Wanting to go 1" lower. Spring recommendations?

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Postby Bling » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:25 pm

Lloyd wrote:Pickapart will have some mint ones though :roll:


I had to laugh at this, so true.

It's not even as though brand new shocks are expensive :? just sell a couple more fresh boxes and you'll be sussed :wink:
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Postby Al » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:26 pm

When genuine TGP shocks are line priced, even the Bilsteins at about $150 each, why bother with unknown s/h hand items?
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Postby Mr Revhead » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:28 pm

Even cheaper through our forum sponsor.....
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Postby iOnic » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:29 pm

All this effort to make a car *slightly* lower.
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Postby TRD_ZERO » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:54 pm

iOnic wrote:All this effort to make a car *slightly* lower.


He is looking at what options he has to get what height he wants.
I went through the same issues, ended up biting the bullet and doing a McPherson swap and getting coilovers. I'm really happy with the end result. My car needs a cert anyway.
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Postby iOnic » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:56 pm

TRD_ZERO wrote:He is looking at what options he has to get what height he wants at the risk of compromising safety in favour of minimal cost.


Gist of thread in my eyes.
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Postby Kiwi-Corolla » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:21 pm

Al wrote:When genuine TGP shocks are line priced, even the Bilsteins at about $150 each, why bother with unknown s/h hand items?


Due to the car being lowered, OEM shocks or their equivalents wouldn't be worth purchasing brand new in my opinion since they're only going to wear at an accelerated rate. Would much rather buy secondhand shocks from Pick-A-Part fully knowing that they're wearing out faster than normal since they're working a lot harder than they're designed to.

The only reason I bought a replacement shock at Pick-A-Part the other day was because I knew full well that the left hand shock I currently had was quite worn as it was relatively easy to press down with my hand, so it made sense to replace it while I had the springs back out again today.

iOnic wrote:All this effort to make a car *slightly* lower.


Yep, what can I say, I'm fussy and 10mm lower can make a big difference to the appearance of a car :P

TRD_ZERO wrote:
iOnic wrote:All this effort to make a car *slightly* lower.


He is looking at what options he has to get what height he wants.
I went through the same issues, ended up biting the bullet and doing a McPherson swap and getting coilovers. I'm really happy with the end result. My car needs a cert anyway.


I'm glad someone here gets it! :). That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Weigh up my options and see if it's possible to get the slightly lower ride height I've always wanted simply by installing a different brand of springs. Sadly it looks like coilovers are going to be the only way to solve my issue, but it has been an interesting experience nevertheless and I can almost change springs/struts with my eyes closed now :lol:

iOnic wrote:
TRD_ZERO wrote:He is looking at what options he has to get what height he wants at the risk of compromising safety in favour of minimal cost.


Gist of thread in my eyes.


Quite the opposite actually. If I didn't give a shit about safety then I would have brought out the angle grinder and cut the springs on day one. As mentioned a number of times in this thread, the bump stops were cut in order to IMPROVE safely. The last thing I want is a dodgy car as I take a lot of pride in my vehicle, and, contrary to popular belief, I actually do care about my safety and the safety of others on the road. It's all about seeing what works and what options I have. If for one second I felt that my car was unsafe I would have pulled it off the road straight away :roll:
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Postby TRD_ZERO » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:37 pm

Yes you are right there but that's where you guys come in and say no no No! Let's hope he listens.
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Postby Bling » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:43 pm

You've cut bump stops, and you run shocks that are of different age and performance. To me that isn't doing everything you can to keep your car safe. I don't see it any different to running mismatched tyres or different springs on either side. They all combine to affect the handling of a car. There is a reason you can't legally cut bump stops.

That is the joy of having personal opinions I guess 8)

As for stock spec shocks lasting or not. I've had one shock leak in the last 8 years that my car has been lowered on OEM and equivalent shocks. I swapped both rear shocks out when that happened. It's just part of the deal I think. It's still miles better to have new shocks over unknowns imo.

