sean88iroc

I couldnt decide between eibach or hotchkis. I wanted to lower my car a little bit mostly for looks for now so i just bought the coil springs, i went with hotchkis bc eventually i want the whole Hotchkis suspension kit when i can afford it. Good decision? Can i do a straight swap with the coil springs now with the stock ones without replacing or altering anythingelse? Ive heard of having to replace bumpstops???

rusty vango

you really should drive someone elses lowered camaro before you do it to your own car . many times lowering it removes any real world usefulness . as in . pot holes , expansion strips . curbes and drive ways become obsticles that simply put , make a lowered car worthless

86iroct5

completely untrue.

lowered cars especially modestly lowered like the hotchkis and eibach are no different then stock height cars driving wise.

now if you are lowered like me 4+ inches then yes, things become treacherous and you need to map a route around speed bumps.

i think you will be very pleased with the hotchkis springs, i have no personal experience but they are up towards the top as far as springs for these cars.

randipm

Others removed the bump stops on their lowered cars to avoid any problem on suspension travel and to gain clearance for wider wheels.

Linson

actually - speaking from experience - I'd have to say that it is true what rusty vango was saying. these cars (as well as 4th Gens) are very low even in stock configuration and lowering them even an inch or so more can make driving around a real pain in the ***.


also, unless there is some sort of problem with your suspension causing the front end to ride abnormally high, lowering the car will not look very good unless you have also upgraded to a taller wheel - then you need to lower it or the car usually look dorky. if you lower the car more than a very little while keeping stock size wheels and tires, that will look funky.

86iroct5

first pic is lowered on eibachs, second is the weight jacks. i think the car looks many times better than stock, which i cant find a picture of. in addition the car will out handle any stock car out there.

i also daily drive a 4th gen lowered on eibachs also attached for reference. lowering a car will not turn it into some stone age carriage on wheels with no suspension that cant go over bumps.

Linson

seems to be a possible disconnect here. i'm not sure that anyone was commenting on any decreased drivability as it pertains to suspension feel - just lowering an already low car makes everyday driving (speedbumps, curbs) a bit treacherous.

i notice that both of the cars that you pictured have larger-than-stock diameter wheels.the larger rolling stock will compensate for the lowered suspension as far as ground clearance. i think generally, if you throw lowering springs at a car that sits on stock wheels and tires it looks kinda goofy. and typically, if you throw larger wheels/tires at a car without lowering the suspension, that also looks goofy, unprofessional and unfinished.

i had the Eibach Pro Kit on my 4th Gen Z28. the springs went on several months prior to the 17" 10-Spoke SS wheels. with the lowering springs and the 16" Salad Shooters, it looked horrible. once i got the 17's and 275/40s it looked perfect.

i stand by my comment that unless the OP has or is planning to move up to a larger diameter wheel - or - there is some issue causing the stock suspension to ride excessively high, i would not mess with lowering springs. on a Third Gen, it is unlikely that the OP will realize any real world benefits, but the drawbacks of decreased ground clearance (on a car that is low for tooling around in already) are going to feel very real.

i would spend my money elsewhere.

86iroct5

larger wheels do no change ground clearance either. tires do. properly sized tires be it 18s, 17s or 15s, will ALL have the same ground clearance if the tires are sized according to stock overall tire height (~26in) which i have.

Linson

you may be right, and i dont know what it is then. but the fact remains that when i had stock 16s and Eibach Pro-Kit on my 4th Gen, it had a cheesy "slammed-in-the-front" look and exacerbated clearance issues. with the 17's & 275/40s, it balanced out the car's posture, and put it back at normal/stock ground clearance issues.

so, i don't know what to say here. because i'm sure, on the one hand, that your facts and figures dont lie. and on the other hand, my experience doesn't lie either. and my experience is: lowering springs + stock 245/50/16s = cheesy looking posture and more ground clearance problems for day to day driving. lowering springs + 275/40/17 upgrade = balancing of vehicle's posture and improvement in ground clearance problems for day to day driving.

i've lived it, so i don't know what else i can tell ya.

NWFreerider

275/40-17s are the same diameter as 245/50-16s. The numbers don't lie. Ride height will be unchanged.