Lanos coil-overs? & My experiance w/ cut eibachs

[2woo4you0]

Someone told me there are coil-overs available for the Lanos but they're under another make/model and in the UK. The guy doesn't want to tell me which vehicle until he tries them himself but he said it'll be a few months before he can afford them. I'm saving up for them now but want them sooner than that. Can someone tell me what car this is and confirm that they fit? I did a search and found some posts but it seams as if no one REALLY knew if they fit or not. I know you'll have to use "slim" coil-overs for the rear or do modding as well as reinforcing some parts but that's fine with me. What about sway bars or chassis/suspension bushings as well?

In the mean time I have Eibach springs that I cut. I got them used and they looked much lower on the guys Lanos (probably cuz it's a sport) I bought them from. I realized this after installing the rear springs so I cut half a coil from the top and bottom of the front springs. The front was obviously lower afterwords so just the other day I cut 1 full coil off the top and 1 & a quarter coil off the bottom of the rear springs but they still aren't even as low as the front. I'd also like to cut the front some more as there's plenty I can still cut while staying safe and the ride quality hasn't been compromised at all even with 90k shocks/struts. On the back however, because of the rear suspension design it doesn't seam safe to cut anymore off especially since if I got the wheels off the ground then the spring could literally come out and off the car if I cut much more. So I was wondering... I know for coil-overs the rear lower part where the OEM strut bolts to the hub assembly or whatever that is has to be reinforced. I also was told by the guy that most of the coil-overs he found lower over 60mm in front but only 25, 40, and 50mm in the back which is not nearly enough for me. I'd like AT LEAST 2" in rear to be acceptable and 2.25" to be at all content. 50mm is just under 2" and the guy isn't even positive any coil-overs lowered the rear more than 40-45mm. As well with the additional weight of a 2.0/D20 the front will be able to be much lower. So my question is when reinforcing the shock mount can I remove the old one completely and put the new reinforced one slightly lower, maybe 6-30mm lower and 3-15mm back a little to make the top of the strut further from the bottom mounting point to hopefully help lower it. Would that alter the suspension geometry to much and put things out of wack? The Lanos seams pretty simple so I think it would be okay. My other question is if I extended the from shock mount lets say an inch from the bottom mount how much do you think it would lower the rear? I don't think it would simply be an inch as with my Reno when I'd start lowering my coil-overs to bottom them out they didn't lower as much as they should have. For example when I moved the spring perch on the coil-overs down an inch the car would lower an inch but when I lowered it the last inch it'd only go down like 1/3rd an inch. I think this was because the upgraded sway bars, shocks, or something else started getting pre-loaded and holding more weight.

Also I though I'd post my experience with my cut eibach springs and how the car handled with them. It'd be usefull for anyone thinking of adding lowering springs/coil-overs to the front but not the rear of the car... or of course doing what I did. When I had half a coil cut off the top and bottom of the front springs but the rear springs uncut the car didn't ride nearly as good as it did after I cut a full coil off the top & bottom of the rear springs. Before cutting the rear springs the car seamed to float more, especially on bumpy roads. The ride quality seamed more unpredictable over bumps and kind of rocked a bit, though it felt unpredictable it wasn't as if it veered off the road it just felt as if it was, just really uncertain feeling. After cutting the rear springs also the ride seamed much more "together" and the rear was very tight feeling. The car no longer floated over bumps but rather seams planted well on them while not hurting ride quality. The car felt more predictable and when say turning onto a residential type street where they have little passages for water. The things that are the same of a speed bump but dip in for water to pass through. When turning quickly and hitting those the car felt a whole lot better. Before it felt as if the back hopped over over it. Now it feels like it rides right over it and although the rears lower and probably stiffer it doesn't upset the car as much. When taking corners fast and aggressively the car feels a whole lot better. Before I'm not sure what it was but the rear just didn't feel like it was gripping, as if the front just dragged along the rear, and if as with other things felt as if it floated more. Now afterwords it felt as if the rear tires actually helped in the handling, and when over accelerating before the car just slide into the inside but now it goes more where you want it. Kind of like I added a mild LSD or actually allot like when I installed Kinkys rear brace and a rear chassis brace on my Reno. It was a big enough difference my girl noticed from the passenger seat without me saying anything.

I thought it'd be helpful for anyone that might be considering lowering springs/coil-overs on the front only.

[benzino]

No one has done it because not many people have $1k to throw away if they don't fit.
Astra mk2 coilovers are the ones you should be looking at, but you'll be hard pressed to find a kit with rear coilovers as they require to much work to make safe...

Are you the same person asking on the astra mk2 forum?

If you want lower, why don't you just buy lower springs? Much better than cutting (and you destroyed a perfectly good set of eibachs )

[MMamdouh]

you have just messed up a wonderful set of springs by cutting them... i recommend that you throw them away as they are now anything but safe

MMamdouh

[benzino]

agreed mohamed

[2woo4you0]

you have just messed up a wonderful set of springs by cutting them... i recommend that you throw them away as they are now anything but safe

MMamdouh

I took some pre-caution to make them as safe as possible. They're certainly much safer than my Reno was with coil-overs that's for sure. Even on softest settings it was undrivable on bumpy roads. It wasn't even the bump steer that was the worst part. I even tried taking it to a perfamnce shop that installs coil-overs and drops civics several inches daily and they couldn't improve it.

