lowering- How low is good/best for handling?

[Callum-stirling]

Personally I have always the though twingo was the best handling thing I had ever driven, untill it decided to bite me back and send me into a ditch hahah. I was running cup suspension with apex springs at the time and I couldn't fault them.

Then I bout the bc racing coilovers. OMG. Visually they looked the tits

But the were so ******* hard (I turned them to hard) that my back was fuxking destroyed. I must say though the car handed like a dream. I have no idea how much i lowered it by I just went as far down as I could without scrubbing (much)

 

[singlespeed]

The simple answer to the original question is, it depends on the vehicle as the suspension geometry will be different.

The Mk4 Golf platform was at its best at factory sport ride height, as any benefit from lowering the car and therefore lowering the center of gravity was negated by the change in geometry screwing up the roll centers . So, a drop needed much stiffer springs to counter the increased tendency to roll. Roll center adjusters and stiffer anti roll bars helped cure it.

With the 133, it looks like the front suspension can take about 25-30mm before the suspension geometry will start to get majorly compromised.

Ive been looking at the Clio Cup racer roll center adjusters but they probably won't fit as the extension pins are going to be too long.

 

[nat connelly]

i have spax springs and i think it handles good get than with the cup springs i have just bought i set of weitec coil overs so when i put them on will see what there like

 

[AS_BO]

The simple answer to the original question is, it depends on the vehicle as the suspension geometry will be different.

The Mk4 Golf platform was at its best at factory sport ride height, as any benefit from lowering the car and therefore lowering the center of gravity was negated by the change in geometry screwing up the roll centers . So, a drop needed much stiffer springs to counter the increased tendency to roll. Roll center adjusters and stiffer anti roll bars helped cure it.

With the 133, it looks like the front suspension can take about 25-30mm before the suspension geometry will start to get majorly compromised.

Ive been looking at the Clio Cup racer roll center adjusters but they probably won't fit as the extension pins are going to be too long.

Ok so H&R's 25MM set should be a good bet? That was my thinking on it as in geometry wise anyway. What you all reckon?

 

[James-Hilton]

I had the H&R springs on my old 133. Was an improvement over the cup ones.

 

[Martin_172]

This was perfect for my needs/driving style, the AP's fixed damping dampers were brilliant for road use when I first fitted them the car was still running budget ditch finder tyres and even still the difference especially on corner exit was brilliant I could get on the power so much earlier where previously it was just spinning up an inside wheel

 

[Kam Racing]

another thing to consider is that dampers have a set amount of travel. for a good ride ideally you want the damper to be as closed to uncompressed as possible when not under load. that way you have the full amount of travel to cope with any undulations in the road. if you lower beyond this you reduce your suspension's capabilities and increase the risk of hitting bumpstops (effectively no damping) unless you get a damper that is designed to be shorter in length.

the best example of this in practice is with the bilstein range as they have the B6 and B8 damper ranges which give exactly the same damping rate. however the b6's are standard length dampers designed to be used at ride heights close to standard where as the b8's are much shorter in length so give the same percentage of travel in a shorter distance and can be run at much lower ride heights

 

[Callum-stirling]

another thing to consider is that dampers have a set amount of travel. for a good ride ideally you want the damper to be as closed to uncompressed as possible when not under load. that way you have the full amount of travel to cope with any undulations in the road. if you lower beyond this you reduce your suspension's capabilities and increase the risk of hitting bumpstops (effectively no damping) unless you get a damper that is designed to be shorter in length.

the best example of this in practice is with the bilstein range as they have the B6 and B8 damper ranges which give exactly the same damping rate. however the b6's are standard length dampers designed to be used at ride heights close to standard where as the b8's are much shorter in length so give the same percentage of travel in a shorter distance and can be run at much lower ride heights

This is exactly why the bc racing coilovers are made how they are. The ride height is adjusted by moving the bottom of the strut up and down, the spring is not touched at all, this means that you still have full damper travel and spring rate is not effected.

 

[Kam Racing]

This is exactly why the bc racing coilovers are made how they are. The ride height is adjusted by moving the bottom of the strut up and down, the spring is not touched at all, this means that you still have full damper travel and spring rate is not effected.

Sounds like the perfect kit to use to help get a rough answer to this thread.. Ultimately it will all come down to driver preference though as everyone has a slightly different driving style and so differing front / rear heights may suit different people better..

 

[James-Hilton]

Just had my ride height raised 10mm all round. It was slammed on Weitec coilover which rubbed a bit on bumps etc. Now it actually handles better in general which I was surprised at. I've changed...

 

[mazmaz]

lowering the car too much change the geo setting

so it can affect baddly the handling
depend a lot of the car
but every change have to be made wisely

 

[UltimateGreen]

in my thoughts there are far too mitigating factors to take into account before you can consider right height heights. you need the correct damper setup in terms of how hard or soft they are and castor setup included in that line of thinking. for example raly cars sit like buses but we can't say that 'height' would determine the overall driveability of the vehicle in the way that some folk seem to think 'height' makes all of the difference. consider how to overcome body roll, spring oscillation rates, damping rates and length.

but lowering ride height in its defence is usually only about lowering the centre of gravity, but the lower you go the harder your dampers need to be and not many people take this into account with lowering springs so in my oppinion the driveability isn't changed at all. it's almost as if it is a placebo effect that with a firmer ride, comes good handling.

Agreed! +1