Commuting with a lowered car

[Twixboy]

Originally Posted by pal

<rant>I don't get why people associate coilovers in general with cars lowered beyond the limits of practicality, or for that matter even optimal suspension geometry for best handling. If you take a sports car that already is compromised in terms of clearance from the factory and lower it beyond practical limits, you end up with a car you are afraid to drive. And this same car will actually not handle much better than stock on a track when driven at 8/10ths because the suspension geometry and/or spring rates are likely not optimal either.</rant>

To OP, your shocks are likely bottoming out and you are hitting the bump stops. This is most likely because your springs are not stiff enough for the much reduced travel on lowering springs. If you are on Koni Yellow adjustable shocks, you can try to increase the rebound damping and that will improve things a bit but the ride will start to get harsh pretty fast as well. If my theory is correct, you will still bottom out though less often. The next thing you may want to consider, if you like to drive your car and need to drive it, is getting a set of stiffer and taller springs. This will remove your clearance issue, your bottoming out issue and improve ride and handling. But you will not get approval from the stance crowd.

Thanks, but I thought the Eibach Pro Kit lowering springs were supposed to pair well with Koni yellow adjustable shocks. The settings are set to what Dinan recommends for street driving (the Dinan suspension upgrade uses the Koni yellows) - 25% from soft in the rear and 50% in the front.

TBH I can't tell if my shocks are bottoming out and hitting the bump stops or if my tires are rubbing the wheel well. What is each one supposed to sound like? All I can tell is something isn't right because I sometimes even hear the sound going over manholes.

[Twixboy]

Originally Posted by StickMon

Well, I will turn 55 next week, so yea, there's that, too.

Nevermind, that's not old. For some reason I imagined you were like my old man and he just turned 67.

[DEG]

Originally Posted by Twixboy

Nevermind, that's not old. For some reason I imagined you were like my old man and he just turned 67.

Careful...I turned 61 this year.

[NickyC]

It's definitely a hassle commuting through the city with a slammed car, no doubt about it. When I used to work downtown in St. Louis, I can't tell you how many times I was honked at, yelled at, flipped off etc. because I'd go slow through certain areas where I knew the manholes/big bumps were.

For the past couple years, I've been working from home as I was lucky enough to find work in my field that is all remote. No more 45 minutes to 1 hour long commute each way every day. It's been an absolute dream, and I think I've only put around 3k miles on my car in the past eight months or so. I drive my car now strictly for enjoyment, every trip is a joy whereas back in the day, the long slog to/from work was such a drag.

If you can ever find a way to work remote, I highly suggest it. My quality of life has increased dramatically and I'm a faaaar happier person.

[an3ony]

Hey Twix, Just spitballing here but maybe swap out the Eibachs for some M springs? I have Bilstein sports with stock M springs and I'm not bottoming out. Even over the newly ripped up road leading up to Logan (although the line of angry cars behind me weren't crazy about my slow pace). My car handles much better with the Bilsteins though and I'm guessing the KONIs are as good.
Here's a set for sale somewhat close: http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1190159

[ctuls]

Twixboy I might get a similar setup of Eibach and Koni.

Did you end up making any other changes to mitigate the issues you were facing? e.g with spring pads, koni settings or bumpstops etc.