How much money am I looking at to have a pontiac sunfire lowered 2-3 inches?

Question

If you only knew how many haters I have about my sunfire.....

Answer 1

Like John said, Man, don't lower your Sunfire!
They are already lower to the ground.
I had one that I bought used that was already lowered more than it came with.
Major mistake!
Now I know why I got such a good deal on it.
No one wanted the damn thing.
Why??????
The cost of up-keep was outrageously miserable!
It seems the "mechanics" for lack of a better word, hang lower than usual to BEGIN with.
(I'm a girl, gimme a break.)
I drove over a large ROCK in a construction mess and "damaged" some stuff.
We're taking a ROCK here, not a boulder.
My long time extremely qualified mechanic had to call in an expert to fix it.
It seems some of the lines/pipes are custom manufactured to FIT the car to begin with, lines/pipes twisted into "unusual" shapes AND flattened to make the fit into place.
For the cost of these CUSTOM lines/pipes I could have bought a new car.
ALSO... the engine for the Sunfire is meant for a LARGER car.
So everything is literally crammed in there, TIGHTLY.
AND it typically runs HOT....ALL THE TIME.
They are subject to getting little air pockets into the fuel line because the fuel line runs right next to the motor.
The fuel line heats up dramatically and causes the air pockets, making the engine drag.
(We found that wrapping the fuel line in heavy duty aluminum foil helps. We got this from Click & Clack, The Tappet Brothers from PBS Radio, Car Talk Show, yes, we have gone to great lengths for this car)
So, the lower the car is to the ground, the hotter the engine runs, the more it sucks up fluids, oil, water, you name it, the more it over heats.
You will be constantly filling it with water, fluid, oil, etc.
Living in the South makes it MUCH more noticeable.
And the list goes onnnnnnnnnnnnn........
Being so low to the ground already, replacing NORMAL parts are a financial NIGHTMARE.
My water pump went out because it was over worked from all the heat.
They have to REMOVE THE ENTIRE ENGINE to replace a damn water pump.
$1400 was the cheapest I could find.
All of this does not include the wheels.
If you lower the car, you require WIDER wheels.
The CHEAPEST, NON-NAME wheels I could find for this car cost $900.
And that was a couple of years ago.

I did NOT have a LEMON.
I have checked!
This is NORMAL for this car!

My recommendation... get RID of the damn car!
The cost of normal up-keep alone for this car, you could have a great down payment for a sweet piece of road envy.

Answer 2

I hate lowered cars. People think lowering their car and putting a spoiler is going to do anything for it. Your car has 140 hp, if you have the 2.2 ecotech engine. It's pretty peppy, but it's not a race car, invest in some good shocks instead for better handling. If you're lowering it for appearance, trust me, people will not find it attractive. If you're lowering it because you want it to feel sporty, don't bother, learn to live with your 34 mpg low maintanence car.

As for cost, the springs cant be more than $60 each, so less than $300 and you're there. Don't pay a shop to do it either, they'll charge you hundreds in labor. If your car has over 100k miles on it, i'd replace the struts too just out of preventive maintanence, they'll probably go in the next 30k miles anyway. And if you can get KYB struts, they're one of the best for handling, don't cheap out on gabriels or anything like that.

Good luck, not criticizing you or anything, just telling you don't bite off more than you can chew. I wanted my car to be sporty once, I replaced the gauges with indiglos. Long story short, I miss my old gauges and my $100.

Answer 3

I depends on where you get the springs and how much they cost. I bought springs to lower my Beetle of of ebay for 105, and I took it to a mechanic and they installed them for 250, so it was only 355 for all of it.

Answer 4

Man, don't lower a sunfire... But if you get the whole kit itll be around 1,000

Answer 5

why shouldn't he lower his sunfire John G

Answer 6

if you lower your car be aware for poor ride and handling. manufacturers design a ride height for a reason. altering ride height brings more issues, along with alignment problems, drivibility and tire wear. aftermarket kits are availible to correct alignment. kits and labor are usually 150-200 dollars.

Answer 7

If you want your Sunbird to handle like a submarine full of water, lower it. Very bad idea.