lowering my car

hey everyone,

I just purchased some 18" Chrome wheels for my 97 GST and I was wondering if i could lower it any without the tires rubbing?? If so how much, and what can you do to stop rubbing??

thanks everyone,
Steve

You can lower it and be fine depending on what series tires you have. But you should be fine

you could lower it at least 3" without it rubbing, if you're talking about rubbing when you turn the wheel, that won't happen cause the eclipses have such big wheel-wells but you could only go so low before you rub the top of the tire on the fender. but you might have some other issues with the shocks and tire wear and that shit like any other car that's lowered.

the tires im getting are 215/45HR18. so i could lower it like 1 or 2 inches and be fine? and lowering springs are best right? rather than coil overs?

anyone know which is better? Lowering springs, or Coilovers?

coilovers.....uhh better for what?

I'd suggest buying shocks and struts with the springs...if not you'll wear the shit out of your shocks and end up having to replace them quickly.

how much money are you dealing with

struts!!!! You need new ones. You cant just put some springs on your car, you will destroy your struts. Which isnt a huge deal if you plan on getting new ones in the near future anyway. consider the koni sports, there are a solid strut and will help your performance as well. I have had good experience.

Yes, do the shocks at the same time as the springs, why do it twice. I would lower as little as possible unless you want to do upper mounts. 2Gs have ridiculously little suspension travel up front, and with a 2" drop you will be on the bumpstops. Most people never even know it. Niether did I until I did some circle track racing ;) Upper mounts from GC are 100 front, 100 rear.

Coilovers, even just sleeve/spring kits, are superior to typical lowering springs. The obviosu reason is height adjsutability. You can fine tune it to the tires you have, the roads you drive on, the type of driving or racing you do, and the look you are after. But by far the biggest advantage is you can tailer the spring rate to what you want the car to do. A company like GC can recomend rates after you let them know what you are going to do with the car. They recomended 450/300 to me, I wanted more rear spring to make the car more nuetral, and went with 450/325. Etc. FWD rates will differ since the rear is lighter, but you get the idea. DO some research on the rates. Do it once, do it right.

The shocks need to match the springs. Anything up to 450/300 Tockico Illuminas will do. Any higher and I would suggest the Konis. AGXs are typically avoided like the plague on 2Gs, depsite their popularity on 1Gs, becuase of shock lenth/travel issues. But I hear they fixed this problem, who knows. Either wya there is very little info on what rates they can handle.

When talking about suspension, remember that the springs to the "suspending," and the shocks are there to control the springs (for the most part). They have to match, and they together have to match the car and its intended use. Get this right, and you'll end up happy. My GC/Illumina setup has done well for me over the last ~4 years.

Also keep in mind the lower you go, the more spring you need to stay off the bumpstops (and ground). The main problem with lowering springs is they are typically too soft for the drop they provide, and are most often used with non-adjustable shocks which just dont have enough compression to make up for the springs short comings.

I also have 18 inch wheels on my eclipse. I have my car lowered around 2 1/2 inches or so. I would agree gsxracer and say go coilovers for their adjustibility if nothing else. If you gonna go lower and use coilovers you are definitly going to want to upgrade your shocks as well. I personally ran with the coilovers on my stock shock/struts for a few weeks before i upgrades to tokico shocks and the difference was night and day. Of course it'll depend on how much money your looking to spend. Good shocks arent cheap. The lower you go the worse the ride quality is gonna be as the springs will be stiffer so keep that in mind as well if ride quality is a concern.

I am not into lowering cars but I have decided to lower my 96 Eclipse. From what I understood I will get new Struts and I just got a new Tenzo lowering springs. Now I need new shocks right ? Well mine were recently replaced so my question is can I use my shocks and the Tenzo lowering springs I bought and lower the car. I heard here and there that my shocks will wear out.. So if I have strut bars and lowering springs what else do i need ? I am looking for something cheaper since I just got V2 intake, Nology wirez , exhaust and all kinds of diff bullshit. Thx for Help !

Stock shocks are not valved appropriately to handle the added strenght of aftermarket springs. By forcing the shocks to move faster (stronger springs) the shocks become worn out very quickly, even if they are new. I've tried it on the 2g, and now on the 1g. Yeah, they dont last ;)

So ok let me sum this up. I got new Tenzo springs. i need new shocks made for lowering and new strut bars... So is dat all ?

yes you need the correct shocks,

and from this point on your car goes in yoru signature.

