[coyote-x]

Okay, he's an interesting request:

I want a stiffer ride, better handling, etc, WITHOUT lowering the car. (I want stock height.) What can I get to accomplish this? Most stuff I've seen so far entails lowering the car at least an inch. Say I don't wanna do this, just hypothetically, because of curbs, speed bumps at my school, whatever. What are my options?

Obviously:

Swaybar
Strut tower braces
those energy suspension endlink things

What else?

Can I get stiffer springs/struts that still match the stock ride height? Will the others be effective /without/ stiffer springs?

 

[MazdaRacer]

A coilover kit will solve your problem, adjust em for stock height for tooling around town, drop em low for meets or just leave em alone. All the other parts will work fine together.

If you get the Ground Controls you can request any spring rate you want. (they come with Eibach springs) If you get the ebay kits, i'm not sure if they are the same diameter as the Eibachs race springs. If so, then you can get any rate you want from Eibach and use them with the ebay kit.

The ebay kit and another set of springs from Eibach would still be cheaper than the GC kit, although on a lower level of quality.

 

[GreenBlur]

aren't all eibach springs progressive for our cars?

 

[Benjo]

aren't all eibach springs progressive for our cars?

lol

Don't make Diane bust out her closet full of springs.

If keeping stock height is your only concern, I suggest doing the Eibach pro-kit springs and getting taller tires. The Eibach pro-kits lower the car an inch, and taller tires can more than compensate for it.

The set of LX alloys I picked up a few months ago came with 185/65/14 front and 195/70/14 in the rear, which are much bigger than the stock 175/65/14. The set gave my wagon an overall lift! 8O

Actually... when I switched from the worn stock suspension to the Eibach/Tokico ZX2 S/R setup, I actually scraped Less because the suspension didn't compress as much when going up driveways.

Or... just simply get stiffer than stock struts (Tokico ZX2 S/Rs) and pair it with the stock springs.

 

[Beaverboy]

I don't think my H&Rs even lowered my car in inch. I bottom out less with them then I did with the stock springs.

 

[MazdaRacer]

wrong.... he wants better handling.

He won't get better handling with taller tires, quite the opposite.

 

[1Sleepy93]

^^Good way to throw your speedo off too along with screwing the handling.

 

[Benjo]

wrong.... he wants better handling.

He won't get better handling with taller tires, quite the opposite.

He asked, "I want a stiffer ride, better handling, etc, WITHOUT lowering the car. (I want stock height.)... What are my options? "

I gave out 3 suggestions. Suggestion 1 said "If keeping stock height is your only concern." :roll: Who knows what is the actual performance tradeoff between stock, worn out suspension on stock tires vs. new Eibachs with S/Rs with taller tires? Stiffer ride, check; better handling (than stock), check; stock height, check.

Suggestion 2 points out my experience that I scrape less despite riding an inch lower, to ease his concerns about lowering.

Suggestion 3 is a compromise, use stock springs with the S/Rs.

He asked for options, I gave him options. :wink: