can i lower my car??

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i know i can measure the clearance. but what if i hit bumps and stuff like that. i dont want a millimeter of clearance, hit a bump, and rip my pan off.
 
Find out what your stock spring rates are, find out how much you want to drop, then crank the spring rates up until it takes the same amount of force to bottom out your car as with the taller softer stock setup. You could just go ultra stiff, like 500-600 pounds/inch up front, and then you wouldn't have to worry about bottoming out, even with a 2 inch drop.
 
Nah, I'm running just a tad over 500 lb/in up front, and it feels damn good. :lol:
 
Find out what your stock spring rates are, find out how much you want to drop, then crank the spring rates up until it takes the same amount of force to bottom out your car as with the taller softer stock setup. You could just go ultra stiff, like 500-600 pounds/inch up front, and then you wouldn't have to worry about bottoming out, even with a 2 inch drop.


:doh: wat does that mean?? spring rates?? im not too big on suspension stuff
 
Your roads must be nice and smooth, I am not sure what the rates on the H&R springs that I am running are but I am sure they aren't that high and they are almost too much on the beat up roads here.
 
Well, if you're concerned about how much you can lower your car without bottoming out all the time, especially with a heavier engine, I suggest you start doing some reading.

A spring's rate is what determines how much force is needed to compress (or expand) it a given length. A 150 lb/in spring will compress one inch for every 150 pounds of force applied to it.

Let's make a rough example... assume your stock spring rate is 100 lb/in and you have 5 inches of travel before your car hits bottom. Since you have two springs on the front end, your effective spring rate for the front of the car is 200 lb/in. For every 200 pounds that is applied to the front of your car, it will dip one inch. It will take 1000 pounds of force to make your car hit bottom.

Now if you lower your car 2 inches, suddenly you only have 3 inches of ground clearance. To balance that out, you want to increase your spring rate. To maintain stock compression characteristics (still taking 1000 pounds to bottom out), you would have to increase your total spring rate to 333 lb/in, which raises each spring's rate to 166 lb/in. With this higher spring rate, your car would move less for every pound applied to the front end, and it would still take 1000 pounds of force to bottom it out.

If you want an even stiffer ride, you can increase the spring rate even more than needed to balance out the drop like in the example above. Just find out what your stock rates are, compensate for the extra weight of the engine, figure out how much you want to drop your car, then find out your required spring rate and give Ground Control a call.
 
Originally posted by lsvtec@Sep 17 2003, 05:22 PM
Your roads must be nice and smooth, I am not sure what the rates on the H&R springs that I am running are but I am sure they aren't that high and they are almost too much on the beat up roads here.

No, not really. My buddies and I run through some pretty rough roads around here when we go out to play, and the car rides just fine. Damper choice matters a lot.
 
Originally posted by Calesta@Sep 17 2003, 02:12 PM
Nah, I'm running just a tad over 500 lb/in up front, and it feels damn good. :lol:

448 lbs/in front
336 lbs/in rear
in the del sol :D
fun stuff
 
Originally posted by lsvtec@Sep 17 2003, 05:22 PM
I am not sure what the rates on the H&R springs that I am running are but I am sure they aren't that high

You have the race springs right? 25-35% increase from what I hear. That's pretty high compared to most other springs ie. eibach, tanabe, goldline, etc...
 
wats the diff btwn race springs and sport springs?? is it jus the spring rates??. im goin w/ a tokico illumina struts and progress springs. how does that sound?
 
Originally posted by h22poweredgsr@Sep 17 2003, 06:45 PM
wats the diff btwn race springs and sport springs?? is it jus the spring rates??. im goin w/ a tokico illumina struts and progress springs. how does that sound?

Those struts are great but I don't really know anything about those springs. I don't know anyone that has them at least. The H&R race springs that LS/VTEC has are great springs, lots of people like the Eibachs, (I don't), Teins are good, Tanabes rock, I had good luck with the Goldlines actually, but stay clear of sprint, dropzone, skunk2, or anything cheapo...

The difference between "race" and "sport" varies between manufacturers but normally the "race" springs are lower with a higher spring rate.
 
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