ride quality with lowered vehicle?

[traksta15 10+ year member]

For those of you who have lowered your cars, how's the ride quality? How much worse is it than your stock suspension? Reason for asking is i'm going to lower my 03 silverado 4/6 but don't want to destroy my ride quality (what I like most about having a newish truck)

Im not talking about bags, just anyone who's used a lowering kit i.e. spring/shackles/leaf springs/etc etc etc.

Thanks in advance guys!

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[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

For those of you who have lowered your cars, how's the ride quality? How much worse is it than your stock suspension? Reason for asking is i'm going to lower my 03 silverado 4/6 but don't want to destroy my ride quality (what I like most about having a newish truck)
Im not talking about bags, just anyone who's used a lowering kit i.e. spring/shackles/leaf springs/etc etc etc.

Thanks in advance guys!

with my coil overs the ride was stiffer, could be from the heavy duty struts, but the handling was unbelievable

 

[traksta15 10+ year member]

how far did you lower it, and what kind of vehicle?

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

Mine rides pretty much the same because i used spindles in the front and blocks in the back, so essentially the suspension is the same. I lowered mine 2/3.

However, if I were you I would remove/relocate the bumpstops in the back so you don't slam against them whenever you go over a big bump like I do. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/mad.gif.c18f003ab0ef8a0d9c27ca78d77a6392.gif

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[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

honda crx hf with body kit on it, its about 1" off the ground. The only problem I found its hard to find a place to align it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif But within the last year I raised it a few just to get a jack underneath it. Some manufactures make good camber kits where you dont hit the bump stomp in my case the front end.

 

[AVSTANG02]

For those of you who have lowered your cars, how's the ride quality? How much worse is it than your stock suspension? Reason for asking is i'm going to lower my 03 silverado 4/6 but don't want to destroy my ride quality (what I like most about having a newish truck)
Im not talking about bags, just anyone who's used a lowering kit i.e. spring/shackles/leaf springs/etc etc etc.

Thanks in advance guys!

It's obviously going to make the ride rougher. The lower suspension will be stiffer.

Personally I like the feel and have lowered all my cars the max they could go without major modifications.

 

[traksta15 10+ year member]

Im having a local shop do it for me, they said it'll be a whole kit (springs/shackles/new shocks/etc etc) and a c-notch.

I don't tow or anything I just scoot back and forth around town and a little bit on the highway.

What makes the ride worse with a lowered vehicle?

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

My goat is pretty low and the ride can get pretty bumpy. But you make up for it with handling

 

[AVSTANG02]

Im having a local shop do it for me, they said it'll be a whole kit (springs/shackles/new shocks/etc etc) and a c-notch.
I don't tow or anything I just scoot back and forth around town and a little bit on the highway.

What makes the ride worse with a lowered vehicle?

Main cause is stiffer springs on shocks not designed for them. It depends on a lot of factors tho.. It's a truck you may not notice a rougher ride..

Especially if you upgrade all of your suspension like the shop plans to.. Most people just upgrade the springs which were not designed for the car or the car's shocks..

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

with my coil overs the ride was stiffer, could be from the heavy duty struts, but the handling was unbelievable

Well, to increase handling in a car you kind of have to stiffen the suspensions so that it reacts better with rolling weight while turning and distributes the weight evenly on all the tires, as best as possible. So, it's really hard to get that stiffness and softness at the same time.

As far as lowering, it depends on what kit you get. If you get a good suspension system, it should have the same if not better quality. But if you cheap out, it'll ride horrible.

 

[tv559 10+ year member]

I have an 03 Gmc Sierra with a 4/6 McGaughys kit 2in coil, 2 inch Spindle in the front and Flip kit in the back with shock ext.. And it rides awesome. If your going to lower do it right the first time I learned that the hard way.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

really depends on how its done, i have done some and it sucked and others it was like a cadillac. If you get all the good stuff like new coils, spindles, lwr control arms, lowerded leafs, flip kit, shackles, whatever (I dont know what yours involves) then it will be just like factory. Get some drop chocks too as your stockers will be bottomed out and that will make it ruff.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

Trucks and cars are a WHOLE different ball game. Anyone who has a lowered car really shouldnt be responding to this thread.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

I have an 03 Gmc Sierra with a 4/6 McGaughys kit 2in coil, 2 inch Spindle in the front and Flip kit in the back with shock ext.. And it rides awesome. If your going to lower do it right the first time I learned that the hard way.

listen to this guy

 

[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

after lifted a few: