Lowering Suspension

[MICK_84]

Hi i have recently purchased a mint stock as a rock VSII sedan, with 120,000 on the clock with a spotless service history, from the old fella next door and would like to lower it. King Springs seems to be the choice of most, so king springs it is.

My question is height. I dont want to be dragging the belly of the vehicle around, as the area that i live in has a few large speed humps. I just want the car to be sitting even on the road. Which springs should i go for?

If you could post pics of the different heights available that would be excellent.

Cheers Thanks for the feedback in advance.

[klampy]

king springs will do any height you want. best thing to do is work out exactly how low you want it and then measure the distance from the center of the hub/wheel, up to where you would like the guard to sit. then take those measurements to repco/autobarn/king springs, and they will tell you the spring you need to have it sit that high/low. anything lower than FE2 height will require shorter rear shocks or the springs fall out when you jack it up. mine do :P but thats coz iv got chopped superlows in my rear end. (drift car)

[MICK_84]

Oh ok then... How low is FE2 height? or how much will it lower the vehicle?

Is that the car in you avatar?

[klampy]

Oh ok then... How low is FE2 height? or how much will it lower the vehicle?

FE2 is the same as SS/ police car. so its approximately 25mm lowered.

Is that the car in you avatar?

sure is mine has regular superlows all round.(in that pic<<<) i bought them before i found out that i could measure how low i actually wanted it. i was mislead. which is why im sharing my knowledge on this one.

[klampy]

this is just stuffing around but you can get a better idea of what superlows look like on my vr. you will have to click the picture, its a video.

[MICK_84]

So superlows will give me FE2 height? Is that correct...

[klampy]

no, superlow is about 25 mm lower again. according to kings listing( i used to work at repco so know the catalogue fairly well ) it goes, standard(+10mm) low (-25mm) superlow (-45/50mm) SSL (-60/65mm) and then there are more options under that but are usually a custom spring. i know VT on have SSSL but thats for the IRS cars. easiest way is to pick the height you want the car to sit at. like for example, when i buy the springs for my VS wagon, i want the front wheel arch to be level with the tyre and the rear wheel arch to just tuck the rim so id measure the distance from the front hub to the outer edge of the tyre, and measure from the rear hub to just before the edge of the rim and then tell kings thats the height i want the car to sit. they call it a "hub to guard" measurement. hope that clears it up a little.

[hsv91ss]

Kinspring Lows are approx 25-30mm lower same as FE2, Super lows are 40-50mm Lower. Superlows sit the top of tire level with the guards. But that will mean you will have to be careful on speed humps and install shortened shocks.

I have Lows in my VS part numbers front KFHL-47SL and rear KHRL-20HD on my car tire sits approx 10-15mm from going under the guard and poses No problems on speed bumps even when fully loaded (rear springs are heavy duty) and there is no need to replace the shocks however if they the original Monroe GM shocks your better off doing so.

I can post a pic of how it sits for reference against super lows if needed.

[wraith]

I will see if I can a side profile of the VR. Super fronts Ultras rear.

[klampy]

superlows all round with 19s.

[MICK_84]

Yeah mate if you could post a pic or two that would be good, Just so i can see the difference between them.
Cheers.

[hsv91ss]

Click image for larger view

that is mine on the part numbers listed earlier not as low as klampy's Commie but not that far off and clears everything with ease fully loaded on 18s. I would have gone supers all round though once the rest of the kit went on it would have given me problems considering there are stupidly big speed humps around here.

[klampy]

mine has the progressive option on the rear end to give a slightly softer ride in the rear. and also at the time, had a couple 12 inch subs, boxes, amps, second battery and a spare wheel in the boot. i found about an inch when i pulled all that out.

[MICK_84]

hsv91ss... That car sits exactly the way i want mine to sit. And they are King Spring Lows?

[hsv91ss]

yeah they are lows part numbers front KHFL-47SL and rear KHRL-20HD, I used the rear hd spring as I often have 3 people in the back and it don't scrub out.

[MICK_84]

Sweet as mate thanks.

[Krilnik]

mine has the progressive option on the rear end to give a slightly softer ride in the rear.

Tell me more about this "progressive option". Whats the part number on the springs???

[klampy]

im not sure on the part number but the coil of wire they make the spring out of tapers toward the top so giving you a soft section and a firm section, normally the car rides on the soft part but when you push into a corner or accelerate/brake, generally compresses the soft part completely and then rides on the firmer part of the spring giving you the higher support of the firmer spring.

iv just had a look in the king spring catalogue, and it would seem you can only get superlow rear springs for a VR sedan live axle, in progressive rate anyway. part number i found is KHPR-20HD+ and the matching front would be KHFL47SL+

but as i mentioned previously, when i buy the springs for my wagon, ill be telling them how low i want it via the hub to guard measure, and ill also be wanting some super HD rears being a tow car.

[Krilnik]

Yep, they're the rear springs i have in my live axle VS and the ride definitely aint "soft"!!! I have shortened shocks. And to think - i wanna throw Ultralows in the rear...

I had KHFL47SL+ in the front but man, was that a bone shattering ride or what! I ended up throwing Pedders lows in. That softened the ride a little and only raised it about 1 inch, if that.

I run 15 inch 195/15/65 tires with 29-30 psi.

[Rhin0o8]

Ive just read that you guys are measuring from the center hub to the wheel arch

I was under the impression that you measure from the Bottom lip of your rim up to your wheel arch . ( making sure you run perpendicular through the center hub )

My VS measures 570mm on the front and 580mm on the rear
It has VT Berlina 15" Alloys on it with Factory FE2 Suspension .

correct me if im wrong on this measuring method

and @ OP hope these measurements help with your decision

[klampy]

Ive just read that you guys are measuring from the center hub to the wheel arch


correct me if im wrong on this measuring method

spot on mate

[STUEY HOLDEN LOVER YEP]

hoping someone replies to this, i realise im a bit delayed,

but if i were to put superlows all round in a IRS VS commie, i would need shocks on the back, but the front would be sweet with standard shocks... correct?

im not going for handling with this lowering... i went from v8 lowered, now bak to a v6, and i want it to be a cruiser, nice soft ride... but i dont want it sitting too high...

i was thinking of installing superlow springs and leaving the shocks standard, because i want to maintain a moderately smooth ride...
any advice or info would be very grateful

PS, the photo is my v8, i bought it that way and thats the perfect height for me... the only thing is that its low at the bak and has camber... if i lower the VS IRS with just springs, would it also have camber??
cheers stuey

[Krilnik]

Superlow springs + any shocks whether they are standard or shortened = rough and bumpy ride.

As soon as you install lowered springs you are removing some of the suspension travel.

I hate driving in the city. Might as well get and walk.