Heya Guys
Ok this weekend I'm getting some 17" rims/tyres fitted and figured I'd get lowered springs at the same time. Basically I've been offered $350 installed for either kings or pedders springs. From what other suspension places have told me pedders seem to be of higher quality (tougher rebound testing) so I thought yeah great I'll go for them. However after speaking with this place today it appears there is only a choice of a 30mm or 50mm drop for the car. I'm insured by NRMA and can't really afford to change and there ruling on this is very open but I don't want to be stung. Here is a direct copy and paste from an email they sent me

Lowered suspension is only acceptable if all of the following apply:

? not been lowered by more than 30 mm (1 and a quarter inches) from the
original suspension height of the base model
? any part of the undercarriage of the vehicle has a minimum clearance
of 100mm from the road surface
? any part of the undercarriage of the vehicle is not lower than the
wheel rims of the vehicle
? the springs are fully captured (secured) in suspension mountings when
the suspension components are at full extension (ie when the vehicle is
jacked off the ground)

? the suspension bump-stop clearance has not been reduced by more than
1/3 of the original clearance
? the modification complies with your local State Registration
Authority registration guidelines, and
? springs must be replaced, not cut or heated.

Now am I correct in the 30mm rule being the only one I'm risking? The thing I don't get is how on earth do they know what hight my car currently is? surely every car is different by a few mm's. My worry is 50mm may be pushing my luck for both insurance and ride comfort (keeping stock shocks)

Are the king low's (kcfl-42 and kcrl-43) for the magna deffinately a 40mm drop? I'd say I could probably get away with that?

Anyways what would you guys do in this situation? and anyone have any opinions on either kings or pedders?

Slayer,

I think you'd be risking it to go more than 30mm drop.

I've heard of insurance companies doing some mighty nasty things to get out of paying*.. if you clearly break their rules, I wouldn't expect them to pay.

For example:
Lets say you have an accident and an assesor comes to have a look.. any assesor worth anything is going to see straight out the car has been lowered. Now becuase he's actually looking for a way to get out of paying he'll immediately pull out a tape measure. If you're lower than 30mm from stock, you'll be in trouble.

* They'll do things like looking into your tax records to find out where you've been working.. and any nominted drivers (a mate got caught becuase he wasn't the primary driver on his pearents car) they'll also find out if the car is garaged where you say it is (another mate got caught out).

thanks for your reply Grecy, yeah thats what I suspected just a pity I have to worry so much. From the wording of the email how do they know what hight the car originally was at? would I be correct in presuming that not every car is at the same hight?
anyone had any experience with lowering and nrma before?

p.s gotta suck to be your mates some companies do anythign to save a buck

Yeah the only stinging point is teh 30mm

I can tell you that they are secured in place when teh car is jacked as you have to compress them to fit them - I know I have done it.

and lowering it only 30mm will not put you anywhere near the ground for the other points!!

Manual

thanks manual
yeah if I can only go 30mm I don't think I'll bother as it's not worth the money both performance and looks wise. I am still considering the kings lows as they are 40mm aren't they? but once again insurance has got me nervy. From what I've heard the pedders are better again especially at that price but 50mm is starting to get low

GBM isnt insured for just the reasion. :(

what my plans are is not to have it insured till im completely satasfied im finished doing what im doing, then present GBM to a assessor 'as is' so it will be insured 'as is'

none of this BS being told how i can modify my car >:(

but it does have risks tho :(
so im very careful bout what i do with GBM ;)

wow gbm you've got bigger balls than me but something tells me you already knew that! :p

this sucks because I finally decided on rims/tyres and the easy bit of springs is now the hard bit!

Have you looked at other car insurers?

Manual

yeah it's just not affordable as a 21yo male drive in sydney. Currently I'm under my fathers name which gets me 50% no claim and it's still costing over a grand a year if I lose the no claim by going to another insurance it's going to start getting rediculous.

blergh just got off the phone with NRMA and are they strict or what! I asked what would happen if i took the car down 30mm and it sagged 1mm in a few years time and they said that would void the insurance as its a structural problem. I then asked if it 30mm lower than my car currently is (stock) but apparently its from the stock level of a mitsubishi magna they have on record. Having said that they couldn't give me any figure and where it would be measured from :(

looks like its rims and no lowering this weekend bummer!

slayer,

it seems like u and i have the same dilemma... i am with NRMA also and ur post answered alot of my questions...

allowing to lower just 30mm is just BS.... total BS... :evil:

oh well.... i will have to decide whether to do it or not then!! :cry:

sola|2a yeah mate it's bloody rediculous 40mm and I'd be happy is 10mm going to make that much difference to whether I crash or not? Also the rims I've picked out have been highly restrictive because of the no wider than 7" rule as well :(

were you considering lowering your car as well?

ahh well will have to get the rims fitted and hope it makes the car look lower :) even though $350 is damned cheap I find it hard to swallow for a measly 30mm which I won't notice so I'll go without. Makes me wonder has anyone unknowingly fitted kings springs low (which are generally regarded not that low around here) and now found out they're beyond the 30mm limit?

