Lowering Springs VS Coilovers
Now before I start, this is not a straight up question which is better lowering springs or coilovers, as it really depends on your needs.
A bit of background information: I used to have a set of Vmaxx Xtreme coilovers for my VW Polo, but recently I have removed them back to stock socks as the ride was awful even with the dampers settings as soft as possible. Also the dampers adjustments knobs on both the rear shocks broke. So really I haven’t had much luck with coilovers, even though I thought £700 would give me a bit of quality… But hey, they’re under warrenty so hopefully get my money back
My personal needs: All I really want is to simply lower my car, without having the hassle of breaking things, breaking the bank on some KW Street comfort coilovers(£990) As much as I liked the handling improvements I can’t really see myself spending that much just to really lower my car, as I would never take full advantage of the performace gains. I also don’t want to compromise the ride quality again, it was extremely bouncy and quite harsh on some of the roads around me. I live in the countryside and my drive to work is very uneven and even quite bouncy with stock suspension, so any bouncer really is a no go.
Now I’ve seen a lot of articles and videos and why lowering springs are a bad idea, and why they’ll dampage your shocks. I would like to know could I get a kit that would allow lowering springs and shocks, but not compromise my ride quality? Would it be worth the risk and run just lowering springs? I’m only thinking of dropping my car by about 25-30mm, so nothing major. I have found some lowering springs which apparently meet my needs called “Eibach Pro Kit springs”. I’ve been looking around the internet and people are saying they’re great for exactly what I need, they’re made to work with stock suspension, and also not to affect the ride quality. So just wondering if anyone else has used these springs, what’s your opinion on them.
I would really like some help in what’s the best choice, for my needs and I’m sure other people are in the same situation. Also if anyone has used lowering springs on stock shocks, how much did it affect the shock lifespan and also what the ride quality was like afterwards.
Cheers for reading!
Comments
I’m just gonna stick here, waiting for an answer too
Here is what Eibach say to their Performance Springs Products.
“The applicability of our products deals with standard cars. In any case of reconstruction (even with OE accessory-parts), as the installation of an accessory-brake-system (e.g. ceramic-brakes), sport-suspension, LPG-(liquefied petroleum gas)-system for example, the usage of our products may be excluded.
The stated measurements are referring to new standard cars. Measuring points: vertical distance from the middle of the wheel hub to the bottom edge of the mud wing. Generally the stated measurements are nominal values, which can vary depending on every car”
Basically, these springs are made for the Original Suspension, not to be used on coilovers or other suspensions.
I can’t tell you which to use because they don’t make the OE suspension for my car anymore and have hence installed coilovers. I can tell you though that the lowering Springs might reduce the life of your OE suspension because of the difference in travel that the springs will allow.
For the official description, here is the link to Eibach’s Pro-Kit Springs:
http://eibach.com/m-global/en/products/street-performance/performance-springs/pro-kit
I have the same problem with my ar 156. I want to buy lowering springs but my car has 240.000 kms with the factory shocks so I think I am going to scrape a lot when going over bumps.
You know that you have to replace the shocks once in a while, right ? It’s kind of dangerous when they don’t work properly anymore.
replace your shocks with some OE spec Bilsteins or similar. Your 156 will thank you for it and you will grin a lot more. Lowering springs will shorten the life of shocks but honestly you get 3-4 years out of them without issues and OE spec shocks are not a huge dent on the wallet.
I’ve got eibach springs on my MR2 (25mm drop) and don’t have an issue with the ride comfort. When lowering a car you will always get a harder ride but I live in the country side and wouldn’t complain. I’ve had lowering springs on my devious car (Vauxhall Astra 02) with a 60mm drop and had no suspension issues for 80k miles (would have been longer if the engine hadn’t died).
I think I’ll go for those then. Thanks for the help.
Given how cheap coilovers are nowadays, I always go straight to coilovers. The spring and damper are matched, so there’s no issues with them being bouncy or faster wear. More importantly, are your current shocks in good condition anyway? Chances are they have had a long life and are due for replacement anyway.
This is a really in depth guide: https://lowoffset.com/guides/coilovers-vs-lowering-springs-which-is-better/