Lowering Question

[supertony85]

Hi all,

I am new to these forums so please be kind, and yes i used the serch function but found way to many results and sifted through pages of information but didn't find the answer i needed.

I have just bought a new VE SS Commodore with the optional 20" rims, and now it is time to lower it!

I want to get it nice and low however i dont want to be scraping the car when going over speed bumps or driveways. I also sometimes drive a carload of people down to our soccer games on the weekend so it can have a lot of wieght in the back on occasion (5 adults, full petrol tank and soccer gear in boot).

Question being what springs should i get so i get it lowered but still safe to drive when the car is loaded?

Thanks guys,

[EXCESSV]

for springs only there is:
Pedders, Kings & Lovells, Tein S coils
you should be fine if the exhaust is stock
prices around $500-$600 supply and install with wheel alignment

if u really want u can go down the Coilovers path which allows u to set the height to exactly where u want it.
Options are Tein, HSD, Bilstein
start at $2000 plus installation and go up

[EddieVE06]

Congrats on the SS, in terms of lowering it there are a few brands and all depends on how much you want to spend...i.e. coilovers or just coils.

Pedders, Kings and Lovell make coils
I have pedders springs which are a 25mm drop but more around 30mm once settled. I have 19's on my car and no scraping unless you hit a concrete barrier in parking lots and are not carefull or hit a steep driveway hard.

If you decide to lower it give it a good 1500km to settle in all depending on how you drive and have a rear and front wheel alignment done as they can go off track at little in terms of camber, castor and toe in etc.

[Metal]

Hi all,

I am new to these forums so please be kind, and yes i used the serch function but found way to many results and sifted through pages of information but didn't find the answer i needed.

I have just bought a new VE SS Commodore with the optional 20" rims, and now it is time to lower it!

I want to get it nice and low however i dont want to be scraping the car when going over speed bumps or driveways. I also sometimes drive a carload of people down to our soccer games on the weekend so it can have a lot of wieght in the back on occasion (5 adults, full petrol tank and soccer gear in boot).

Question being what springs should i get so i get it lowered but still safe to drive when the car is loaded?

Thanks guys,


No answer for u, sorry, but I just thought I'd add, that I pretty much want the same for my ve R8, so if anyone can answer that^^, maybe they could help me too!?:)

[CSP]

Hi all,

I am new to these forums so please be kind, and yes i used the serch function but found way to many results and sifted through pages of information but didn't find the answer i needed.

I have just bought a new VE SS Commodore with the optional 20" rims, and now it is time to lower it!

I want to get it nice and low however i dont want to be scraping the car when going over speed bumps or driveways. I also sometimes drive a carload of people down to our soccer games on the weekend so it can have a lot of wieght in the back on occasion (5 adults, full petrol tank and soccer gear in boot).

Question being what springs should i get so i get it lowered but still safe to drive when the car is loaded?

Thanks guys,


EXESSV and Eddie have both answered pretty much spot on however you need to work out what you want. you can't lower a car and have it NOT scrape when fully loaded. Even factory suspension scrapes when fully loaded. 1 inch is generally a tame and fairly safe amount to lower a car. I did 2 inches on my VE Calais and regretted it. Scraped the exhaust all the time.

Not lowering the VE Clubby because I like my front spoiler the way it is... So I'm compromising.... Will spend the money on other mods instead.

[supertony85]

Great advice guys, and thanks for the quick reply!

Dont think i will go the coilovers as they are just too expensive, but a nice set of springs should do the job. Seems like 25mm drop is the go :)

Any recommendations on brand, a mate reffered me to pedders but i dont know how informed that was.

[EXCESSV]

personally i used Lovells (for a few months before going to coilovers) for my VE and quite a few have also used the lovells.
used them on previous cars too and find them great

ride is not compromised as its still comfy and soft but has the look of the car being lower

ppl have also gone the King Springs way for the VE and Kings are a common spring for commodores full stop but some find them slightly harsher than the Lovells.

not to sure on the pedders as i dont know ppl personally that have them on so i cant comment.

[EddieVE06]

In terms of Brand i think it depends on what you have used before. I've always tended to use Pedders which seems pretty good but speaking to a few other forum guys they swear by Kings saying they are a little more compliant with the road....I'm confused on this on also.

