I am convinced my front needs to be lower!!!! Need advice...

[jrhone]

I plan on cutting my Ireland Stage II frot springs. I will be doing it with the front end on jack stands and using a Dremel tool. I have a few questions and hopefully you guys can steer me in the right direction.

1. What Dremel attachment do I need to cut through the springs?

2. How much should I cut to get an additional 1/2" lower.

Here is a pic of my car from the side....maybe it will give you an idea on how much to cut. I just put my rear lower spring pads back on to day and the rear is slightly higher than the pics, but not much...maybe 1/4"...

[Colin]

Coilovers?

[johnhup]

I had similar problems for years. Finally I just got coilovers in the front. Couldnt be happier.

http://www.designmills.com/2007/07/02/coilovers-installed-on-the-2002/

[eastsidebimmer]

In my honest opinion...your front is fine, you need to raise the back a little bit to balance it out...

Do you want a decent driving experience with good road mannerisms or a cool car to look at? Tough decision.

--Ben

[stone02]

Hi,

after many years of lowering and then raising

cars for customers i have found that most of the

time the front is not the problem. if you raise the

rear 1/2" on your car with a thicker spring pad

the car will lean forward onto the front springs

and push it down just enough. if you cut the springs

you cant go back. MOOG makes a progressive spring

for our cars rear CC 827 which starts with the

car 1/2" above the original height. when you add

tools and junk in the trunk the car will come down

nicely. these can be cut down 1/4 of a turn untill

you get the stance you want.

good luck

stone

[Grover]

I would agree with those who suggested coilovers, this way you have infinite flexibility. Check out the coilover conversion from Ground Control. It's not a full blown coil over set-up, but rather a modification to your current struts and a threaded "sleeve" that fits over the top of the strut. I used them without problem for 3 years or so. It looks to me that if you drop the front any more you'll ground out on an speed bumps, driveways, etc...

[eurotrash]

I don't know what more can be said after three attempts at hearing what you want to hear... If you're convinced, then just do it!

Its reversible.

[doug73cs]

I assume that the car wants to sit parallel to level ground for best handling so if your rocker valence is level the car is sitting correctly.

If you don't like the gap above the front wheel and cut the coils accordingly, you may have a negative (or positive) outcome on steering or handling as the weight shifts to the front. It depends which has more significance - increasing the weight distribution to the front or lowering the center of gravity of the front.

Probably none of this matters (so little real change) so cut and be happy - everything is replaceable with $$$.

[johnhup]

I too had a major problem with the rear. I have Ireland stage I's back there with the 3-dot rubber ring AND the metal ring from the shock tower struts in front.

[TobyB]

I would agree with those who suggested coilovers, this way you have infinite flexibility.

well, not quite. The problem you have in back is that your shocks are about to bottom.

So to match that in front, cut about 1/2 a coil, and see if that does it.

If not, cut another half... and so forth.

Then the fronts will bottom too.

When you lower these cars this far, 3 things happen-

1 in back, you get a LOT of negative camber. 3+ degrees.

Good for absolute cornering, not so much for anything else. Including

stability under braking

2 in front, you run out of negative camber gain, and may start to go positive

as the suspension compresses further. Not so good in relationship to 1

3 all 4 stock shocks run out of travel... then you get a cart, or a car

that will suddenly snap to under/oversteer depending on which end bottoms.

I hate that.

so might be time to get shorter rear shocks and front struts...

t