Chad05TL

In inches and brand name, what is the smallest drop a person can do to a 3G TL? I wish I could find like a 1/2" or 3/4" drop and keep my 17" rims. I don't want a large drop. The TL already looks better than most cars on the road. I see all the junk mods that everyone does to try and make it look better, (including "most" aftermarket wheels, window louvers, LED's in weird places, and replacement grills) and people end up turning their nice car into "the best wal-mart has to offer". Ok I'm over it now.. but seriously, a very small drop would be nice to do when I replace my struts and shocks. I thought about coil overs, but what happens when a shock or a strut wears out? Does that mean you gotta replace the whole spring too? What a waste. I'd rather keep them separate.

Bearcat94

If your intent is to change the handling of the suspension, the smallest drop is 0". You can add aftermarket shocks (such as Koni Sports) and leave them at stock height with adjustable damping.

A-Spec Susp (Coil Over) is 0'75".
Eibach Pro-Kit is 1".
H&R Sport is 1.4"F/1.3"R


After that, I am not sure. I know most of the Race springs are in the 2" area.

IMHO a drop of about 1.5" looks good without dumping the car.

I've got pics posted with the H&R Sports on 17's.

Chad05TL

A-spec is an adjustible coil-over? Someone said that A-spec doesn't lower any. And i was trying to avoid Eibach. It seems every Eibach I have seen on here looks kinda yuckie. I'm just not sure about eibach.

Chad05TL

Hey these are only $1,000 haha I ASSUME you could drop any amount with "32" positions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Megan...07182005r13071


ooops these may not lower. "dampening rate" is not the same as ride height

Bearcat94

A-Spec is not adjsutable. It is a spring/shock/top hat combo kit. Maybe coil-over isn't quite the right description?

A-Spec is DEFINETLY a small drop. 0.75" is what's supposedly advertized.

Some springs (older Eibach and Comptech??) sagged in the rear and looked pretty ugly.

Chad05TL

actually those megans do have adjustable ride height.. but what the ranges are, I don't know. I did find some cheaper ones
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Megan...mZ360186262258

Bearcat94

Most of the coil-overs are both height and damping adjustable.

Chad05TL

hey what do you think about these? I just wonder what they will look like since the back is .1" lower than the front. Dunno. It may not be noticeable. i think the backs of these cars are just a tick taller than the front though.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TEIN-...=p4506.c0.m245


here is another. I guess I need to find out what my code is.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TEIN-...=p4506.c0.m245

Chad05TL

ya I know.. But only from about 1" or 1.5" and more.

I want less, not more. haha unlike britney.

Bearcat94

Lots of people run Tien and like them. I am not familiar with the S-Tech, H-Tech differences.

I do prefer the front lower than the rear; I think the car sits better that way.

I hate cars

I actually agree with you.

If you're doing shocks anyway, go with the Koni Yellows. They will give you 3/4" drop, just enough to take away some of the wheel gap but still very classy looking. That was what I was looking for, to get rid of a little of the gap but not the lowered look and something that will take the daily bumps, potholes, and driveways with ease.

The best thing is that on the soft setting the car feels just like stock but with better control of body and tire movement. On the firmest setting it gets outright harsh. If you ever decide to upgrade springs or swaybars down the road, these have more than enough damping for the higher spring rates.

Chad05TL

How can a shock or strut lower your car?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KONI-...QQcmdZViewItem

I hate cars

The spring perch height is adjustable.

Chad05TL

ya but that doesnt lift or lower the car. If it lowered the car, then it would have to be pushing down on the spring. haha dude. I dont mean to disagree with you all the time but I guess I'll just drop the subject. thanks for the reply man.

I hate cars

100s of people on here lower the car by adjusting the spring perch. In effect, you're lowering the perch, bringing the body of the shock up and the lower control arm with it. I had to look at it for a while to understand the mechanism in which it worked. My concern was that it would change the spring rate between the stock and lower perch but it doesn't. Good luck with it, let us know what you decide on.

