Lowering Springs

[Ralston]

Right I am in desperate need of lowering springs, well my car is already lowered on custom Koni springs, but they are no where near stiff enough! I want this to be a thread that has a complete definition of all lowering springs avaliable for a MB6 1.8 Vti-S so others can use as a reference.

I have the Koni Str.T dampers just need a good set of quality lowering springs that will lower the car max 30mm all round.

Eibachs Pro Kit - Lower the front end of the MB6 wayyyyyyyyy too much, this is cause the spring rates are wrong, not because they designed it like that before anyone says! Unless spacers are used, but you should never have to do that!

Pi Springs - Leave the rear end of the car way higher than it should be.

The other springs that are avaliable as far as I am aware are:

Spax

Apex

Intraxx

Gmax

H&R

Can people please post pictures of their lowered cars and exactly what set up they have and how they think it handles, stiff soft etc, lowers the correct height etc etc, then everyone can see exactly what each type of lowering springs do. Also please only 1.8 Vti models as these have a heavy front axle loads!

[kyekye09]

i had spax on vti shocks before and they were real bad.... only up side is they gave a good drop but handling was a joke and ride was really bouncy(at any speed)

heres some pics

just a few pics of the deck on the deck

Before

my £33 shocks/springs

and after

it works out -40mm on the front and -35mm on the rear

now im using zs 180 shocks(i bought new) and eibach pro i have part number in my thread along with moddified front forks that were done by noodels (without any more major upgrades(appart from rear arb) the deck now handles very well (like it should have from the factory)

some pics

now nice and level

[NIKH25]

I also have Eibach pro kit on mgzs struts, the Eibachs don't lower the front too much at all, they have model specific sets: http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?c=EIBACHPROHONDA&s=category

Mine went down by 55mm all round, the springs are -40mm so the shocks added 15mm to that.

Handling is excellent compared to how it used to be, much more responsive, faster turn in, less understeer.

The only down side is the ride can be a little harsh over bumpy roads.

Anyway here's a comparison side by side:

And how it is now with 16s on:

[Ralston]

Cheers boys, both look like good ride heights, do you have problems with speed bumps, or multi story car parks? Mine is currently on Koni str.t shocks nd some custom springs that are way too soft IMO however provide a very good ride height.... Shown below.

Koni struts are meant to be able to swap with standard shocks so the spring rests are the same as standard as far as I am aware, so if I stuck the eibachs pros on it should lower it 40mm from standard but with an even stance?

[kyekye09]

the single lane speed humps sometimes catch the mid pipe but no probs with multi story parking or catching/scraping lips

[NIKH25]

Single lane speed humps can catch if particularly high ones, I go over slowly and to one side, just in case.

Don't do multi story's, nothing to do with ride height, just don't use them but car parks and other similar places with sudden camber changes can catch the undertray sometimes.

Yes as far as I'm aware you should be able to put the eibach pros on the koni shocks and should give you an even ride height.

[Ralston]

Found out some interesting stuff basically the springs I've got on Koni Str.T shocks atm are Lesjöfors (a swedish make) details of which are:

F: Open Length 325mm Linear spring with 33.5 n/mm

R: Open Length 385mm Progressive spring with 17.5-27.9 n/mm

Had these on for about two years now, make the car sit perfect height and is still very comfortable; however I think its a little too soft for my liking so been looking at other options; this would also explain why the back is slightly higher than it should be compared to some of your perfect level ride heights!

Eibach Pros

F: O/L 330mm Progressive 22.5-47 n/mm

R: O/L 350mm Progressive 10-25 n/mm

H&R

F: O/L 340mm Progressive 55 n/mm

R: O/L 340mm 30 n/mm

Got this info from ringing suppliers; however they were very reluctant to give it out and I know that eibach rear spring is a rough figure as he wouldn't give me the exact rate....

Bottom line is that with those open lengths the eibachs should make the car perfectly level (unlike some of this forum; must have wrong springs!) and should offer a good stiffness compared to stock so going to go for them; however the H&R springs will also be very good I reckon as they are quite a lot stiffer and are meant to be a progressive spring but they did not give me the progressive rates!