I never understood the big deal about cutting springs, unless you were completly incompetent and cut them in half or something. Or maybe cut them with a torch where the heat could change the springs properties. As far as ride quality I couldn't tell much of a difference and certainly nothing to make them less safe. I even used my race camera and mounted it to watch the springs on the road before cutting as much off them as I did to make sure they wouldn't be able to fall off there perch. I was going to use the stock springs but they bounced too much that if I were to cut them to where my car's riding now they would fall off the rear.

So what's so unsafe about them? It's not like all the companies that sell lowering springs even test them. The first lowering springs I had on my Reno surely weren't, I wondered if they were even test fitted because they didn't fit properly. Or maybe they said "hey so in so car has the same supsension as the forenza/reno so they should be fine". I called and had them replaced incase they sent the wrong ones but got the same thing. They would droop off the lower perch and sometimes I'd have to compress them and adjust them as more coils slowly would start slipping off as the spring would vibrat around. Not to mention some of those $40 "coil-overs" that were on my intergra when I bought it....not sure how companies get away with that liability Those things were so rusted I couldn't beleive they were still on the car.

I'm not trying to argue here, but I just don't see what's unsafe about them. I took all the precautions I could think of with the research I did as I never want to risk driving an unsafe car let alone allowing my fiance too. If I can't find coil-overs then I'm going to weld a road through the middle of the spring so it won't be able to fall out of the perch. Especialy with that, the fact the ride quality is good, and most of all the car is easily controlled just like any other car I don't see anything wrong with it.

So if you don't like the idea of someone driving on cut springs you can change that by helping me find coil-overs Really though if there is something unsafe I'm missing please let me know.

[benzino]

would be about the same price of coilovers but without all the hassle of modifying the rear top hats...

And btw, I did give you advice on where to find coilovers...

[benzino]

Stupid thing cut my post in half.
Just saying, waste of springs
Cutting makes heat regardless
You should go for airbags if you just want low (which is what it seems)

[2woo4you0]

No one has done it because not many people have $1k to throw away if they don't fit.
Astra mk2 coilovers are the ones you should be looking at, but you'll be hard pressed to find a kit with rear coilovers as they require to much work to make safe...

Are you the same person asking on the astra mk2 forum?

If you want lower, why don't you just buy lower springs? Much better than cutting (and you destroyed a perfectly good set of eibachs )

It doesn't seam hard to find coil-overs for front and REAR. My next problem is....which coil-overs do astra Mk2 guys recommend? It seams Gaz but I'm unsure of what model and what's a good price. I also can't find MK2 coil-overs with a description beyond adjustments and how much they lower the car. I've read I need slim coil-overs, relocated steering arm, and I think something else but I can't find my notes right now. I have a guy that will reinforce my Lanos rear for coil-overs for cheap and weld anti-sway bars to add a 9-3 rear bar... he's also willing to help pay shipping to resell the coil-overs if they don't end up not fitting as long as he feels somewhat confident that they'll fit. As well he's throwing me about $50 to have some parts shipped from the UK with the coil-overs when I end up getting them.

No I'm not on those forums, though I've seen the post I think your talking about. Do you have a link cuz I haven't been able to find it again?

Lower lowering springs than what I got? I only have the springs I have now because I got them in trading an extra set of taillights with someone. I haven't seen any springs that lower past ~1.5" and I want adjust ability and more performance. I'm looking for 2" lower to be content but would like to try up to 3" all around if I can get away with it without issues, which is unlikely but I'm confident I can get past 2" without sacrificing too much. I know I can go with koni or KYB shocks for added performance, I actually have KYB gas-a-just for the rears but would rather find coil-overs soon so I'm not tempted to install them and try to get most my money back for them.

would be about the same price of coilovers but without all the hassle of modifying the rear top hats...

And btw, I did give you advice on where to find coilovers...

What would be the same price?

Sorry I missed your first post until just now.

Stupid thing cut my post in half.
Just saying, waste of springs
Cutting makes heat regardless
You should go for airbags if you just want low (which is what it seems)

I'm not just going for low, I want performance and adjust ability too. I do autocross and would like to get into road racing (more than once a year) but for now I rather spend my extra money to make my cars perform better than road racing. After 2.0 swap, rear disc, suspension, chassis stiffening/roll bar, and 2.0s bolt ons for roughly 145whp I'll start road racing on a regular basis.

[benzino]

in my opinion, your best bet would be to go for externally adjustable koni yellows for the mk2 (or a bilstein b6/b8 combo) and 2" springs

i don't know where you're from, but in australia there are several manufacturers that make custom wound springs

i'm sure where you are they would exist as well... not everything is available off the shelf you know...

i belive there would be negligible difference between a good shock spring set up and coilovers... and i will hazard a guess that they will be cheap coilovers which will probably end up leaking. leave the coilovers for the cars they are designed to go into... IMHO

http://www.astra-mk2.com/forum/showthre ... ewoo-Lanos