The cheapest answer is shorter shocks and shorter springs. Modifying any other parts is not the right way to do it.
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Postby tsoob » Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:11 am

$&#$% for all this effort you could just run some coilovers, and slamm the shit out of it. always gonna look better and you can get more wheel into it then, + it will be easier to load up with passengers etc
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Postby duddley » Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:11 pm

tsoob wrote:$&#$% for all this effort you could just run some coilovers, and slamm the shit out of it. always gonna look better and you can get more wheel into it then, + it will be easier to load up with passengers/ optional extras etc


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Postby Kiwi-Corolla » Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:16 pm

BZG|Bling wrote:You've cut bump stops, and you run shocks that are of different age and performance. To me that isn't doing everything you can to keep your car safe. I don't see it any different to running mismatched tyres or different springs on either side. They all combine to affect the handling of a car. There is a reason you can't legally cut bump stops.

That is the joy of having personal opinions I guess 8)

As for stock spec shocks lasting or not. I've had one shock leak in the last 8 years that my car has been lowered on OEM and equivalent shocks. I swapped both rear shocks out when that happened. It's just part of the deal I think. It's still miles better to have new shocks over unknowns imo.

The cheapest answer is shorter shocks and shorter springs. Modifying any other parts is not the right way to do it.


Right, so you would have considered it safer if I had left my old worn left hand shock in place and just drove around like that until I saved up for a brand new pair of shocks? :P. I can't win with you guys :lol:. I guarantee that if I hadn't bothered replacing the old shock I would have got hounded for driving around knowing I had a bad shock :roll:

But yes, I agree, it is miles better to have new shocks over secondhand ones, but unfortunately I'm not made of money right now so I can't just go out and buy a brand spanking new pair of shortened shocks, so in the interest of safety I replaced the worn one with a secondhand one in good condition as a temporary measure until I decide what to do.

The whole purpose of this job was to see if the King Springs would make my car a little bit lower. Sadly that hasn't been the case, but I'm glad I haven't ended up forking out large amounts of money by buying new shocks etc just to decide that it would be more beneficial to go for coilovers to get the ride height I desire. The cutting of the bump stops was to see if they had anything to do with the height problem as the shock seemed to be sitting on them, but even when cut in half they didn't make the car any lower.

tsoob wrote:$&#$% for all this effort you could just run some coilovers, and slamm the shit out of it. always gonna look better and you can get more wheel into it then, + it will be easier to load up with passengers etc


Agreed, but for $10 a spring from Pick-A-Part it was far cheaper to try this approach first. I didn't get the outcome I expected but I'm glad I tried, because now I know what works and what doesn't. It's been a great learning experience all round 8)

duddley wrote:
tsoob wrote:$&#$% for all this effort you could just run some coilovers, and slamm the shit out of it. always gonna look better and you can get more wheel into it then, + it will be easier to load up with passengers/ optional extras etc


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Postby spoonza6 » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:53 pm

Official welcome to Toyspeed!
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Postby Bling » Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:49 pm

Thing is, you didn't need to cut the bump stops if the car wasn't sitting on them. Hard to know as there are all sorts of guesses going on as to what your suspension is doing :lol: We can only go by what you say. If someone says their car is sitting on bump stops and rides like it's on rails, of course people are going to be concerned.

As Mr Revhead mentioned prior though, something wasn't adding up.

As for the "welcome to Toyspeed" comment, "jog on". If members on here notice something is potentially dangerous, I think they are justified in commenting. Last time I was on Retro Rides (pretty sure), people were getting bagged for commenting of dangerous welds. That's right, the people saying "those welds are bad" got the flaming. Can't win them all I guess. We can only go by the information provided to us. Which is this case was incorrect, so most of the comments are irrelevant.

I'd still consider doing wde_bdy's trick to check how much travel you have as that will give you an idea of what you have to work with.

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Postby spoonza6 » Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:01 pm

Hmm not the point I was making, people are renown for telling others what to do with their own cars, after the fact on what was originally asked. Then bag them for not doing it their way.

Totally agree with the unsafe mods done and he deserves what he gets going against excellent advice.

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