Yeah. They can be strict. I think they also only allow 7' wide rims too. I need to find out what the go is with diameter of the wheels they allow.

Yeah. They can be strict. I think they also only allow 7' wide rims too. I need to find out what the go is with diameter of the wheels they allow.

yep your right I've done some rim shopping this week and found a set that stayed under that but believe me it's very restricting as most rims are 7.5 or 8 and then having a 5 stud pattern restricts you even more here's nrma's speil on rims

"I have checked our guidelines the maximum wheel rim width we will accept on
a 2000 Mitsubishi Magna is 7 inches. If the wheel rims fitted to your
vehicle were wider than this, the vehicle would then be unacceptable for
insurance with NRMA and your policy would have to be cancelled."

Hey I hear ya on Insurance - I am a 19yr old with my own insurance - I scored a 40% NCB though - so I am happy with that and I still pay just overr $1100 (but that is with the stereo fully declared for 2500 and the car agreed value at 16.5K and a Excess of only $250)

So I am happy to pay that considering last year I was paying 1600 due to me living in whoop whoop!!

haha

And when the 18's come - it will only cost another 110 a year to cover them as well!!

So if my car gets knocked off I will get in total just over 20K for a new car - which would be nice!! prolly buy and old 1500 corolla and put the rest into a house deposit though!! haha!! Maybe a Hachi Roku would be on the cards!!

Manual

gee that sounds like a good deal manual who is that through? Apparently gio would only give me 20% no claim and I don't know how much more reasonable they are with mods, Bit annoying considering I've been driving 4-5 years and never had an incident of any kind

I am with RAC (mainly for their 24 hr roadside assistance) but I also have home contents insurance through them as well.

I have only been driving for about 3 yrs (legally) and about 12 yrs (illegaly - but on private land) so yeah - i have had no incidents and I have a clean driving record (minus a few small speeding fines since I have moved to perth - but no points lost.

Manual

[quote:780bfb31ef="Redav"]Yeah. They can be strict. I think they also only allow 7' wide rims too. I need to find out what the go is with diameter of the wheels they allow.

yep your right I've done some rim shopping this week and found a set that stayed under that but believe me it's very restricting as most rims are 7.5 or 8 and then having a 5 stud pattern restricts you even more here's nrma's speil on rims

"I have checked our guidelines the maximum wheel rim width we will accept on
a 2000 Mitsubishi Magna is 7 inches. If the wheel rims fitted to your
vehicle were wider than this, the vehicle would then be unacceptable for
insurance with NRMA and your policy would have to be cancelled."[/quote:780bfb31ef]

damn, id be screwed over if i had the rule! ive got 17x9" wide tyres :|

ahhhh!!
:lol: :lol:

Slayer...dont get ya hopes up
ull neva get that sorta price for insurance in NSW...if u do...let me know who its with!!!

you bet ya would mr no insurance! that would be a nice fat rim though

I thought I was going to be restricted to 225/50/17 rubber but every place I double checked with would put 235/45/17 on them so that's one plus that has come out of the whole thing!

Slayer...dont get ya hopes up
ull neva get that sorta price for insurance in NSW...if u do...let me know who its with!!!

hahah your not kidding i did a quick google then and saw it was a WA company :(

out of interest who are the with dsl03l? I'm guessing justcars?

I was with them last YR. Now with NRMA just so all my stuff is 2gether (green slip etc)
Ive only eva had 3rd party insurance as i go under my own name.

I seriusly beleave there is no cheap insurance in NSW

they way 2 go would be if u can find 3rd party + fire +theft
cheap and it covers most...except if u crash!

Slayer,

yea mate ... i have an entire list of mods.. the only obstacle being NRMA really!!

was hoping just to get low kings... with these 17x7 (ones on the left)

http://www.tempetyres.com.au/products/images/phpyhU3JF440.jpg

now i will have to go bac and c the difference 30mm makes :roll:

and did u encounter any issue when u installed the lukey??

