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So I am now in the process of wanting to lower my car. I want to do it the cheapest way possible without hurting the quality of the ride of my car. I am pretty much a NOOB when it comes to anything suspension so I am looking for some help. How do I go about lowering my 02 acr and what is the difference between lowering springs and coilovers. Anyways, any recommendations and details are appreciated.

With coilovers you can lower your car without loosing travel, and still have a decent ride with them on the soft setting. Expext to spent 700-1500 on them.

drop springs are the cheapest, and easiest to do, but will blow your stock struts and ride bad if you choose some that are too low. I wouldn't drop more than 1 1/2" on stock struts. Since you have acr struts, you can lower a lil bit more without hurting them. I personally have the eibach sportlines on my acr (over a 2 inch drop; probly more in the rear. I've been lucky to not blow mine yet, but the ride is rough, bouncy, and bottoms out kinda often in the rear; but handles amazing. I would go with the eibach pro kit. It's a little more subtle drop, and should handle pretty good still.

All in all it depends on how much money you have, and how low you want to go.

Coilovers have tons of adjustability, just depends on the model that you choose. Ride height, body height, camber, rebound, etc...

Lowering springs and struts are okay. I will personally never lower a car this way again. I love driving my car in a spirited fashion sometimes, going around corner fast, onramp, etc... But other than that, the ride sucks. Its bouncy, you feel every little dip, expansion, and crack in the road (I'm sure my 18" rims w/40 series doesn't exactly help soften the ride)...

If I keep my car for summer use next year, Coilovers are the first thing I do. I spent $300 on new struts, $50 on new tophats, and $150 for the springs.

Knowing what I now know, I would have gladly saved and spent another $500-$750 for some coilovers. If I did that, I would be able to have a sportier, softer, ride for daily driving, and adjust it for a little more stiffness when called for.

~Amit

If you plan to use your stock ACR struts, the Eibach Pro Kit springs are a good choice. 1.5" drop all around, with mild progressive spring rates. There are a few other spring sets that are similar to these, but the Eibachs are most popular.

It's a good idea to replace the factory struts, especially if they're older, with performance units designed to handle the stiffer springs and lower ride height. Tokico HP struts are by far the most popular replacements in the 2gn community, with KYB's coming in a close second.

Plan to spend between $300-500 for a quality set of springs and struts, depending on if you buy used or new. It is wise to buy springs used, since they dont wear out and can be used with good results for years and hundreds of thousands of miles.

Coilovers are much more expensive and designed for getting the most out of the handling performance. There are cheaper sets for $600-800 that feature minimal adjustability and height adjustment, and there are quality units well over $1000 that offer more adjustability than most of us need.

Ride quality is going to suffer regardless of which option you choose. A lower spring is a stiffer spring. Some are stiffer than others, and when dampening is adjustable (some struts and most coilovers) you can compensate for the ride quality a bit.

This belongs in the suspension section.

if you have been in a car with coils you can never really go back to a spring and strut combo!

I have a question about this,

Most lowering springs are progressive, are coil-overs progressive? how does that affect rid quality?

Progressive springs are designed to have a lower spring rate during the first inch or so of travel (i.e. small bumps in the road). This increases ride quality quite a bit, at the expense of initial turn-in and handling response. Once the spring is compressed past the set amount, the full rate of the spring is put into play, making for better handling, increased stability, and decreased roll. These are great for someone who drives the car on poor roads (aka most public roads in the US). Coilovers sometimes come with a helper spring, which has a different rate than the main spring. This allows for a similar result.

I would love to do the coilover option but I its just outta my price range. my car looks like monster car with the wheel well gap. so i think i may just go for the eibach pro kit to get the 1.5 drop. i dont wanna go to much lower cause ill most likely be driving this in the winter unless i can get a decent beater with a heater....

I'm just going to throw my .02 out there...... You might want to look at the H&R sports springs. They also give you a 1.5 drop. I can tell you from personal experience that the ride quality is just a smidgen rougher than that of stock. But the handling is un-be-liev-a-ble. The only difference would be that I'm running on Tokico HP and you're on KYB (I believe). One more thing is I purchased my H&R sport springs from allsprings.com and they had a great price and a top notch reputation.

Good luck and happy lowering.

King Crab wrote:I'm just going to throw my .02 out there...... You might want to look at the H&R sports springs. They also give you a 1.5 drop. I can tell you from personal experience that the ride quality is just a smidgen rougher than that of stock. But the handling is un-be-liev-a-ble. The only difference would be that I'm running on Tokico HP and you're on KYB (I believe). One more thing is I purchased my H&R sport springs from allsprings.com and they had a great price and top notch reputation.

Good luck and happy lowering.

I have heard a lot of good things about H&R Springs. I am probably going to pick up a set