Lowering springs... Looks and ride???

[M Miller69]

Alright boys and girls I have a question. I love the looks of a lowered Camaro and believe my next mod will be drop springs. My top 3 questions

Whats a good spring for great looks and not sacrificing ride quality?

Hows the install.. Pain to do yourself or easiest to have prof. done?

And do you think I will rip off my front Street scene splitter once the cars lowered.


Thanks in advance to all that chime in. Love to hear your thought and oppions on lowering your car. I know it offers performace but I am mainly concerned with the looks and ride aspect.

[LS3 SS]

Originally Posted by M Miller69

Alright boys and girls I have a question. I love the looks of a lowered Camaro and believe my next mod will be drop springs. My top 3 questions

Whats a good spring for great looks and not sacrificing ride quality?

Hows the install.. Pain to do yourself or easiest to have prof. done?

And do you think I will rip off my front Street scene splitter once the cars lowered.


Thanks in advance to all that chime in. Love to hear your thought and oppions on lowering your car. I know it offers performace but I am mainly concerned with the looks and ride aspect.

1. Depends on how far you want to lower the car, and your research on the different companies that make drop springs. I would tell you to go with Pedders, but they may not be the right type of spring for you. I personally love my springs, and love my stance/ride. The main companies that people go with are Pedders, Pfadt, BMR, Eibach, etc.

2. Not sure how bad the install is, I had mine done at a shop.

3. It depends on your area that you drive your vehicle in, and your driving habits. Once you lower your car, you will have to adjust some of your driving habits (not severly) to make sure that you do not encounter scrapes. I think you will be fine, just be mindful on speed bumps and steep grades.

[VR Baron]

I had Hotchkis 1" drop on the LT and I wouldnt go further. People with Pfadt and others that drop 1.25" or more tell me it is more of a pain then alot let on.I had the same splitter you have and no problems at 1", but you do have to watch driveways and speed bumps still. Personnally I not lowering the SS after 12 years of lowered camaros, just sway bars.

[dcarlos55]

I have the Pfadt lowering springs on my car. I love the look over the stock ride height. Handling is improved as well. I put them on myself along with new sways / end links and trailing arms. It took an afternoon to do the job in my driveway on jack stands.

There is a minor cost in ride quality but it really isn't bad. Tall speed bumps will cause the headers to scrape a bit but most are not a problem. Inclined driveways will scrape too unless you take them at an angle. It's a small price to pay for the improved look and handling.

[BMR Sales]

Hoepfully I can help you out a little bit.

Our BMR lowering springs are designed to give the vehicle a nice stance and amazing performance without sacrificing too much of the ride quality of the car. With any lowering spring you are going to have a little bit stiffer ride but you don't want it to be an annoyingly harsh ride. The BMR lowering springs should really do exactly what you are looking for.

The install isn't too bad especially since we send very detailed step by step instructions with our lowering springs. Most of our customers that buy our BMR lowering springs do the install themselves. The one thing you will need to do if you do the install your self is have alignment done afterwards to compensate for the change in ride height.

I would think you should be fine but you will need to be careful like anyone else with lower springs would need to be. Speed bumps, parking stops, and steep inclines will not be your friend but as long as you are careful you should be okay.

If there is anything we can help you with let us know.

Thanks,
Kyle

[PfadtRacing]

Originally Posted by M Miller69

Alright boys and girls I have a question. I love the looks of a lowered Camaro and believe my next mod will be drop springs. My top 3 questions

Whats a good spring for great looks and not sacrificing ride quality?

Hows the install.. Pain to do yourself or easiest to have prof. done?

And do you think I will rip off my front Street scene splitter once the cars lowered.


Thanks in advance to all that chime in. Love to hear your thought and oppions on lowering your car. I know it offers performace but I am mainly concerned with the looks and ride aspect.

Ride quality is a normal concern when installing drop springs. When you're designing a drop spring it's important to keep in mind that you can't really go too stiff with the spring rates because you're still working with the factory shock. Because we don't want to effect the service life and longevity of the factory shocks our drop springs aren't sprung too stiffly. Most folks really love the sporty ride quality that their Camaro has after installing our drop springs. The car will be a little stiffer, but it really matches the new aggressive stance really well.

The installation is pretty easy if you have the right tools. Keep in mind that after the springs are installed you're going to need to get an alignment as well. If you want to see what's invoved in the installation of a drop spring kit before you decide to tackle it feel free to take a look at our installation instructions:
Pfadt Racing Drop Spring Installation Guide

The splitter will make the car a little trickier to drive at the new lowered stance, but once you learn to take driveways at angles and pay close attention while you're parking it should be fine. There are quire a few folks out there who have installed our drop springs with the factory GFX kit, and while it does require a little closer attention while driving, it's still perfectly drivable.

Our Drop Spring Kits will lower the car about 1.25", so if you want to get a good idea how much clearance there will be between your splitter and the ground measure 1.25" from the lowest part of the splitter... that's going to be the first point of contact.

Be sure to check out our drop spring stance thread, it will give you a good idea what kind of stance you can expect after a drop spring install: Pfadt Racing Drop Spring Stance Thread

If you have any questions please let us know! We can be reached at 1-888-972-2464 or info@pfadtracing.com.

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by M Miller69

Alright boys and girls I have a question. I love the looks of a lowered Camaro and believe my next mod will be drop springs. My top 3 questions

Whats a good spring for great looks and not sacrificing ride quality?

Hows the install.. Pain to do yourself or easiest to have prof. done?

And do you think I will rip off my front Street scene splitter once the cars lowered.


Thanks in advance to all that chime in. Love to hear your thought and oppions on lowering your car. I know it offers performace but I am mainly concerned with the looks and ride aspect.

Looks like your questions have been answered for the most part but I will chime in to support what both BMR and Pfadt have said. Based on what you posted I would avoid the BMR 1.4 inch springs and look at their 1 inch or Pfadt's 1.25 inch springs. Both will give you the aggressive stance you are after without significantly impacting ride quality or endangering your splitter. If you have any questions feel free to hit me up.

[Xedes]

Isn't there another step with the bushings or something along those lines? Something the alignment shop would need to do.

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Go with the Pfadt 1.25's, I just put a set in my 2011 SS/RS and absolutly LOVE them. You won't be sorry. I have pics in the Pfadt spring stance thread, at the end of it. Good luck..

[LS3 SS]

Originally Posted by Xedes

Isn't there another step with the bushings or something along those lines? Something the alignment shop would need to do.

Yes. Bushing timing. If the alignment shop does NOT know how to do it, you need to take your car somewhere else, period. There is a bushing timing PDF file floating around the forums that Pedders made, that you can take to your alignment shop and have them time the bushings step by step via instructions.

[Bornluckee13]

I installed BMR 1.4" springs and love them. I can vouch for the install destructions, very detailed and an easy job. Great stance, I get compliments all the time. The ride is a little firm, but not horrible. I also installed adjustable sways and set them on full firm though. I do have to pay attention more on driveways and such, but it hasn't been a problem and the performance is well worth it!

[BMR Sales]

Originally Posted by Bornluckee13

I installed BMR 1.4" springs and love them. I can vouch for the install destructions, very detailed and an easy job. Great stance, I get compliments all the time. The ride is a little firm, but not horrible. I also installed adjustable sways and set them on full firm though. I do have to pay attention more on driveways and such, but it hasn't been a problem and the performance is well worth it!

Thanks for the feedback! Your feedback is exactly how we intended and designed our springs to perform.