Chad05TL

In this case, I may be getting this TL configuration confused with a non "coil/strut" assembly like on a Camaro. In a Camaro, the springs and struts are separte. And they are mounted in different spots.

So I looked up "Spring Perch" here

A spring perch is a rectangular steel plate that provides the mounting point for leaf springs. The leaf springs are typically held in place by large u-bolts that tightly clamp the spring(s) to the perch, which is either bolted or welded to the axle. Coil spring systems use round spring plates as an option to provide preload as well as anchor points

So if I am correct, the Spring perch is the thing that the spring sits on. And that perch is adjustable on some struts. Like Koni. (for a price). HA. So from a perspective I think i was originally correct that the strut does not raise or lower the car but in this case, its Where the spring sits on the strut. So, yes if you moved down the perch, which is on the strut, then yes you can lower the car. In this case, this is the only way a strut can lower a car. But again, its not really the strut, its just the location of the spring being mounted on the strut. And some struts have this adjustible perch thingy.. RIGHT!?

my original point was that struts and shocks merely dampen the shock caused from a bump in the road not raise or lower a car. I may not have said that explicitly. Neverhtless, this special strut has a way to move the perch and since the spring is mounted on the strut, on this TL, then yes, you can lower the car by getting a custom strut that allows the spring to be relocated.

I hate cars

That's it! I don't know why but I had to stare at it and picture the movement for like and hour before I understood it.

I too come from the muscle car side of things so it was a whole new world with this stuff.

Chad05TL

Ya, I had to look up what a perch was. And then I saw a picture of how a larger perch raised a truck body. And then I put it together and realized that since these struts are mounted on the strut, if there was an adjustible perch you could raise or lower the body on this car.

It kinda made me think of a coil-over. And I was thinking what's the difference between an adjustible perch and a coil-over. And i think its basically just the fact that you can still use your factory springs and you wont need any new springs. But this just makes me ask another question. "Will my car hit bottom before the springs bottom out more often?" Or maybe it doesnt matter anyway because the factory springs are not wound at a varible rate. Meaning the springs dont get stiffer the more the car goes down. Or do they? So I dont know if I would bottom out more often or not being on factory springs if I lowered just about 3/4".

Chad05TL

actually, on my camaro, the springs and struts were in the coilover style on the front. And separate in the rear. It seems like one of my cars had struts and springs separate on the front though, but i cant remember which one now. But on those struts, their was just a lip where a flask would sit, and the springs would sit on that. So it was all stationary and couldnt adjust it. Interesting.

PinSpree

Haha! It took me a minute to understand the dynamics of it too, but hate cars is right. I'd go Tein SS. Looks like it might be in your price range, and with only a small drop you can preserve alot of softness in the ride, not having to stiffen up to avoid rubbing. My Teins ride awesome.

Chad05TL

I already told him he was right about the adjustible perch. But most struts dont have adjustible perches. but anyway, its still not the actually shock arm that does the lowering. Koni has just rigged up a way to lower the spring that mounts on the strut. So thats different.

Anyway, as far as price range, I definately won't be buying the Koni Yellows. If anything I'll just get the a-spec springs.

So what kind of Tien's do you have? I don't want to lower the car much. Like less than an inch is preferable. And i'm not going to change my mind. If I wanted a sports car I wouldnt have bought the TL.

Tony@Eibach

The Eibach Pro Kit seems to be your best and most economic option. The drop isn't too much at all. Here's an old picture we have.

Chad05TL

Thanks for the pic. I thought about those at first, but then, I saw the pictures and the back end just looks too low with respect to the front. something doesn't look right. I dunno. Just my opinion.

I hate cars

I know you don't like the price of the Koni Yellows but that's another thing they're good at. I had the same problem with my a-spec springs, the front being higher than the rear. I put the front Konis in the low position and the rear in the stock position. Now it sits with the front just a hair lower than the rear.

Chad05TL

ya I know. I may just get the Tien H springs, or just stick with factory springs. The car doesnt looks bad. And I keep hearing various things aout the A-spec. Some say it lowers and some say it doesnt. So I dont want to take a chance with my money.