whats the lowest ?

18th January 2009, 22:29

whats the lowest you could go on coilovers before you start to get problems with the gear box and handling can anyone enlighten me please

cheers

18th January 2009, 22:59

and is it ok to lower the whole car at the same depth or like someone told me the back needs to b slightly higher than the front or the car will lose a bit of its handling as such if you no wat i mean

get back to me cheers

18th January 2009, 23:45

Its hard to say about the handling..A super low Saxo will be fine on a racetrack, but not so good on a bumpy road..

For everyday road use i would say no more than 60mm..This will have the wheels under the arches anyway with VTR/VTS rims, so thats plenty low enough..On a bumpy road though you may need to slow down abit..

You wont have many issues with the box..I had a 106 XSi which was lowered about 100mm and the only issues were that the droplinks had to be extended to stop them hitting the wishbones..

As for front/rear relations, you want to keep it pretty much level..A little higher at the back will be fine, also a little lower at the back will be ok..The spring and damper rates will be what makes the big difference, not so much the height..

19th January 2009, 00:01

brilliant thanks for that mario89. just a few ppl have said diff things so i just wanted to verify lol

19th January 2009, 00:10

No probs..

Whereabouts in Bristol you from? i live close to Bristol..

19th January 2009, 00:26

im thinking of getting my car lowered soon too but not sure how low to go,
also from bristol aswell

19th January 2009, 00:51

i live near kingswood

. yeah i fink its a tuffy like you sed mario89 the lower you go the more carefull you have to be i guess it depends how you drive if you just like to cruise or like a bit of road rallying.

do you think fitting a set urself is a gd idea or leaving it for a garage the pros who do it day in day out i mean ive done a few things to my cars myself over the years changed the clutch on 2, pads, disks, wheels ? what you think ?

19th January 2009, 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by fudgealistic

im thinking of getting my car lowered soon too but not sure how low to go,
also from bristol aswell

If your like me and just want the saxo at a nice height, go 50mm..

Here's some pics of mine..

Also where are you from in Bristol?

Quote:

Originally Posted by L333vvI

i live near kingswood

. yeah i fink its a tuffy like you sed mario89 the lower you go the more carefull you have to be i guess it depends how you drive if you just like to cruise or like a bit of road rallying.

do you think fitting a set urself is a gd idea or leaving it for a garage the pros who do it day in day out i mean ive done a few things to my cars myself over the years changed the clutch on 2, pads, disks, wheels ? what you think ?

Yeah thats right..I've always done all my own work apart from lowering the rear..

I work in Kingswood..lol..

19th January 2009, 09:57

i wouldn't really look at running lower than 50mm .. otherwise you start to have geometry issues

19th January 2009, 11:05

ideal height is more like 30mm to keep the geometry reasonable
some kits such as gaz invert the track rod ends to keep the track rods at the right angle

going down past 50 you may get issues with the pas pipes catching ect

however I have seen a vtr lowered around 100mm on coilovers
but the torsion bars are at a silly angle at the back
and even with shortened bump stops up front they still bottom out a lot due to the reduced travel on them

imo no lower than 50 really

as for the relation front to back my car is 20mm lower at the back (I like how it looks) but it has made it doesn't feel as settled as well as a level car (my last was about 50 all round)

19th January 2009, 11:13

mines lowered 60 mm at the front with 16s and it sits nice but every bump is rock hard.
It handles well unless you hit a pothole and it ends up skipping about.
that black one looks about right

19th January 2009, 11:47

i was told that lowernig a car at 35mm may handle better than the same car lowered at 60mm

but again it all depends if its for road/track use etc

19th January 2009, 14:02

tbh it depends what you want from the car
its allways a trade off
lower looks a tad better for most guys (unless its silly)
but the higher cars handle better as the goemetry is kept reasonable

tbh its more to do with the choice of parts than the ride height
good bushes a decent damper setup decent springs ect

19th January 2009, 14:25

ok thanks guys ill take all that info into account when its comes to desision time

19th January 2009, 14:29

car looks smart mario89. yh kingswood were abouts do you work in kingswood buddy ?

19th January 2009, 21:12

Car looks good mario black is best

19th January 2009, 21:21

30-40mm IMO

19th January 2009, 21:34

so if lowered her 40 mm all round touch wood i shouldn get any probs long as i buy a good set of coilies ?

19th January 2009, 22:10

wouldnt need coilies tbh mate

19th January 2009, 22:12

or get a decent pair of shocks and springs , theres a kit some where on kam racing site was out of stock lat time i checked lowerd 50mm uprates shocks for rear =)

19th January 2009, 22:39

would it be worth gettin sum collies though you can get them cheap enough now a days or better to get uprated springs and dampers ? what have you got on yours al ?

19th January 2009, 22:44

i would say no
cheap coilies to uprate bits isnt the bast way to do it
youll end up spending nearly enough to buy a decent coilover setup

i personally would just get faulkners and b8s or for a but less cash an apex kit

i have a bit of a random combination of spax kit and group n bushes lol
im looking at some ast coilies just so i can lower the front a lot more than it is as i want it to be a fair way down its only a daily so hasnt gotta perform well

19th January 2009, 23:15

what about this from kam racing al ?

http://www.kamracing.co.uk/manufactu...xo-pug-60.html

19th January 2009, 23:16

http://www.kamracing.co.uk/manufactu...geot-1283.html

what these

19th January 2009, 23:19

the first setup is a very good setup for a fast road car and will take some track abuse
will be a very good handeling setup
especially if you go into uprating bushes ect aswell

the second is the setup im going to yes
had a lok ata set yesterday
they seem a very good unit and should allow me to go low and not stuggle with going coilbound and bottoming out constantly
bit more adjustment in them so you can fine tune them

but the b8s/faulkners is a good bolt in and forget setup

19th January 2009, 23:30

oki m8 mite go for the spring and damper set. id imangine there easier to fit aswell ?

cheers al

19th January 2009, 23:33

well the ast will be about as complex to fit apart from setting up the ride height at the end of it all

not saying at the right hieght the ast wont be as good like
but theres no need for the adjustability unless you want to go low

20th January 2009, 15:07

oki m8. i just had a look at my sax the guy who had it before has fitted lowering springs. but the front shocker set up looks like its on the angle i really dont like it lol its gonna obs wear my tyres down quicker on 1 side and i mite start getting probs with the driveshafts or gearbox w.e. if i fitted coilovers or a good damper spring set up would it still seem that way ?

20th January 2009, 16:29

the spring sits at an angle on the standard sturt mate (there central at the top and towards the wheel at the bottom)
new springs will too
its perfectly normal
coilovers have o keep the spring concentric to the damper but the alignmet of the strut is still the same

20th January 2009, 18:04

so what ever i had bud it would still look like that ?

20th January 2009, 18:39

yea if you look at the strut from the front of the car the bottom of the spring is moved out towards the wheel

coilovers its in line but at the angle they work fine (there designed that way)

20th January 2009, 20:30

oki al cheers m8

21st January 2009, 10:56

My sax is lowered 60mm all round.. i'd definitly say DONT go any lower... everyday things like speedbumps and potholes can be a pain in the arse!!
plus i think if its more than 60mm it looks broken lol, your not gonna get any benefit out of it any lower than 50/60..

maybe to stiffin your chassis up, look into a strut brace? lower it on a spring kit with some shocks , match it with a decent strut brace and i think itll handle like a dream.

21st January 2009, 21:34

i think im gonna go 40mm all around with a upper and lower strut brace

cheers for the advice guys