I recently attempted to lower my 93 civic by putting springs on it and now it's really bouncy and annoying. Does anyone know a better idea to lower your vehicle without it bouncing and bottoming out at every bump in the road? Something that won't break the bank either?
2007-03-21 15:17:21 · 4 answers · asked by Gina B 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Stiffer springs definitely make the car MORE bouncy. Ask who ever sold you the springs to furnish you with the spring rates, free height, coil size and installed height. Compare these figures with the standard spring that came on your car. If your puzzled Ask a sales person at NAPA, Car Quest or Advance Auto how to compare.
Think of your springs this way. Take hold with two hands a 3/4 inch garden hose and stand three feet away from someone holding the hose at the other end. Have your friend hold the hose tight and still. Try to twist the hose. It twists quite easily. Now stand ten inches apart with the same hose. Try to twist again. Nearly impossible correct? You have demonstrated what happens to a torsion bar as it twists. Long steel bar easy to twist short bar stiffer or harder to twist.
A coil spring is nothing more than a torsion bar coiled up. The taller the spring with a given wire diameter is softer than a shorter one with exactly the same wire diameter which is much stiffer. With stiffer springs you need struts (shock absorbers) that have a higher rate (stiffer) to control the bounce that your experiencing now. These damn hot rod lowering spring companies should make it perfectly clear that shorter springs always cause this problem.
Unfortunately it's going to cost a fortune to find struts to control the mess your in. If you ever venture into this again be sure your car exceps coil - over springs and shocks. You'll be able to adjust ride height and pick springs and shock combinations which ride relatively well.
2007-03-21 17:21:20 · answer #1 · answered by Country Boy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course lowering springs are going to make the ride bouncy and annoying. They decrease suspension travel and are often much firmer than stock. This is made much, much worse if you don't put high-performance shocks on the same time (I'll bet you didn't). Your ancient, worn out shocks can't handle the higher spring rates so fail to dampen the ride properly.
If that still doesn't work you could always go with adjustable coil-overs. These allow you to adjust the ride height to whatever you want and since they can use a range of different springs, you can chose a spring rate to suit your needs. But this ain't cheap.
You'll also want to chose tires oriented more towards ride quality than cornering and handling.
Even with all that, it is never going to ride like a Camry. That is the price of lowering a car.
2007-03-22 01:44:41 · answer #2 · answered by Naughtums 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put the shocks back in with the lowering springs, thats how I did my blazer and it rode like a champ....
2007-03-21 15:34:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
stiffer springs
thoe your question is kinda confusing? u lowerd it bye puting spings in it?
what was in there before? biger springs?
and also shock absorbers help also
2007-03-21 15:27:13 · answer #4 · answered by brent f 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