Lowering The Bird-need Opinions

coolhand

Registered User
I am looking for some opinions on lowering the '95. I will be keeping the ARC in place as well as the shocks now on the car(170kms). I have Eibachs on the LX and have had no difficulties or issues.
Has anyone used any of the other lowering springs, ie: H&R, VOGTLAND, SUSPENSION TECHNIQUES or others and with what results?
I will be installing the short rear sway bar link kit as well as polyurethane upper and lower spring cups.
Thanks in advance, and oh, BTW, I did do a search as well.(thought I would get that out of the way).

Matt
 
If you are doing both the upper and lower poly spring cups. Look into Intrax springs. Summit has them. They have a rear sag issue if you use stock rear isolators. But they look just right with the poly isolators. The ride is just right for me, it might be a little stiff for older folks, but they seem to be the stiffest springs that still are within the range of what the ARC shocks can handle. They are still less harsh then the suspension techs I had, before I cut them, and the ARC shocks were not stiff enough for these springs and the ride not so great over time.
I had eibachs a long time ago, I remember the ride being too floaty and springy, I bottomed out alot, but was a smoother ride then stock.

If you use both upper an lower poly isolators on the other springs you will have too much rake in the rear, and look funny. I would do one poly isolator for the eibachs and H&Rs that seems to level out the ride with just one, I have not heard of Vougtland or tokicos having issues with the rear sagging a bit. Suspension techs did not have this issue either. So I would stick with stock isolators for those springs.
 
Matt, I think that Ricardo pretty much covered it. Do you like the ride with the Eibachs in your LX? If so, I'd suggest going with those again. Otherwise, you might want to hold out for more opinions on the Vogtland springs ... you'll probably find more guys over on TCCoA who have tried them.

With the mileage on the car, if those are original shocks, IMO it doesn't make sense to put just the springs in. The shocks are going to be near the end of their life anyway, and working them harder to control stiffer, lower springs will likely speed up that process. The rear isn't a big deal, but you're duplicating the labour when you go to change the fronts. So unless you do it yourself, (which I know you won't be) or get the labour for free or really cheap, you might want to consider holding off until the budget allows you to do springs and shocks at the same time.


cheers
Ed N.
 
Matt, I'm running the Tokico ILK222 set which is the steady rate springs with a 1 1/4" drop and the Illumia II's which allowed me to keep the ARC functional. Now some folks have said the shocks are crap, but I'm not finding that. The car handles like a dream while cruising, and the firm mode allows me to take the corners in a very fun way :eek:.

Ride height is great and I don't feel like I'm going to bottom out because its too low.

Frit
 
My 91 has the H&R 1 1/4" drop springs. Stance is nice, not sure if it has poly isolators or not but it is something I want to look into this summer. The ride is rather stiff but my shocks may be gone. The handling is really sweet.
 
I HAD the 3/4" drop Vogtland springs on my 94. The stance was nice, not too low, no bottoming out, no scraping over speed bumps, etc, BUT the ride was VERY floaty and bouncy over dips and such on the freeway. Kinda like a what you'd expect in a Lincoln Town Car or a Cadillac. Very annoying! Even more so after I adjusted the Koni Yellows to firm, firmer, and still firmer! Needless to say I took them off because I didn't think I should have to adjust the Konis to point where they were doing the springs job. I'm back to the factory original springs until my custom springs are done.

There's more to this story (emails, phone calls to Vogtland, return of springs to check for defects, etc) if anyone is interested. Let me know.

BTW, I've got a very slightly used set of 3/4" drop Vogtland springs for sale.
 
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I think alot to do with the ride is if you also replace all the bushings on the suspension or not.

I've got all the front done last year and this year I'm hoping to get the rear done.

Frit
 
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