Regrets?
02-18-2016, 06:18 PM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 211
Regrets?
08 GT. I lowered the car about 2 years ago. Vogtland springs all around with Koni STR struts/shocks. I installed the cam bolts to adjust for the lowering. However, here in Florida at least, these alignment shops seem clueless to the specs necessary for a lowered stance, or don't want to handle it at all. I just had new rubber installed all around and an alignment done. With 2 years on the clock and suspension mainly stock and wearing, the front end is just to sloppy. Sometimes I feel like getting really good struts and just putting the stock springs back on. I do like the look of the lowered stance and I'm aware of the availability of caster/camber plates. I'm just frustrated with it all!
02-19-2016, 06:48 AM
#2
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 7,635
It is also possible that the Vogtland springs (which IIRC are fairly firm as lowering springs go) are really too much spring for the STR.t dampers. In the beginning they may have given a softer than expected ride, the downside being that that's the most control over suspension movement they'll ever have (IOW they can only get softer and the ride tends toward "floaty" with age and miles).
Alignment for a lowered car shouldn't be much different than for an OE height car that's being tweaked to suit the individual driver. IOW, if you're mostly a mild to maybe moderate driver when it comes to cornering, the OE camber and toe specs will serve you just fine. Harder drivers will likely prefer camber slightly more negative.
I would suggest Koni Sports (aka "yellows"), provided you swap to springs that don't drop as far as the Vogtlands. About one inch seems to be as far as these shocks & struts can easily cope with, given the typical rates of most lowering springs. A perhaps better but nonadjustable option would be Bilsteins (Vorshlag carries them), which appear to tolerate lowering better than the Yellows.
If you do swap shocks & struts, with or without doing springs, either camber plates or Steeda's HD strut mounts (which also feature camber adjustability) would be the way to go.
Full disclosure - I'm running the yellows with the Steeda HD mounts, with the OE springs. Up to and including at HPDE track days. FWIW, I am looking at BMR's "handling springs" (forget the part number) for their stiffness if I can figure out how to take about half of their lowering out.
Norm
Last edited by Norm Peterson; 02-19-2016 at 06:55 AM.
02-19-2016, 10:38 AM
#3
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 211
Things to check . . . ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, struts . . . and around those crash bolts for evidence of slippage between the struts and the knuckles. You may not be able to check the strut mounts without pulling things apart, but I wouldn't expect OE strut mounts to be all that happy with the struts now at a different inclination ("crash bolt" alignment mainly affects the knuckle's orientation; the strut inclinations vary only a tiny bit away from where the lowering put them).
It is also possible that the Vogtland springs (which IIRC are fairly firm as lowering springs go) are really too much spring for the STR.t dampers. In the beginning they may have given a softer than expected ride, the downside being that that's the most control over suspension movement they'll ever have (IOW they can only get softer and the ride tends toward "floaty" with age and miles).
Alignment for a lowered car shouldn't be much different than for an OE height car that's being tweaked to suit the individual driver. IOW, if you're mostly a mild to maybe moderate driver when it comes to cornering, the OE camber and toe specs will serve you just fine. Harder drivers will likely prefer camber slightly more negative.
I would suggest Koni Sports (aka "yellows"), provided you swap to springs that don't drop as far as the Vogtlands. About one inch seems to be as far as these shocks & struts can easily cope with, given the typical rates of most lowering springs. A perhaps better but nonadjustable option would be Bilsteins (Vorshlag carries them), which appear to tolerate lowering better than the Yellows.
If you do swap shocks & struts, with or without doing springs, either camber plates or Steeda's HD strut mounts (which also feature camber adjustability) would be the way to go.
Full disclosure - I'm running the yellows with the Steeda HD mounts, with the OE springs. Up to and including at HPDE track days. FWIW, I am looking at BMR's "handling springs" (forget the part number) for their stiffness if I can figure out how to take about half of their lowering out.
Norm
It is also possible that the Vogtland springs (which IIRC are fairly firm as lowering springs go) are really too much spring for the STR.t dampers. In the beginning they may have given a softer than expected ride, the downside being that that's the most control over suspension movement they'll ever have (IOW they can only get softer and the ride tends toward "floaty" with age and miles).
