Lowering!!

[Cossy]

Well its happened, front spring has snapped, so its a great excuse to lower it! Thought i would have a look around for some springs as ive already got Bilstein B4's so just need a set of new springs.

Started to look around today and i seem to have hit a mindfield of different possibilities! I dont want to spend a huge amount as spending over the past few months has got abit out of control so i was thinking around the £100 mark, as for the drop - im not sure!

I was only thinking 30mm at first but as mines an SRI im already dropped 15mm so i dont think the 30mm springs would make that much difference. So i thought humm maybe 35mm and get myself some Apex 35mm...but then i read this:

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45500

Which reads that the Apex springs didn't make much difference to his SRI and he had to chop a coil out of the spring, which i dont want to do to some new springs! But apart from the not lowering much id read good things about apex and they are on budget at £100 from speedbox.co.uk.

I then thought I like the way his car looks (nice and low) but i cant help think the ride is going to be awful and will end up going through lower arms and bushes like wildfire...which i dont want to happen!

So then i though PI springs, loweing 45mm front and 40mm rears. But then i thought is this too low, i have alot of speed bumps round me, is it going to rub and be a harsh ride?

Also, with the 40/45mm PI springs is there going to be a problem with the shocks i have, are they good enough to take the drop? and am i going to go though bushes, arms etc?

Would really like to see a car which is lowered on b4 shocks with the following springs:

Spax 30mm
Apex 35mm
PI 45mm/40mm

If anyone can help that would be great, need to know how good each spring is and would love to see pictures of peoples cars with the above pleeeease

Thanks in advance!

Steve

[John35]

just be aware that the B4 are a direct replacement for the standard shocks. Not sure how low they can go without bottomimg out. I would just go for -30mm eibachs.

[Cossy]

Just thought i would update the thread to let you know whats been happening with my car. After reading alot into it, I decided to go with the Apex 35mm springs for my vec, mainly because Id read a few back things about the quality of PI and i didn't want to go as low as 45mm as i would have needed shorter shocks like Bilstein B6's or else id end up damaging them and needing to change them every 6 months. Also didn't want to pay £160+ for Eibacks.

So i went with the Apex 35mm from carperformanceuk.co.uk @ £94.99 delivered! BARGAIN (cheapest i found, LMF are charging £115 for them so have a good shop around like i did!)

Also have Bilstein B4's all round from Euro car parts, cost £89.58 for the fronts and £68.88 for the rears putting it at £253.45 to lower the whole car on some quality shocks and springs!

Hope it helps anyone else whos thinking of doing the same, save about £50 - 100 compared to other places...great saving in these current credit crunching times! haha

Steve

[si_hoss]

Just thought i would update the thread to let you know whats been happening with my car. After reading alot into it, I decided to go with the Apex 35mm springs for my vec, mainly because Id read a few back things about the quality of PI and i didn't want to go as low as 45mm as i would have needed shorter shocks like Bilstein B6's or else id end up damaging them and needing to change them every 6 months. Also didn't want to pay £160+ for Eibacks.

So i went with the Apex 35mm from carperformanceuk.co.uk @ £94.99 delivered! BARGAIN (cheapest i found, LMF are charging £115 for them so have a good shop around like i did!)

Also have Bilstein B4's all round from Euro car parts, cost £89.58 for the fronts and £68.88 for the rears putting it at £253.45 to lower the whole car on some quality shocks and springs!

Hope it helps anyone else whos thinking of doing the same, save about £50 - 100 compared to other places...great saving in these current credit crunching times! haha

Steve

Some good info cheers!! I'm changing both my rear upper control arms in the next few weeks so "hoping" a find a damaged spring so I can justify to my girlfriend why it's cheaper to buy 4 lower springs than 2 standard Vx ones ... Sad huh? lol

[cbarr1]

Just thought i would update the thread to let you know whats been happening with my car. After reading alot into it, I decided to go with the Apex 35mm springs for my vec, mainly because Id read a few back things about the quality of PI and i didn't want to go as low as 45mm as i would have needed shorter shocks like Bilstein B6's or else id end up damaging them and needing to change them every 6 months. Also didn't want to pay £160+ for Eibacks.

So i went with the Apex 35mm from carperformanceuk.co.uk @ £94.99 delivered! BARGAIN (cheapest i found, LMF are charging £115 for them so have a good shop around like i did!)

Also have Bilstein B4's all round from Euro car parts, cost £89.58 for the fronts and £68.88 for the rears putting it at £253.45 to lower the whole car on some quality shocks and springs!

Hope it helps anyone else whos thinking of doing the same, save about £50 - 100 compared to other places...great saving in these current credit crunching times! haha

Steve

any chance you could put a picture of the car lowered 35mm. im going for the same springs and curious about how it will look. thanks

[Cossy]

any chance you could put a picture of the car lowered 35mm. im going for the same springs and curious about how it will look. thanks

I don't think I have a picture of the car with 35mm apex springs on sorry....I changed them for the 45mm PI ones about 2 months later as the Apex ones were crap in the end. If i was you i would go with the 45mm PI ones, they were the better choice in the end. Although 6 months later I changed the 45mm PI ones for coilovers and then a year later the coilovers for air bags! ****** hell the amount i've spent on suspension is silly lol

[Cossy]

Haha...well i did go to vaux and ask how much they wanted for shocks and springs, Cant remember the price exactly, just heard it starting with a number 4 at which point i hit the floor! lol

Tell your girlfriend your replacing the springs for her safety, wouldn't want one snapping while she was in the car!! haha

[nath-lav]

45 mill pi springs.. there spot on

[Ben50n]

I have the 35mm Apex on my Design model, drop looks perfect to me!IMG_0832.jpg