By the way shop around for your coils they can vary greatly in price from workshop to workshop and dont forget the alignment it will save you a fair bit of life in your tyres.

[HSVQUE]

"Nice and Low" & "Dont want it scraping" Dont go to well together.. There are always going to be a few things on the roads that you may rub the exhaust on.. Bad Entrances, Angry speed Bumps(Old type are often bad) along with some other things.. King springs are abit harsh for my liking.. even though i have a modified set in my car..

Id Do it once and do it right and get the Tein Coilover kit.. That way you can get it setup to whatever height,firmness etc you want so your comfortable and happy and the car will have even better handling.. If you wernt looking at spending around 2k on lowering your car then its worth waiting untill you have the spare doe and doing the Coilovers.. IMHO.

Rob

[Wonky]

See Australian LS1 and Holden Forums (http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=68171)

Probably doesn't specifically answer your question on scraping though. It will however give you a look at a lot of lowered VEs. I've got 20" rims, 3" exhaust and Kings super super low springs. I absolutely love the look of the all round height but do scrape on some speed humps. I'm happy to wear that though given the look.

[jaykay]

not to sure on the pedders as i dont know ppl personally that have them on so i cant comment.
Geez thanks Dean.....:confused:

I am very happy with the Pedders springs. My VE with 20's and the Pedders rides better than my VY with 19's and the Pedders.

I think they are all pretty equal nowadays so shop around and make sure you get an all wheel alignment done.

Only comment is with the lowered springs and the 3" zorst, speed humps need to be studied and take easy over...

JK :)

[EXCESSV]

Geez thanks Dean.....:confused:sorry JK forgot about ya....but we havent discussed what u think of ride quality with them...so i still cant comment on that side

[supertony85]

Hmm i do realise that when i do lower the car i will have to take it easy on speed bumps etc, but i spose what i am most concerned about is when i have a full load in the car will it make it undriveable?

[CSP]

but i spose what i am most concerned about is when i have a full load in the car will it make it undriveable?

Not undrivable... Maybe guard scrubbage though. And scrapage on iven small bumps...

If you frequently have a full load, I wouldn't lower it if I were you.

[supertony85]

Oh no, 95% of the time there would only be 2 people max in the car, the other 5% there would be a full load i just want to still be able to drive it when it is that heavy. Going on by this how much should i drop the car, 1?, 2? or more inches?

Cheers guys :)

Oh and it may seem stupid but does having 20" wheels make a difference?

[CSP]

20 inch wheels, 1 inch lower.

Best compromise on looks, handling, practicality. But that's just my opinion.

[Clutch22]

You'll be hitting speed bumps. That is a guarantee.

[jaykay]

Oh no, 95% of the time there would only be 2 people max in the car, the other 5% there would be a full load i just want to still be able to drive it when it is that heavy. Going on by this how much should i drop the car, 1?, 2? or more inches?

Cheers guys :)

Oh and it may seem stupid but does having 20" wheels make a difference?
Most of the springs will drop your car to 360 to 365mm from the centre of the hub to the guard. So why don't you measure your car and you'll get an idea how much it will drop.

With the Pedders in mine my front dropped 35mm and rear 10mm, all four corners were 365mm when I picked my car up. When I have 4 people in the car the guard is just below the top of the tyre.

Having 20's could make it slightly lower, depending on the tyre you use - it's OD.

JK

[kpop]

wouldnt it be cheaper in the long run to get coilovers

as in, you could get lowered springs, but in a few months, the shocks will give out, and thats around $700 to fix

[jaykay]

wouldnt it be cheaper in the long run to get coilovers

as in, you could get lowered springs, but in a few months, the shocks will give out, and thats around $700 to fix
Mmmmm. mine have been in 13 months and all good....:confused:

And if and when they do go, I'll have an excuse to go coilovers, but in the meantime the extra money has been used for other things.....

And BTW, is there anyone that has had this happen to them yet ?

[Mr_SS-V]

go the coilovers.. ive got mine dropped 60mm from factory in the rear and 30mm on the front and i dont mind (19inch wheels) had a full car and still a comfortable ride.. but forget trying to go over speed humps higher then 15cm at the point.. on 20s tho should be alot more better..