Alignment for a lowered car shouldn't be much different than for an OE height car that's being tweaked to suit the individual driver. IOW, if you're mostly a mild to maybe moderate driver when it comes to cornering, the OE camber and toe specs will serve you just fine. Harder drivers will likely prefer camber slightly more negative.
I would suggest Koni Sports (aka "yellows"), provided you swap to springs that don't drop as far as the Vogtlands. About one inch seems to be as far as these shocks & struts can easily cope with, given the typical rates of most lowering springs. A perhaps better but nonadjustable option would be Bilsteins (Vorshlag carries them), which appear to tolerate lowering better than the Yellows.
If you do swap shocks & struts, with or without doing springs, either camber plates or Steeda's HD strut mounts (which also feature camber adjustability) would be the way to go.
Full disclosure - I'm running the yellows with the Steeda HD mounts, with the OE springs. Up to and including at HPDE track days. FWIW, I am looking at BMR's "handling springs" (forget the part number) for their stiffness if I can figure out how to take about half of their lowering out.
Norm
02-19-2016, 11:34 AM
#4
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 211
Things to check . . . ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, struts . . . and around those crash bolts for evidence of slippage between the struts and the knuckles. You may not be able to check the strut mounts without pulling things apart, but I wouldn't expect OE strut mounts to be all that happy with the struts now at a different inclination ("crash bolt" alignment mainly affects the knuckle's orientation; the strut inclinations vary only a tiny bit away from where the lowering put them).
It is also possible that the Vogtland springs (which IIRC are fairly firm as lowering springs go) are really too much spring for the STR.t dampers. In the beginning they may have given a softer than expected ride, the downside being that that's the most control over suspension movement they'll ever have (IOW they can only get softer and the ride tends toward "floaty" with age and miles).
Alignment for a lowered car shouldn't be much different than for an OE height car that's being tweaked to suit the individual driver. IOW, if you're mostly a mild to maybe moderate driver when it comes to cornering, the OE camber and toe specs will serve you just fine. Harder drivers will likely prefer camber slightly more negative.
I would suggest Koni Sports (aka "yellows"), provided you swap to springs that don't drop as far as the Vogtlands. About one inch seems to be as far as these shocks & struts can easily cope with, given the typical rates of most lowering springs. A perhaps better but nonadjustable option would be Bilsteins (Vorshlag carries them), which appear to tolerate lowering better than the Yellows.
If you do swap shocks & struts, with or without doing springs, either camber plates or Steeda's HD strut mounts (which also feature camber adjustability) would be the way to go.
Full disclosure - I'm running the yellows with the Steeda HD mounts, with the OE springs. Up to and including at HPDE track days. FWIW, I am looking at BMR's "handling springs" (forget the part number) for their stiffness if I can figure out how to take about half of their lowering out.
Norm
It is also possible that the Vogtland springs (which IIRC are fairly firm as lowering springs go) are really too much spring for the STR.t dampers. In the beginning they may have given a softer than expected ride, the downside being that that's the most control over suspension movement they'll ever have (IOW they can only get softer and the ride tends toward "floaty" with age and miles).
Alignment for a lowered car shouldn't be much different than for an OE height car that's being tweaked to suit the individual driver. IOW, if you're mostly a mild to maybe moderate driver when it comes to cornering, the OE camber and toe specs will serve you just fine. Harder drivers will likely prefer camber slightly more negative.
I would suggest Koni Sports (aka "yellows"), provided you swap to springs that don't drop as far as the Vogtlands. About one inch seems to be as far as these shocks & struts can easily cope with, given the typical rates of most lowering springs. A perhaps better but nonadjustable option would be Bilsteins (Vorshlag carries them), which appear to tolerate lowering better than the Yellows.
If you do swap shocks & struts, with or without doing springs, either camber plates or Steeda's HD strut mounts (which also feature camber adjustability) would be the way to go.
Full disclosure - I'm running the yellows with the Steeda HD mounts, with the OE springs. Up to and including at HPDE track days. FWIW, I am looking at BMR's "handling springs" (forget the part number) for their stiffness if I can figure out how to take about half of their lowering out.
Norm
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