Lowering springs - worth it?

mcj78 · Post by **mcj78** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:17 pm

Hi all, new here - just moved over from preludeuk where I asked the follwing in relation to the fitting of lowering springs & was pointed in this direction - cheers Merlin, I await your detailed response as promised

Contemplating a set of lowering springs for my 5th gen h22a8 (stock suspension) - nothing too harsh, just a 35-40mm drop to make the car sit nicer & perhaps handle a bit better (I don't go round corners on 2 wheels, so no need for £££ race spec upgrade!) - my question is - are they worth it?

I've had a good search round the (preludeuk) forum & read plenty of positive & negative points relating to them, but tbh i'm unsure ultimately what's involved in installing a set - camber, uneven tyre wear, wheel alignment, steering wheel alingment, accelerated shock wear, insurance premiums (the car's otherwise unmodified), etc. etc.

I've seen plenty of different brands on sale, some appear to get better reviews than others - usually the progressively wound type, with Eibach seeming popular.

Can anyone sum up for me in a concise fashion what exactly is involved in the lowering process? i'm no mechanic but have a general understanding of how things work, any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
john

Post by **Ammo** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:22 pm

Generally speaking, shorter springs means the car sits lower, which is better for handling

You can generally lower a lude by about 40mm before you need to worry about adjusting camber settings.

I run PI springs on mine on OEM shocks which while they are great on decent roads they are too harsh for the country roads I drive on

Post by **Merlin** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:26 pm

As I said before if all you want is a drop for a bit of show then springs are for you

Lowering your car will increase the negative camber of the wheels. For a 4WS Prelude is isnt much of an issue as the rear of the 4WS Lude is camber adjustable. Also the small amount of drop you want will not put that much negative camber. I’m lowered 40mm odd and only have -1.5 camber on the front. In my experience this will not give "loads" wear to the inside of the tyres.

After lowering the car you will need a 4 wheel steering alignment. Its best to have a rear 4WS locking pin for this, but locking off the rear is possible with "ghetto" tools i.e. ramming a screwdriver in there but really this isn’t recommended.

Increasing insurance premiums is dependent on your insurer. SKY (who give discounts to PUK) don’t increrase premiums for mods. Admiral flat refused to insure me once I had installed coilover suspension. Most insurers though should be ok with lowering as its one of the most common car mods.

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:28 pm

Lowering springs are fine.
Only issue that maybe can happen is old shocks and new springs. The shocks may not be fully comfortable with the shorter, stiffer springs and the ride may be bouncy.
You will be fine and notice a marked improvments.

Generally Coilovers offer all the adjustment for daily to fast street setups and retain comfort or hardness.

Tein lowering springs are well regarded., Gmax, Eibach and Pi.

macky_6 · Post by **macky_6** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:41 pm

I have Tein S-tech lowering springs on my SiR.

Handling has massively improved over stock & once the springs have settled they really do give the car a great broken suspension look.

The only drawback is that my dampers are now shot so my ride is pretty bad to be honest. I suppose this was to be expected considering my shocks have done 100,000 miles.

If you consider the fact that i now really need to replace my shocks (although i am not going to

) then lowering springs are a bit of a false economy when compared to a decent set of coilovers.

My advice would be to try save for coilovers but if you really must go down the budget route, a good set of lowering springs work & look great

mcj78 · Post by **mcj78** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:37 am

Cheers for the replies guys - looks like the springs might be a decent shout then, not sure it's be worth spending £500+ on a set of coilovers (although i do think the 5th gen looks great slammed). The car's done 65k (gently) so the shocks should be ok for now - can always upgrade to shorter shocks at a later date if they disagree - seen some good reports re. Tokico & a couple of others, anyone had experience of buying lowering springs & short shocks as a package in fact? If all that really reeds doing after fitting is a wheel alignment, that sounds do-able - any ideas how much this should cost?

Cheers again guys!
John

Post by **Merlin** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:42 am

The wheel alignment? About £60.