lowering a wast of time?

[79rolla]

been talking to my dad bout mu car and he says that i should just put some reely good shocks in it and there is no point lowering it even a lil bit with some harder springs

is he right? lol
thnx

[rwd_mayhem]

when lowering your car you should match your shocks to your springs.

i imagine your lowering it more for looks than performance, so just go for it i rekon!

[FouRacer]

Depends what you want to use it for, if its just for looks & cruisin around steady then I would save your money and jus buy some springs. But you will probly compromise on your handling, your going to get a lot more satisfaction out of lowering it on some fully adjustable aftermarket shocks!

[79rolla]

im looking for handiling mainly here (i live up a hill in the country) so looks arnt comming first for me
the suspention is shit at the moment so cash is gonna be spent on it anyway

[RED TOP MR 2]

yeah personally i would lower it with new inserts sorter ones if needed.lowering will drop a cars centre of gravity so a lil less chance of a roll if lowering done properly.if youre travelling rough terrain ild go for just a new shock as less chance of botoming out or hitting shiz and getting a sore ass.if where talking about your corolla best to get the leaves reset instead of large blocks

[pc]

Lowering is dumb unless you are building a mostly seal/track vehicle... Having a car low so that you are constantly worrying if your car can go over one of the many bumps in NZ roads seems like a waste of time and limits the use of the vehicle.
If you want your car to remain multi purpose with better handling, then replace the shocks & springs with good new ones.

[Mr Revhead]

different cars.. different situations = different solutions

i assume your talking about a ke30?

nothing wrong with lowering..... its when you go stupid or do it incorrectly theres problems.


as mentioned you want to match springs with shocks.
no point putting new stiff sports springs on 30 year old shocks....
a set (or in this case fronts) of "low" rather than super lows, would be a good idea, along with some new shocks such as KYBs.
also replacing the bushes would be a good idea
will feel like a new car

wheel alignment specs also play a big part.....
a little more castor and camber often makes a massie difference

of courset hat all goes out the window if you have crap tyres....

[2LTR Rona]

From personal experience...lowering the Corona (when I had it) was not a waste of time.

Removed the pitch & roll feeling that it had from factory & gave a all round better feel / ride. Was a lot more responsive after having it lowered & that was just with throwing a set of King Springs in.

a little later down the track the factory front shocks were replaced (due to age) with a Munroe gas insert strut, which resulted in the front being a little more stiffer.

[sergei]

Monroe's are not very good, they don't last long (mine lasted 50k, and feel really bad now...) and they are softer then new genuine ones.

[pc]

From personal experience...lowering the Corona (when I had it) was not a waste of time.

Removed the pitch & roll feeling that it had from factory & gave a all round better feel / ride. Was a lot more responsive after having it lowered & that was just with throwing a set of King Springs in.

a little later down the track the factory front shocks were replaced (due to age) with a Munroe gas insert strut, which resulted in the front being a little more stiffer.

Did it feel better because you lowered it... or because you put new stiffer springs in? Any old car is going to feel much better with new shocks and stiffer springs.

[2LTR Rona]

well both actually, as the springs were a combination of the two.

if left at the original ride height it wouldn't have fully removed the pitching feel as I wanted. Drove another corona with stiffer springs at factory height to compare & that still had a significant amount of pitch to it.

Pc - this was the Corona I used to have, not the KE btw, just so there is no confusion


sergei - I sold the corona not long after that so cant comment on how they feel now etc

[AE82 FXGT]

Something I think a lot of people over look when trying to eliminate roll etc is swaybars. Don't know if said ke has them or not (my fx had some and it was 85). But yeah, thinker sway bars and new bushes work a treat for handling in most cars.

[sergei]

In my opinion swaybars are more important for roll than ride height.
Ride height is a good thing, that is if you are planning to drive on some real twisty roads. If you look at most tarmac rally cars you will notice that they ride quiet high (well definitely not scraping the dirt).

[79rolla]

so you guys are saying that ill be sweet if i just put sum good shocks and maby a better swaybar? and stay with the stick springs?

[Bling]

I'd personally do all 3 if you can stretch ya budget.

saves time and effort in the long run to do springs and shocks at same time.

sway bar i haven't touched before, but if $$$ allowed I would so go there

[Mr Revhead]

retaining stock travel could be good on roughish roads.

some cars can do with being lowered, and they can still retain decent ride height.

what aspect of the currant handling dont you like?
understeer? oversteer? pitching? body roll?

also what do you like?
i know some ppl who like race car like ride.... and others who like armchair comfort...

[79rolla]

dont like the understeer and pasengers dont like rool (not that i notic lol) apparintly it rocks and bounces (agen i dont notic driving) my road isint relly bumby but its not the best in the world and there is lots of corners
so yea want some better traction and car to sit a bit flatter if you get what i mean
oh yea just so you no its got DX struts in the frount and to sum up the current suspention... sponge

[Mr Revhead]

well DX struts give you a lot of fitment options

ie ae86 stuff fit.
i reckon some springs by cobra, lovells or similar no more than 25-30mm drop (really depends on how high it is now, look underneath, not tyre to guard) rest the rear leaves.
some KYB shocks and a full set of super pro/nolathane bushes.

that would be a good start. then maybe look at sway bars
no point spending $$ on bars if the rest of the suspension is old and saggy.

does it have a panhard bar? if lowering it, an asjustable version may be needed

[79rolla]

i no you sed underneeth but just for an idea





not looking at lowering it verry far maby 10 - 15 cm if i lower it at all

[slighty_sykotic]

10-15cm is MASSIVE.

Like others said above, basically replace the old parts with new. Like bushes etc.

As revhead said, 30mm drop would be plenty with a good quailty set of springs and matching shocks.