Lowering

[Scott Herstad]

on saturday, Frank wrote::

Since adding ST sway bars and KYB GR-2s with stock springs ride height
has
increased by 1 to 1.5".
Front is higher. I also think camber is off (adjuster says set to stock)

close to Pos as outside rim of tire is showing more wear.
Any opinions on the choice of lowering performance springs versus coil
overs
to fix this problem, and get my camber to more negative. (Eibach Pro
kit) or
(GC Coil overs) Pulse's and minus's of each type would be welcomed.

Frank,

I've got a '93 classic as well, and for a while, I had the same set up
you do now (stock wheels, KYB's, ST bars). I don't recall the car being
raised at all. Are you experiencing any drivability problems (binding,
squeaking, etc.)? Not to be rude, but you might want to triple check
your installation. IIRC, ST supplies a variety of shims and endlinks,
and you need to use the right combination depending on what springs
you're running. I also seem to remember some discussion a long time ago
about new shocks taking a while to settle in (you could try searching
the archives for this discussion). So you might want to wait a week and
see what happens. As far as lowering springs, I think most people are
going to suggest the Motivational set up or Ground Control coilovers w/
the KYB AGX struts. These are very nice suspensions, but they start at
around 1K, and you won't be able to use your new GR2's with either. So
that leaves OEM type springs. If you check the archives, you'll find
some info on the Spring Valley springs, which sound nice, but once
again, they'd be too stiff for the GR2's. So that pretty much leaves the
ProKits and similar springs (I believe ST makes a set, as does, I think,
Hypercoil). I have the ProKits, and have had them for about 50K. I think
they are okay--not terrible, but not great either. I wouldn't recommend
them at all if you live in an area or town with really rough roads (e.g.
some northern city like Chicago or Milwaukee).

Pros
your car looks good (esp. if you get a used set of b15 rims)
handles and rides pretty good on smooth and moderately bumpy pavement
easy to install
no maintenance issues
can be found used for very cheap
lowering spring plus playing with the slop in the bolts will give you 1
to 1.5 degrees of negative chamber no problem.

Cons
eats up what little suspension travel the car already has (iirc, w/ the
PK's, you'll have about 1" to 1 1/2" of suspension travel up front. you
_will_ bottom out from time to time, which isn't very pleasant)
lowered cars will scrape over large speedbumps, the rack at your
alignment shop, etc.
not appropriate for serious track driving
won't get you any respect from the nerds on the se-r mailing list ;)

Good Luck

Scott
'93 classic w/ no respect