Lowering

[Irukanji]

Probably already covered 1 billion times, but I was wondering if lowering would improve handling at all? 2 inches back and 1 front or something like that, not bothering with power until I have a car which handles and stops well...or would such a small drop not be worth my time/not worth the gains? If there is a thread already covering the n00b questions, feel free to point me in the right direction.

Cheers.

EDIT: Stock VT sedan, or as stock as I could imagine

 

[MikeCuzzy]

People will have a go at me for this, but lowering does not in of itself improve handling. If all you do is change the springs on your car, it will not perform better, if anything - it will be worse.

You will have to change over virtually the entire suspension to achieve better handling.

Mike.

 

[aaronevolution]

People will have a go at me for this, but lowering does not in of itself improve handling. If all you do is change the springs on your car, it will not perform better, if anything - it will be worse.

You will have to change over virtually the entire suspension to achieve better handling.

Mike.

Agreed.

OP, you drive a VT Commodore. It's a boat and will always be one.

 

[JSTCOZ]

After going from FE2 stock springs to SL and SSL springs my car turns alot sharper into corners. I have had other mates drive mine after their stock ones and they agree. the steering is better with slightly tighter and lower springs (y) If you do it youll notice, hell id let you drive mine to prove it.

 

[MattaY[s2]]

After going from FE2 stock springs to SL and SSL springs my car turns alot sharper into corners. I have had other mates drive mine after their stock ones and they agree. the steering is better with slightly tighter and lower springs (y) If you do it youll notice, hell id let you drive mine to prove it.

I agree i noticed it turns a lot sharper into corners with my Ultra lows.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Lowering doesn't improve handling as such, just makes it stiffer so it feels like it corners better.

Lower it to make it look better, not to handle better.

 

[Jesterarts]

People will have a go at me for this, but lowering does not in of itself improve handling. If all you do is change the springs on your car, it will not perform better, if anything - it will be worse.

You will have to change over virtually the entire suspension to achieve better handling.

Mike.

Good answer.

As above, simply lowering a car will not improve handling much if at all. It can reduce body roll a bit so there may be a minor improvement, but as a whole the only way to improve the handling of any car is to upgrade the suspension setup as a whole.

Springs with matches shocks, upgraded bushes and sway bars are required to if you are looking for significan improvements.

 

[Irukanji]

Cheers, might as well leave it as it is then until I'm prepared to shell out some more cash to upgrade the whole lot at once.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

But then what is the car? Is it going to be a track car or a daily driver? Why spend $2-$3K on suspension upgrades when you will still have a VT Commodore. It is never going to corner like an F1 car or handle like an SLK Mercedes.

 

[kingswood country]

Prob irrelevant. I dropped my old girl 2 inches, now Kingswoods do handle like boats, with a heavier sway bar up front, doesn't have one up the arse, handled beautiful after, instead of it losing front traction at 80km, it starts losing at 110km, then using a custom one up the arse, it handles better again though tends to want to slide a bit more in the wet. Don't skimp on sway bars, they probably do more in a corner than springs, so in effect, lower centre of gravity, yes will improve, not much, heavier sway bar(s), better shocks if your going more than an inch, and lastly, a set of sticky low profile Tyres on big rims help too, less sidewall flex... But all this minus wheels puts you in the 2k-3k mark.