Urgent advise needed on Lowering Spring + stock Spring setup

[Tigershark1976]

seen my friend proton with front lowering spring and rear stock spring setup and he told me that it is much more comfortable than lowering spring alone.... he is using stock absorber with aftermarket spring.... he did it not long ago so there is not much feedback on the negative side to such setup.

 

I'm very tempted to do the same... with my lowering spring, I'm always worry during reverse parking, crossing the hump and when I carry passenger at the rear... but I have a few concenrn as below:

 

from what i believe, the front suspension is more stressed compare to normal lowering spring setup cos more weight is transfer to the front, thus, I have to expect higher wear n tear on my absorber. This problem is not too bad cos i have another 3 set of stock front absorber to standby for such problem and the labour cost of changing the absorber from my Mal lobang is too cheap to be true (RM30) so i dun really care about it....

 

look wise, some plp might think that it looks weird but I like the way it looks cos it make the ride more fierce...

 

now come to my major worry... the braking issue and stability/handling... on stock, the front brake is responsible/absorbing of 70% of the braking stress, will such setup create even more stress to my front brake? will it affect the performance on my overall braking? I'll be adding 1 set of spring stiffener to reduce such problem... but, will it help?

 

As for stability /handling issue, anyone foresee any problem in this area? will the handling/stability of the ride become worst than stock?

[Lucien]

Er.. having stock spring at the back will push the force more towards front. Er...causing more stress on front shock and spring.

 

Having all round lowered is more balance. Need to stiff it up, just add stiffeners.

[Bearbear1494]

My 2 cents worth of comments, if you don't mind.

 

Using aftermarket lowering springs combined with stock absorbers has always been said as a big no-no. This is due to the additional compression force acting on the absorbers when a lowering spring (lesser number of coils/smaller gap between each coil in the spring) is installed. This additional compression will cause the shocks to bottom out easily & thus the stock shocks will start leaking & fail very quickly.

 

The result is a very harsh ride over badly surfaced roads & over humps. You can feel & sometimes hear the shocks bottoming out & the vibrations will be transferred to the chassis. So if you feel the need to use lowering springs, it's better to match them with a pair of firmer absorbers.

 

For a period of time, I had lowering springs installed in my Kelisa, with only matched shocks up front, and stock shocks at the rear as the matching pair of rear shocks had to be reconditioned (I bought the entire set second hand). The ride was excessively harsh, even on the highway & the rear was literally bouncing all over the place. Could feel that the fronts were nice & firm, with adequate damping, but the rears were bottoming out all the time. Needless to say, handling became worse than fully stock. Not to mention dangerous should sudden manovouers be required.

 

Pardon the long post. But I would recommend that you go for a matched setup rather than save the couple of hundred bucks on the absorbers. It's not just about the ride quality, it's more about the handling & safety.

[XLR8]

If you like premature wear of your absorbers and like your car to bounce like bananas over uneven roads, then go with the aftermarket springs and stock absorbers setup. If not, don't even go there. If you notice certain lowered cars on the roads bouncing up and down? That is what you'll get. Soft absorbers plus stiffer springs = Been there, done that, no go.

[Tigershark1976]

okie, seek for opinion frm diff forum and some positive and some are negative (majority)

 

Decided to go ahead to try cos diff car have diff characteristic...

 

change my rear spring to stock, tried the car in city, NSHW and sub urban area. Surprisingly, the ride comfort is near to stock now.

 

my rear is now 3.5 finger and front is 2 finger. but something weird, before I change my rear spring to stock, my front is 1.75 finger, by changing my rear spring to stock, my front increase by .25 finger. I expect it to go lower since some of my car weight is transfered to the front. Anyway, i dun need to worry on reverse parking n crossing even the highest hump....

 

Driving at the NSHW, my car no longer "floating", previously, with full sports spring, my car "float" very badly on the highway due to uneaven road surface, now, the boucing rate is almost same as stock...

 

i believe that it is bcos our Vios rear absorber is too weak to handle most sports spring, however, our front spring is much stronger.

 

No problem in braking performance, at least i dun feel much diff, anyway, I've got a pair of spring stiffener and will install it tonite on my front spring.

 

as for the look, hmm... for me, it is not too bad, in fact, I like it. but of cos, thats me, some plp might not like it.

[Tigershark1976]

thanks for the reply bro XLR8 & bro Bearbear1494... think both of u didnt really read my post, my previous setup is with stock absorber and sports spring, and yes, I've already experienced wat u mentioned. That is why i choose to change my rear sports spring to stock but maintain my front sports spring with stock absorber....

Edited October 28, 2007 by Tigershark1976

[Bearbear1494]

Understand what you mean bro, but as long as you're combining sports springs with stock absorbers, regardless whether front or rear, it's always not such a good idea. Given your current setup, I'd suggest that you look for a pair of aftermarket shocks for your fronts. Even though you have spare sets of stock shocks on hand & the labour is cheap, each time you change your front shocks, you'd have to redo your alignment & possibly camber settings. That gets more troublesome when you'd have to go through the whole process more often since the stock ones will wear out faster.

 

As for the rear being higher than the front, personally I find it quite ok, as my ride is also on this kind of setup. My rear wheel clearance is 2.5 finger spacing, while my front is 1 finger. Still looks alright to me, but comfort for my rear passengers have improved tremendously. Handling is still much better over stock.

[Tigershark1976]

1 finger at front?

 

yah, alignment is another cost, even if i do it in Mal. It will cost me RM26.... + labour cost for the abosorber, it is quite siong if change too often.... but i got too many pairs of stock absorber to standby,,, if dun use it, abit wasted... i checked with KYB disributer and it cost around 200+ per pair of KYB Excel G absorber for Vios front... might consider getting it...

[XLR8]

Don't mention bro. I got suggestion, get coilover!

[Bearbear1494]

My wheel arches are small bro.

[Tigershark1976]

good advise but need to accumulate some bullet b4 i can get a set of good coilover....

[Tigershark1976]

yah... small enof for u to fit in a 16" rim...

[vashachiroku]

As Bearbear1494 said you can actually cause a lot more issues by not balancing. This could be understeering or over steer during corning. Combine this with rapid tire thread wearing. One slick roads before or after rain increase chances. The theory is when it comes to cars is not to cut corner, do it right or dont do it at all. There are safety issues along with put yourself and others lives at risk when driving on the road. Save and save until you have the funds needed to do it right!