Make
Model
Year
Transmission
Mods

go with megan struts you can get them off ebay for around 100-150 buck mine work fine and I have had them for a while.

ok so coilovers a good also?? because my friend has coilovers and he said that every time you hit a bump with coilovers it sounds like shit (its very loud) and it like jars your whole car. will it hurt to put just coilovers on?? and not buy struts??

:sly:


I must not be speaking english.

Get everything at the same time I think is what GSXracer is saying spring, shocks, struts, coilovers whatever you want just make sure you do it right the first time to save yourself alot of time and money

Act like you want people to post to your thread : )

A suspension thread comes up about once a week, look back a page or two.

1) Do struts and springs at once.

2) Some cheap coilovers start with rough spring rates, it's easy to get bitter about them. Buy something a little nicer, and talk with the company about recommended rates for your car.

If you feel have to buy one or the other, get struts.

Edit>> Re-read why you don't want to just do springs.

i was saying that my friend had good coilovers and struts (I cant remember the brand) and it still sounded like shit so i have always heard from people around here that coilovers suck ass. i wasnt saying he just had coilover and no struts lol sorry if it came out that way.

You specifically asked what would happen if you got coilovers and not shocks.

Any coilover can be harsh, if the wrong rates are chosen, or the wrong shock mated to them. If they are noisy, your friend needs to keep them in place on teh shock. There are many ways to do this, but I dont paid enough to start listing them all.

Ok check this out.

Im going to get all 3 of these off ebay so please verify this for me ok.

1. a Pair of $80 dollar springs (off ebay) or buy better coilover?

2. a pair of Front & Rear strut from Megan $70 (off ebay)

3. all four Tokico illumani Gas shocks $400 (off ebay)


So tell me... is this set up good? or should i switch out any of the 3 brands for better brands?

O yeah can you guys tell me what is the "upper mount"? I hear people say that but i cant picture it.

Im going to get all 3 of these off ebay so please verify this for me ok.

1. a Pair of $80 dollar springs (off ebay) or buy better coilover?

2. a pair of Front & Rear strut from Megan $70 (off ebay)

3. all four Tokico illumani Gas shocks $400 (off ebay)




1. No. Spend more. Get a sleeve coilover based on a good spring. Or just get better springs. Eibach, for example. Oh, tein springs off e-bay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33586&item=7959943624&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW. Most prefer eibach, but if the reserve on those is low, go for it.

2. You can get something decent for a little cheaper. The only reason I would hesitate would be fitment issues. Damn near all of the bars sold on e-bay seem to be adjustable though. Keep in mind that off the bat, this isn't as important as numbers 1. and 3.

3. Sure

GC's and upper mounts on a 2g at vfaq here: http://www.vfaq.com/mods/GCkit-2G.html

I wouldnt bother with a front strut bar on a 2g. For the pain in the ass it makes getting at everything in the enginebay, I would expect it to make a HUGE difference. But it wont. On a 2g, the firewall is right at the shock towers. Thats a pretty good brace :D 1Gs are different though, and the actual tops of the struts are the point where laterall force is applied, unlike 2Gs again where there is an upper control arm mounted a little lower on the shock tower where its probably a little stronger. On both cars, rear bars are recomened though. There is really nothing back there to brace the rear suspension.

I wouldnt bother with a front strut bar on a 2g. For the pain in the ass it makes getting at everything in the enginebay, I would expect it to make a HUGE difference. But it wont. On a 2g, the firewall is right at the shock towers. Thats a pretty good brace :D 1Gs are different though, and the actual tops of the struts are the point where laterall force is applied, unlike 2Gs again where there is an upper control arm mounted a little lower on the shock tower where its probably a little stronger. On both cars, rear bars are recomened though. There is really nothing back there to brace the rear suspension.



SO therfore there at 4 struts total... 2 front n rear upper, 2 front n rear lower struts... so just get 1 rear? or just all 4? wouldn't it be better?

Hey i got some Skunk2 Coilover Drag Launch spring... do you guys recommend that? It says for off road uses only and i heard that it was very stiff. So can anyone help me out? If its good ill put those on... but if its only for racing... then im willing to sell it.

http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/60814874245_3300_1.jpg

http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/60814805893_3300_4.jpg

I have no idea what you are talking about, I see red Xs. But, A setup that is truely for drag use only should not be used on the street. The spring rates and shock valving are much different, and probably unsafe for street use.

For the strut bars, just get the rear like I suggested earlier, or ignore the suggestion entirely and get all of them. Its not my money :) Spend the money for all of them, istall them all seperately, and in various combinations, and tell US how it works out. Thats how we learn things. Put down the keyboard and slowly back away... Open up the wallet, go out to the garage, and gitter dun.