that the ground control coilovers are the best bet for springs (i assume those are springs) and for struts i honestly dont know what i should get, but i DO want to do this car right, and not buy half ass stuff, and decide later down the road that i want to buy better stuff. but i also dont have tons of money to burn, so i just want something that is very good quality, but by no means do i need the best!

with that in mind, which set of struts seem like the wisest choice?

and after reading thru your posts again, it looks like if i get the ground control coilovers, that i would need koni struts... well, i guess i will do what i have to get quality parts, even if it means waiting! damn, thats 425 (struts) + 325 (coilovers) = 750 lol, and i STILL wouldnt have wheels... hehe

speaking of that, will 16's work good with drops between 1.25-1.75 (i cant see going up to a 2 inch drop, since i would never be able to make it down my driveway)

Sure 16's would look good with the drop your talking about. Heck I've got 15's and a 1.5" drop and I think my car looks nice, but I think it would look better with 16's and a 2" drop, oh well:rolleyes:

or a 17inch rim and a 3.0 drop like me!

i have GC's and Koni's.. the koni's are blown.. cough cough

I'd recommend that to begin with

Good luck!

Josh

hey can you post a pic of your car/rims? i am trying to get a good idea of what would look best on here....

Well if you would like to see a couple of pics of my car send me a private message with your email address so I can use my own email off the board to send you the pics.

thanks for the pics!!!

they look good!

could you tell me about the wheels, i really like them!

Well, my hatchback setup is like this :
-Tokicos up front
-KYB GR-2s in the back
=Intrax springs ~2" front ~1.6" in the back
-Getting prelude control arms

I have two 10" subs in a decent sized box and my ass still sticks up a bit I think, I'm on 15" GSR rims with 50 series tires.

#2

cool, those rims do look good on the car! hmm... how much did all your suspension stuff cost? and do you like it?

i am trying to deicde if i should go all out and get ground control coilovers and koni struts, or if i should save a few hundred bucks and get something else... still havent deicded either way!

Well it can be boiled down to how much someone is willing to ignor and accept. Tokico's barely have if at best enough stiffness for lowering springs. Most people that have them experience some kind of softness with them in the front. Meaning they tend to bounce and let the suspension travel lower more offten then a firmer strut would. Now for some people they don't notice this and don't care. For me I could not tolerate what should not be happening on a properly tuned setup. I pulled sturts that cost me $170(Bilstein H.D.'s) for the front pair and replaced them with the koni's. And I have received several emails from people with tokico's complaining about this. One of them is running them with Ground-controls. And I can tell you from his experience, DO NOT run tokico's with ground-controls you will be wasting $235.

I could see getting Koni's in the front and Tokico's in the rear if you have to save money. I will add that my Koni's do a fantastic job in the rear as well. Fact is, this is not just about eliminating bounce and softness, it is also about a vast difference in how the car feels and drives. After I installed the koni's the have felt so much better, percise, and much more tossabe, it's now a joy to drive instead of a bother. And I'm not talking about some sort of sport suspension that is rock hard.

I'll agree with Jim that the Tokicos allow a little much ride in the front, but its nothing terrible. Now the difference is in the ride, my dad has Blistens in his BMW and yeah, they are great. But it is the same deal, you get what you pay for I guess.

I paid this for my stuff, most of it was used/new in box

Intrax Springs + Tokicos $200
GR-2s $110 i think
Prelude arms, new bushings, new ball joints $100

I installed the springs and struts myself, that was my big first project. I'll reccomend you get a friend and a spring compressor and have some fun!

Paul, you only paid $200 for your intrax springs and front tokico's:huh: The cheapest I've ever found intrax springs was $180 and the front tokico's are like $125. You must have bought them used. Can't blame you that was a good price.:smokin:

Yup, $200 got me used intrax springs in good condition and the front tokicos new in box. I bought them off Falcone from the really old board.