Lowering by compressing coil springs

[Black95Cam]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

Here is some good information. When I was 16 years old, I had a Honda Accord hatchback. I bought spring compressors, because the theory is fantastic......you can lower your car, but then you can make it stock height if you ever want to sell it.

The problem is this: They're a pain in the ass to use. It requires a lot of patience, and tedious movement to get tools in the small area. Plus even if you do get them on to where they don't slip......once you start driving, the spring coils will at sometime if not ALL the time come in contact with the clamping device. And this creates a noisy ass ride. And speaking of "ride", the ride quality wasn't too good either. If you think about it, lets say a factory spring has 10 coils, then you clamp 2 coils. Now your car is suspended on 8 loosy-goosy soft riding coils instead of 10. You'll be more prone to bottoming out on the bump stops, and like I mentioned before, even before you bottom out, the coils will clank and bang onto the clamps.

Even as kid, I knew my ride was ghetto, so I took them off. I then heated coils to lower it....another bad mistake. I wasn't satisfied, so I cut coils to lower it....another bad mistake. But that's another thread!

There you go, words from someone who has "been there, none that".

Buy aftermarket springs, they're only like ~$100. And you won't regret it.

haha. like how you described it.. but yeah i agree.. "do it right or dont even do it at all" < that should be the slogan of TN.

[00SOLARASE]

Thanks for the reply bigbird. I appreciate your opinion. As far as taking some peoples comments too personally, I know not everyone is going to agree but the purpose of a public forum is to try and get good information and help each other out not just give wise ass comments. Don't get me wrong I really do appreciate anyone who is trying to be helpful. Thanks again bigbird.

[BlueFusion6851]

You should post pictures of your car all clean 'n shiny though! I hope you find some good springs to lower your solara with!

[bigbird]

also, check out solaraguy.com if ya havnt already. they have stuff go up for sale there often and there are alot more laras there then there are around here. good luck.

[Venom_5]

the money that you waste on spring compressors you can put away until you have $200 saved for real lowering springs ... or $500+ for real suspension if you are serious about your cars look & feel

if not, leave it alone and just keep it in good condition ... most of the guys here know what they are talking about, and if it was a good idea then someone would be doing it on here

[Unco]

can someone post a link to the spring compressors that OT is referring to here?

because i've never heard of such thing.

the only spring compressors that i'm familiar with are special tools required to replace struts. they are certainly not meant to be left on the car and be driven on.

or is this whole thread a big joke?

[eurohazard]

Originally Posted by Unco

can someone post a link to the spring compressors that OT is referring to here?

because i've never heard of such thing.

the only spring compressors that i'm familiar with are special tools required to replace struts. they are certainly not meant to be left on the car and be driven on.

or is this whole thread a big joke?

This is the closest thing I found in a brief search that looked like the devices I used 16 years ago. http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...ng+compressors

p.s. Everything I said in post #6 still applies.

The ONLY thing more valuable than someone else's experience is your own experience. To the OP, if you want to f#ck up your car, go ahead and do it.

[Black95Cam]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

This is the closest thing I found in a brief search that looked like the devices I used 16 years ago. p.s. Everything I said in post #6 still applies.

The ONLY thing more valuable than someone else's experience is your own experience. To the OP, if you want to f#ck up your car, go ahead and do it.

. you can give a person so much information, but the best way for one to learn is, let them experience it themselves. (i've been down that road many times, but it was all worth cause i learned something new)

[00SOLARASE]

Originally Posted by eurohazard>
The ONLY thing more valuable than someone else's experience is your own experience. To the OP, if you want to f#ck up your car, go ahead and do it.

The reason for this post is to get information on something I have never done before so that I don't f#ck up my car!

[ghettosled]

i actually had these coil spring compressors/expanders on my last car. while it did lower the car, it did drive/handle worse. i installed them when i was in high school and never bothered to take them off. i ended up driving with them on the car for over 100k miles until i scrapped the car when the second transmission went out.



http://www.autozone.com/selectedZip,.../selectZip.htm

[Unco]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

This is the closest thing I found in a brief search that looked like the devices I used 16 years ago. http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...ng+compressors

p.s. Everything I said in post #6 still applies.

The ONLY thing more valuable than someone else's experience is your own experience. To the OP, if you want to f#ck up your car, go ahead and do it.

that's what i thought. those are NOT meant to be left on the car. they are ONLY meant to be used to replace struts.

OP, seriously, i hope you don't go ahead with this idea. imagine one of them coming off as you're going around a corner at speed.

[00SOLARASE]

Originally Posted by Unco>

that's what i thought. those are NOT meant to be left on the car. they are ONLY meant to be used to replace struts.

OP, seriously, i hope you don't go ahead with this idea. imagine one of them coming off as you're going around a corner at speed.

You are talking about spring compressors used to compress the spring when changing the springs or struts, the spring clamps (spring locks) that I was talking about ARE designed to be left on the car (see below). But as stated throughout this post they are not a good option to change the ride height. With looking into this further I have decided to do it the right way and change the springs (Tein S-Tech) and new struts (Tokico or KYB).

Make Waves Coil Spring Locks: Raise or Lower a Vehicle .50" To 2"; 2 Per PackagePart Number: 18910

[felonyr301]

Get the tokicos instead of the kyb's, it will be a better match for lowering springs!!!

[eurohazard]

Yes, those look like the ones I used years ago!

[El Tano]

This is what you need:
FS: Eibach Pro-Kit for 99-01 Solara
and save yourself a big headhache..