[Wonky]

go the coilovers
Easy to say if you've got a spare $2,000 or so laying around. Mine cost me just over $400 to have lowered, including 4 wheel alignment. I'd love to have coilovers but can't justify the cost..... :(


you could get lowered springs, but in a few months, the shocks will give out, and thats around $700 to fix

Mine has been done for close to 10,000km now and I've had no problems yet (though do expect it will eventually happen). Am just hoping that someone like KYB releases some decent but reasonably priced VE short body shocks soon.....


Oh and it may seem stupid but does having 20" wheels make a difference?

Supposedly the outside diameter of the 19s and 20s with tyres only differs by a few mm due to the 20s typically being lower profile. I've never measured, it's just what I was told.

[kpop]

[QUOTE=Wonky;1140573]Easy to say if you've got a spare $2,000 or so laying around. Mine cost me just over $400 to have lowered, including 4 wheel alignment. I'd love to have coilovers but can't justify the cost..... :(

i havent actually checked how much coilovers for holdens cost, but for other japanese cars ive seen, they usually cost around the $1200 mark

if your thinking long term, it would be better off just to buy coilovers

[Timson]

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb125/allpaw/sideprofile.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb125/allpaw/wheel.jpg

Can't exactly remember what height it was dropped to but I didn't want a poor ride or any other hassles. Had this done through the dealer who got it done through walkinshaw performance. Car has done 20,000klms and no dramas at all. I have scraped the underside of the front bumper coming out of a driveway once, but have no issues scraping on speed bumps. I just take them a little slower and sometimes on a bit of an angle to aviod scraping.

Cheers,

Tim.

[Wonky]

i havent actually checked how much coilovers for holdens cost, but for other japanese cars ive seen, they usually cost around the $1200 mark

if your thinking long term, it would be better off just to buy coilovers

Hmmm, looks like they're muuuuuch cheaper for Jap crap (lighter?) than VEs!! KPM and Street_Tuna both have adjustable HSD suspensions for $1995 and according to a few guys who have fitted Teins or had quotes for same you're looking at $2,400 or possibly even more for them! :eek:

Makes my $420 for springs look quite reasonable!! Yes, I know it's gonna cost me about that again for KYB or similar short body shocks if/when they're released but that's still well over $1,000 less than the cheapest coilovers. As I said above, I'd love coilovers but can't justify the extra cost. :(

[EXCESSV]

Hmmm, looks like they're muuuuuch cheaper for Jap crap (lighter?) than VEs!! KPM and Street_Tuna both have adjustable HSD suspensions for $1995 and according to a few guys who have fitted Teins or had quotes for same you're looking at $2,400 or possibly even more for them! :eek:the HSD as far as i know are $1995 plus fitting....so 3hours labour @ $80/hr... + 4 wheel alignment is somewhere around $2300...so $2400 supply, install and wheel alignment for the Teins isnt that bad...

especially since the shocks/valving are fully rebuildable on the Teins and not on the HSD

[Wonky]

the HSD as far as i know are $1995 plus fitting....so 3hours labour @ $80/hr... + 4 wheel alignment is somewhere around $2300...so $2400 supply, install and wheel alignment for the Teins isnt that bad...

especially since the shocks/valving are fully rebuildable on the Teins and not on the HSD
Sorry Dean, KPM and Tuna price is all up inc fitting and alignment.

[EddieVE06]

Easy to say if you've got a spare $2,000 or so laying around. Mine cost me just over $400 to have lowered, including 4 wheel alignment. I'd love to have coilovers but can't justify the cost..... :(

Mine has been done for close to 10,000km now and I've had no problems yet (though do expect it will eventually happen). Am just hoping that someone like KYB releases some decent but reasonably priced VE short body shocks soon.....





My pedders cost me $420 fitted and aligned, I had the lowered coils put in at 1200km, am up to almost 19,000km now and no problems with the FE2 shocks either.

I to cant justify at this stage $2.5K but maybe one day so for now I'm also hoping short body shocks come out.

[EXCESSV]

Sorry Dean, KPM and Tuna price is all up inc fitting and alignment.no prob wonky my mistake...they were $1995 plus fitting but have been on special to include fitting that was supposed to run out 30th June last year but the threads arent updated with new price....my bad