well, i was looking around in the auto parts store the other day and came upon these:




i hadn't seen these in forever! they are old school lowering kits. im truly too cheap to spend alot of money on lowering springs and im certainly not going to cut my springs. im not knocking any one who has done either, im just saying i wont. anyway, i proceeded to lift up the vehicle and remove one wheel at a time, the instructions say you dont have to, but it REALLY helps, especially if you are like me and have never done this before. next you crawl under the car AFTER you have placed the vehicle on jack stands at the appropriate locations. from there, take your floor jack and place it directly under the spring assembly that you're working on and proceed to jack up the spring so as to compress it. then you will place your coil locks on the spring, like so:


this is the left side.

this is the right side(sorry about the dark pic)



after you have done the left, you will repeat the same procedure for the right rear side. once again keeping in mind to place a jack stand under the appropriate point. its just good business to do things safely. after you've done both sides in the rear of the vehicle, move up to the front of the vehicle. now this is a little different as there is not an area to just line under the spring and shock. after removing the tire and placing the car on a jack stand, you have to jack up the swing arm that eventually attaches to the strut and spring assembly. be very careful as this is not a flat suface and the jack could slip(it did to me). use some sort of block of wood to even out the surface so as to be able to jack up and compress the spring properly. once you get the spring compressed, you will proceed to place the locks on either side of the spring. i had alot more trouble in the front since there is not much room to work, so i also had to use a C-clamp to help further compress the springs. this really helps, just make sure to clamp in an area where the clamp is not likely to slip, that could seriously jack you up if you're not careful. when all is said and done, the front should look like this:

right front:


left front:


some of the things i did i didn't cover such as how to put these coil locks on or what to use to tighten them. if you look at the package, it has instructions on the back, so its fairly self explanatory.

now as far as the actual drop i got, its about an inch and a half drop, my estimations have been known to wrong though. however here's the pics-there is a noticeable difference.

before:




after:





overall, i feel it was worth it. it certainly old school and cheap as all get out, but it worked for me. id say that those of you considering a drop without the expense might want to consider this, its what they did before lowering springs. anyway, hope you enjoyed it.

 

So how's the ride? Is it bumpy, bouncy? Does it handle the same?

If it works, that's cool, but I would just be afraid of one of those things poping off on the freeway.

-THE DON

 

That is the just plain dumb. If you are too cheap to buy lowering springs to lower your car then don't do it at all. You can't even notice a difference.

 

what happens when you hit a bump and get close to bottoming out your spring. then BAM! those clamps snap and you have some wheels lowered, some not. Can you crash test car. Seriously , with lowering springs on ebay for as low as $80, or eibachs for $120 be safe.

 

different. im not gonna knock on them. cool to you for at least trying something new

moved

 

Out of curiosity, did you make sure your $21 mod had grade 8
bolts, or are you just hoping you don't pop those "spring locks"
sending your car bouncing down the highway?

 

There's a reason, several actually, why that's how they "used to" do it.

Keep a close eye on those things and save some $$ to do it right when you can.

 

It does not even look any lower in my eyes. I think that gave you like a whole 10mm drop or less

 

I used that exact set up back in the day on my '79 Dodge Omni 024. It was getto then, and it is getto now. Do yourself a favor and take those off and get some real lowering springs and put them on yourself.

 

awsomest mod ever right on man

 

i had em on my bmw for a little while. about 3 months after i had em on the left front came loose and clanked around for a day till i got new bolts. waste of time and could be unsafe. and they dont make it much lower at all.

 

the drop is noticeable, but it looks like you risk the coils hitting the clamps when the car turns or hits bumps on the road.

It's not something I would do, but I can see some people using this methos to lower their cars a little more for shows.

 

just look out for great deals out on here....
i got my Tanabes DF210s for $80 from a fellow SL member.... back in 04.....

just keep your eyes open.... and also since you did that mod yourself, changing springs should be a breeze to you....

 

ohhhh man.....trouble.... i used that system on my 92 dodge colt. they don't amke anythign cool for that car. so i decided universal stuff might work. three things went wrong. One...it completely broke the spring, there was a loud ping and then the smell of rubber burning off on fiberglass. the second was when i removed the other bolts one spring was permanently damaged from the tension, and the third was my finger got jammed as i was removing the last bolt (it really hurt). so the third was my fault, but it was because of those damned tensioners on the car. please do yourself a favor and get rid of them, for the safety of you, other drivers, your ride, and your finger....

 

I had those on a 1st gen Altima they were alright for a while but they kept moving toward each other. Which made the tires ware unevenly. They work for a while but you'll have problems in the long run TRUST me I know.

 

you might as well cut the springs if youre going to do this crap to your car.

 

alright, ya'll convinced me. since you mention it, what would be the good, bad, or worst of the following: tenzo, eibach, tein. also, thank you for everyones input.

 

Very glad to see you are listening to those who have been there done that. Very big of you to listen and not get defensive. Check out this thread for starters and then decide what you want from a drop. Better handling? Looks? Smooth ride? Good luck. I'm more well versed with the xB, but I'm sure there are some xA people here that would be more than happy to help.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47227

 

just cut the front springs. at least then it'll be totally safe. and if u really gotta go cheap heat the rear springs.

 

thanks for the info.