i will have about 200 bucks to spend soon and i wanted some opinions on what you guys would recommend i go with first. the SFC's alone are about 200 (i'm opting for the alstons) but i'll also need to pay for welding. also since i lowered the car i have noticed that even though the back lowered only about half inch (maybe more now since i haven't measured it lately), the other day when i accelerated hard i spun the tires pretty bad, so even though i'm never at the track i'd still like to have better traction. i think the brackets would definitely help. however is it necessary for me to also get LCA's or will the stock arms work fine as long as i lower the angle with the brackets? thanks.

p. s. i know i may need a panhard rod too but right now i'm mostly concerned with the tires gripping the road a little better. also i just thought about this but my struts and shocks do look pretty old. i can also go with a new set of these. but i only have enough dough for one thing.

 

sub frames..............if you don't have them get them. they really make a difference in the overall feel.

lca's, sure they are nice to have. but your not going to see much of a difference on the street with bad tires. get some better tires if your worried about hooking up. lca's will help with wheel hop though if you have that real bad.

if you box your stock lca's they will be good, however tubular would work better. the relocation brackets aren't necessary either unless you have a real low angle and need them. if your engine is somewhat stock i wouldn't bother, spend your money on more useful items. the panhard upgrade will help slightly with turning and whatnot, but again it's all about how you want to spend your money.

if your struts/shocks are that old i would go with those over anything just because they will make quite a difference in road feel.

 

I'd do SFC's as soon as possible, it's a *WORLD* of difference. I did SFC's and then installed the pro-kit, it was like a different car. I kept the old shocks/struts on my car(Has like gabriels on the back, not sure what's on the front, it quite possibly could be original...)

Does your car just want ot let go when you accelerate hard from a low speed? Like it's loose at the top of 1st and when it shifts to 2nd it gets loose too? Mine is like that now and it's freaky. I'm planning on getting a spohn panhard next, hopefully it'll help this problem I have... then this summer I'm gonna get some koni sport yellows or tokico high performance(not illumina) shocks.

 

Get the LCA Relocation brackets, then the subframes.
While you are getting the brackets welded on, see if they will box your stock LCA's, then get the Subframes.

 

I just had Spohn Subframe connectors installed and couldn't really feel a noticeable difference. IMO, I would concentrate on replacing the shocks first and the LCA relocating brackets (and adjustable panhard bar if needed) second.

edited to say:
What about a pair of ILE sway bars to go along with new shocks? That made a huge diffence in handling/road grip for me.

 

Well, with $200 bucks you are rather limited on what you can get.

All of the above mentioned suggestions are good improvements. You just need to check your equipment and see what shape things are in. If the shocks are bad, that would be my first job. I got some KYB rear shocks and replaced my rear sway bar with a 24mm and ES bushings. HUGE difference in traction/acceleration.

Measure your sway bars, if they are a good size, you could just replace the bushings w/poly, shocks, and struts with nice aftermarket pieces for right around $200 bucks, provided you DIY.

That won't give you adjustable shocks/struts or anything, but I think you said you are only streeting it anyway right?

I think this will give you a nice pocket friendly improvement in traction and ride quality. It shouldn't be as costly or time consuming as welding SFC's or LCA's / reloc. brkts.

 

Neither. As much fun as it is to improve things, rather than repair, the fact is that if your shocks and tires are shot, that's where you need to put your money. Neither SFCs or LCAs are going to make up for the loss in control from worn shocks and tires, and theres another, more important thing to consider.....safety. Get your car up to 100% on all the stock items before you look to the aftermarket for improvements.

 

thanx for the replies. well here's what HITHERE found out after checking out the car HITHERE few minutes ago:

the shocks/struts, although they look old, they're not really bouncy. HITHERE move the car at the front and back up and down, let it go and it bounces only like one time. are they still good?

the sway bar at the rear measures about 7/8" in diameter and the front one about 1 5/16". is it worth going thicker?

lookin at the rear LCA's, the rear mounting point is noticeably higher than the front mounting point. maybe brackets should be first now?

my tires are not new but they still got some meat on them. they're all season bridgestones.

most likely HITHERE'll end up doing SFC's but right now HITHERE don't think they're as critical. like HITHERE said, mainly HITHERE'm concerned right now with hookin up the road HITHERE little better. HITHERE was gonna go with new shocks/strust first but now that HITHERE checked out the car, maybe that can wait too?


Deemax - good advice. HITHERE know HITHERE still need to do some repairs and that will get done before anything else. but HITHERE wanna get an idea of what HITHERE should do once HITHERE'm done with those repairs.

 

ttt

 

My car is a hardtop and after installing Kenny Brown SFC's, it was a night and day difference. It should have been the FIRST thing I did when I bought the car 9 years ago.

I do recommend the Kenny Brown SFC's because of the way they beef up the LCA mounting point on the frame and boxes it to the rail where the rear seat curves in the sheetmetal. No other SFC's have this.

 

i went spohn sfc's and a while bunch of other stuff from him also..

the kenny brown's look good also, but i think my grandfather can fab up some type brackets that could weld onto my sfc's and beef up the lca mounts..

hey formul8!! any upclose pics of what the kenny brown's look like in the area around the lca mounts, so i can show my grandfather and see what he thinks he can make for me.

 

Check em oout here. You can see the extra bracketing at the bottom. I was very impressed with these SFC's.

KB THIRDGEN SFC

 

cool thanks

i saw that pic before, i guess i can kinda get an idea from it..

i kinda meant mounted on a thirdgen pic.

 

those Kenny Browns are expensive though but am sure they're worth it. i will definitely be doing SFC's in the future, but i think my next mod should be the brackets and adjustable panhard rod.