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well i want to lower my car at least 2 to 3 inches so my 17's will look better. I was talking to my friend last night about the best way to go and he was talking about just dropping the car, not putting in new springs or coilovers but lowering the car itself into the fenderwell. I had never heard of that one before so I was wanting to see whats everyones opinion on this. I've looked a lot into coilovers and springs and chamber kits and so forth and I am still lost on which is the best way to go. I know everyone has their own opinion but hey thats what a forum is for. So any thoughts would be great.

 
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WTF? lowering the car into the fenderwell?!?!?!?!?! Doesn't make sense man......You gotta use coilvers/springs/or at least cutting them somehow to drop it(don't do that ) and yea it's camber kit What exactly does he mean lowering into the fenderwell?!?!

 
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Personally i got Ground Control Coilvers and am very satisfied with them....eventually i'll get full replacements though!

 
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You want to royally f*ck up your suspension, tires, rims? The car has springs for a reason.

My opinion: DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUR FRIEND.

That'd be camber kits.

 
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yeah i didn't think his idea sounded very smart. I definitely dont want to do anything that would mess up the car. But still any suggestions would be great. lol and yeah sorry for the typo on camber kits

 
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how is it exactly to drop ur car?

can anybody here explain it to me?

also, can you actually tell us about the "biased" kit for dropping car?

for example, in short shifter, we are biased to RevoSS+CapYoda's Bushing+Grey's pin kit..

how is it (the kit) for suspension and dropping?

 
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read the suspension FAQ in my signature and search around this forum.

 
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i've read every faq and did plenty of searches on suspension and i'm just as lost as i was when i started. Every person has their own opinion on what to do and what not to do. and that is what is confusing me. I want to know the best way to go but it's hard to figure that out when everybody has their own opinion. so just tell me what your using and if u like it or not. plus if u have and horror stories on a particular type or brand that would be useful too.

 
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^^^do what vnlilman does, buy alot of different set-ups and pick what you want

 
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if u have the money for it, then that wouldnt be an issue.

dont listen to your friend, what does he know about cars? how the hell do u lower a car without springs/coilovers.

if he tells you cutting the stock springs, call him a broke-@ss ricer wannabe and never let him enter your car again. lol


im on skunk2 coilovers with stock shocks. so far its great. im not worrying about the ride quality because i can live with it and im not too picky with everything. looks like so far my shocks hasnt been blown (knocks on wood). im dropped 2" front and 1.8" rear (the lowest).

theirs a picture in my ride gallery 185/65/15 stock tires

 
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There is no best suspension. You have to tell us what you want to do with the car...show, autox, drag?? What you expect your car to do for you when changing the suspension. it is not an easy decision especially with money involved.

I am on JIC's. I love them. They have some quirks but all true coils do. They are very stiff and aren't meant for people who can't handle the rough ride.

 
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Using what kind of dampers?

I've read the FAQ about the steering arm thingie being attached to the strut, making it impossible(?) to simply replace the damper... and about Konis being the only useable dampers - if you're willing to cut up your stock struts.

And yet, I see people say they have Teins, JIC, GC, etc. I'm confused... I thought Koni was the only front damper option?

Is there ANY way to replace the stock suspension without cutting up the front struts?

I'm looking to simply tighten up the handling, getting rid of the "float" over humps, and perhaps autox (for fun more than all-out competition).

 
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Have you read the suspension FAQ? There is a list of parts in there and it explains the difference between shocks, springs, sleeved coilovers and true coilovers.

Springs - fairly comfortable ride, set height ~$100-$200
Sleeved coilovers - ride is usually rough/bouncy, adjustable height ~$300
True Coilovers - coilover and shock in one designed to work together giving a great ride. adjustable height ~$800-$1300

The steering arm is attached to the strut. You should go outside and take a look at it and understand how it works. It doesn't make it impossible to design a full strut, just harder. Tokico and KYB have been in development for over 3 years now.

 
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Yes, it explains the effects, but I was concerned about installation headaches. The FAQ says only konis will work, and yet many other dampers are listed (in the sense that coilovers include dampers).

After reading a couple hundred posts, I take it konis are the only *stand-alone* damper that will work (by modifying the existing strut housing)... while the "true coil overs" replace the existing housing and provide their own mounting bar for the steering arm thingie?

In other words, if I bought the Hayame coilovers, they'd pretty much replace the stock parts and bolt right on (aside from a bolt hole size issue or two)?

 
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well I am really just going for show. I have 17's on there now and i really just want to get it lowered to fill in some of the gap between the tire and the fenderwell

 
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Hayames are a direct replacement for the entire suspension.

GNAT
if you are going for show stick with Tein Basic and maybe hayame or D2.

 
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well thats all good, and good luck going for show

 
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my car is SLAMMED in the front on Skunk2's right now and i had to get koni's to save the teeth in my mouth.I have 17's and they are close to being in the fendar but not quite! good luck, it takes a while to figure out what kinda suspension you like...

 
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Your friend my have been talking about those clamps you can get from Autozone and places. A guy I work with lowered his truck with them. You put the clamp over 2 of the coils and tighten the clamp. This compresses the coil together. Lowers the vehicle a bit, but seems dangerous to me. I wouldn't want to rely on that clamp holding at 80 mph.

 
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Yeah those clamps can be dangerous. When you clamp coils on the spring down, you take away the spring force used to keep the spring in place.

 
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well as you can tell from the last reply that I had basically made up my mind. I was going to go with the Hayames for a lot of reasons but the main reasons was that they were a complete replacement and i had heard a lot of good things about them but now all I can read in the suspension section is about the Hayames and how they dont work right. So now I'm back to square one.