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Ok. Over the past several months I've been doing my best with familiarizing myself with aftermarket work, making plans for my car etc.. Well. I've just now decided to dig into suspension and holy crap. It's a overwhelming. Shocks, Springs, Struts, Coilovers, Camber, etc. I don't know where to begin, I've tried searching, but that just brings up a bunch of stuff that I still don't know much about. After reading some of the posts the other night I've been considering the H&R Sport springs, because they aren't too expensive and I guess they are smooth and lower the car about 1.5 inches which is a nice lowered ride. After reading some different posts today about camber I discover that in order to get my camber just about perfect I'll need a camber correction kit.. So I think I understand that much soo far. My problem now is this. If I get the H&R sport spring are they going to simply lower my car about 1.5" all the way around?? My problem with that is I don't like the back ride height being higher than the front. If I want to lower the back more than the front do I have to buy different springs for both front and back, or do I have buy coilovers?? Maybe my in-experience in suspension is getting the best of me. Are springs in fact all around the car?? Struts, Shocks?? etc., I dunno try to help if you can, any would be appreciated, just to get me some more knowledge on suspension so I kinda know what's going on when I do searches for stuff..

 
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I'd recommend coilovers since you sound kinda picky about your ride height. Ground Controls are fairly cheap and you can adjust them to the exact height you want them. Also, If you're going to lower a lot (more than 2"), you'll need new struts as well. If money's an issue though, get the coilovers first and don't drop it low enough to blow your struts (about 1.5-1.8" should be fine) and then save up for some adjustables and you can go as low as you'd like.

Some people in the member's rides have GC coilovers and you can see just how nice you can make the fender gap look.

 
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My bad, I guess you'd probably know about the member's rides by now...for some reason I was thinking you were a junior member

 
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Cool, that helps a bit. Now are coilovers the same as springs in a way?? Just adjustable?? Also what is the difference between shocks and struts??

 
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Well I guess if you're referring to suspension work I might as well be a junior member cause I don't know much at all..

 
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I'm pretty sweet with just about any other aspect of a car, but I get all dumb and stupid when it comes to suspsension which is why I have been avoiding reading up on it.

 
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I don't know enough to tell you the Exact difference (still pretty new with suspension too but have read a lot of posts on it) between shocks and struts, but they do the same thing. All I know is that our cars have struts and not shocks. And for your other question, a coilover is pretty much an adjustable spring. I don't know how low you want to go, but I've heard that if you want to go down 2" or more, then you'll need a camber kit, anything less and you should be fine. I haven't done anything to my suspension yet, but am planning on getting the Eibach sportlines because they are supposed to have a 1.8" drop all the way around. I am like you though and don't like the back higher than the front, but hopefully the subs in my trunk will correct that enough to not notice tyhe difference.

 
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Do you have rims, or are you planning on getting some??

 
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Hrm. Starting to make a little since. Struts no shocks. . That helps. Now the way I picture our suspsension is my head is a spring surrounding a strut on each wheel. That seem right?? Ok. I think I'll get ground controls (same as coilovers I hope). I simply wont put them on until I can afford new struts and a camber kit. That way I can let my warranty get a little further gone and give my stock suspension time to wear out, all while giving myself the chance to get strut bars to better the suspension. My question now is with struts, the OEM ones will blow if you lower your car to much, so you need replacement ones. Are there aftermarket struts that you can buy that are good under any ride height?? Or how do they work, do you have to buy ones specifically for a certain height? Or is there fine tuning that needs to be done with struts??

 
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No new wheels yet. Most likely getting Konig Toxxins again in the future..

 
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you might want to talk to o1incapearl he is prolly getting rid of his gc's! he says they suck! He is gonna get the nuespeed sport springs like i got! ride way nice and is real level and are inexpensive! dakota

 
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Well . I don't think I'll be doing a lot of adjusting. I really want springs, but I want level car. Don't want my rear in the air. . From some of the forums seems to me like Ground Controls are a pain in the butt, cause everytime you switch the ride height you have to jack with the camber.. So how is the handling/ride quality compared to stock?? How low of a drop is it??

 
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the cheap coilovers are basically just adjustable springs but the way in which they adjust is not the best and can put some funky strain on the spring...now the full coilovers have their own shocks and they adjust at the umm....one thing that i dun remember what to call which is much better hehe if u wanna be picky bout ride height then coilovers are the way to go however i dislike the cheapy ones very much but the full coilvers are major cash and that is also a problem...which is why i say------> spring and struts [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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Dakota,
I just checked out your car. Looks pretty sweet. How much did the springs cost you?? Do you have camber correction? Are your struts OEM??

 
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after the car settles in its about an inch and a half! My rides way nicer with neuspeeds than gc's! And you dont have to worry about blowing struts! Around corners it stays flat as a pancake and you never have to worry about the spring popping out of place as with gc's you do so ive heard! If i could link my members ride picts to here i would show you how my car sits! its perfect with 17 inch wheels or maybe 18s! Spring are definately the way to go! Unless sustec comes out with some coilovers i would just stick to some nice progressive neuspeed soft sport! Dakota

 
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struts are oem and the springs costed me 100.00 I think ! but i got springs at wholesale through work! the scratch on my hood was nasty huh? im gonna smoke whoever did it!

 
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So there is no concern about the struts getting blown?? They are all good? What about camber correction? BTW I'm probably going with 17" Konig Toxins wrapped with Yokohama Paradas. .
Yeah that scrach is nasty. . You going carbon fiber on the hood now?? Or just getting it sanded and painted??

 
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Oh yeah . Another thing. Are all 4 springs the same?? Do they come in sets of 4 or do you have to buy 2 pair?? Also do you have any rubbing problems? Trouble with bottom outs or anything?? Are you considering a body kit?? I thought about one, but it doesn't look like there would be room. Not that it matters a whole lot. Car looks pretty sweet without a kit..

 
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I told you the picts with the projectors is after i painted it!!!!!! Ok i have no camber kit! The camber is ok no need! I did have to get an alignment though! Which if you have gc's you should have to align the wheels after each adjustment! no blown struts and the tires arent wearing any different! Except from the ebrake slides i do! dakota

 
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no , no body kit . the spings are sold as a set of four! doesnt bottom out unless im driving stupid!

 
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I just looked in the parts section. I see the sport neuspeed springs for $147.00. I also see the racing neuspeed springs for $162.00. Sports provide a 1 3/4" Drop the Racing do about a 2.25" drop. However I suppose with the racing ones I would definately need camber correction, and performance struts.. Sound right?

 
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I think I may be getting the hang of this suspension thing once and for all. Woop woop..

 
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well i know i am about six months too late for this so if u still havent got anything if u have the funds for it i would suggest getting airbags they are expensive as hell but u can do what u want with em. do as u please. holla

 
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look for the money get dropzone they have a life time warranty and its not a bad spring dropzone suspension

 
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i forgot the springs are going for $130.00

 
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What do you guys think of Skunk2 coilovers? I just got them a week ago but didn't put them on yet. They were $285.