Slayer...
I have just registered my car with all mods told to NRMA... $495/year $23,500 agreed value.
30mm is still 30mm and can/does look alot better...
I have told them that my car has 30mm lowered suspension... I have told them of al the mods and It shouldnt be a problem... With my shockies however being Coilovers you can wind them up/down... so 80mm drop becomes 30mm drop with a few turns od the spanner...
I have always been told and do this... Whenever you are in an accident "DO NOT GET YOUR CAR TAKEN TO A HOLDING YARD" get it taken to your place or a friends place...
Reason being... If you have the $6000 stereo and the car is written off... they KEEP IT! they will give you the $3000 or what ever for the stereo (if it is listed on the policy) but no more.. also the same with wheels.
One of the accidents I was in my car was towed to a salvage yard for holding... the car was a rightoff and it was sold at auction... I as going to buy it back because of all the extra stuff on the car I knew anout.... But when I went to inspect it .. they were all gone :(
Haydn

Yeah I think I've settled down now and just have to settle for no lowering. All I really wanted was either kings or pedder lows spring didn't think I was asking to much. I think 30mm would be a waste of money until I can see some accurate pictures of a car lowered by that ammount. The thing is even if you go for a 30mm drop if it goes down 1mm more for some reason i.e springs age they could use that against you :(

Yeah I like those rims saw quite a few like that while searching around it's a hyperfang design isn't it? the lenso's that I'll get chucked on on saturday are these ones

http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/dcourtne/lenso.jpg

hopefully they should look ok with 235/45/17 rubber.

It's interesting from what I can gather they are actually pretty leniant on exhaust/extractor work have a read of this.

"With the exception of turbo charged vehicles, an exhaust modification is
generally acceptable, provided it meets registration noise guidelines in
your State.



Exhaust extractors

Extractors are acceptable engine modifications (except on turbocharged
petrol engines) which improve exhaust gas extraction from the engine and
increase performance. They are usually associated with a sports exhaust
system."

so my lukey should be fine, please do let me know if you see anything about 30mm drops

thanks for your input Haydn it's very interesting as you've done quite a bit of work to your car (looks great btw) and got it through NRMA and at $495 which is very impressive! Let me clarify I few things with you. What have you actually had done to your suspension i.e what springs did you put in and obviously you have different shocks in there which sound pretty good being adjustable. Do you have any pictures of a 30mm drop? I've seen your pics on your website but presume thats lower than 30mm and how would you describe the ride difference vs stock?
Finally in your opinion if you were in my shoes and just wanted to drop it but also maintain insurance what would you do?

thanks for your time

I'd be inclined to work within the boudaries off their insurance. The thing to remember is that you don't want to give them an excuse to void your insurance.

Another alternative might be to find how much lower other products are and then put it to them, i.e. ask them to check with their supervisor, that this is as close to your maximum specification and get it noted on the policy. All you can do is ask.


I asked what would happen if i took the car down 30mm and it sagged 1mm in a few years time and they said that would void the insurance as its a structural problem.

That's a lame excuse. Of course springs are going to drop over time. It should take a while though.

Strangely, I posed this question to them. Can I swap a 3.5l engine from the current Magna into my 97 model? They came back and said yes. No increase in excess or premium.

I just wonder if age and driving record plays a part, (to an extent).

yeah I agree I don't want to give them a reason to knock me back I'm hoping I never need to rely on them for insurance but nothing would be worse than my 1st crash and then not being covered.
I did some ringing around and pedders does have a 30mm spring but how accurate is it going to be like surely other factors in my car are going to affect hight and I could end up with 30mm springs but still be more than 30mm lower than this mistery stock hight they speak of.

Yeah I thought it was very lame I actually made her say it twice and said sheesh thats harsh and she said something about if it's done properly it won't happen and I was like ok....

Unfortunately age and record don't seem to be a factor as the few times I've enquired I've never given details apart from the model of car.

What have you actually had done to your suspension i.e what springs did you put in and obviously you have different shocks in there which sound pretty good being adjustable.
I have had King Springs Put in the Front.. and Pedder Supper Lows in the rear.
The Fronts are my Origional factory Springs reconditioned ($80 a corner + $x They also changed the bump stops as well) I Had and Still HAVE Pedder Supper Lows fo rthe front... But SinceI wanted to Put Coilovers on they have to change the springs to 62mm ID.. These then can be wound up or down to raise or lower the car. Both the front and rear stock Shocks were shortened in their stroke to best suit the new spring lengths.
The rears are just modified length stroke on the stock shocks with the Pedders super lows.


Do you have any pictures of a 30mm drop?

No Sorry


I've seen your pics on your website but presume thats lower than 30mm and how would you describe the ride difference vs stock?
Ride Difference id Unbelievable.... First I noticed the handeling... WOW I could whip it into the corner at any speed and the car would just turn in really hard No Roll ... (may depend on tyres though) I notice also that the ride is HARD!! this could be either the 2345/45/17 at 44psi or the fact that the suspension is supppper low :) approx 60mm (was 89mm :D)
I scuffed out the inside of the tyres in 6 mths however because I didnt get a camber kit put in... :( (Luckely the Sports has some built in :) ) so I have to get a wheel alignment and get it all set up again... (I had to wait till I put the skid plates on before I lower it again.)
Check out my page again to see the shocks and the skid plates.


Finally in your opinion if you were in my shoes and just wanted to drop it but also maintain insurance what would you do?
I like the look of them lowered and Ok it may only be 30mm but the fact is that you are lowing the Centre of Gravity a fair wack and this will help with the body roll.
It comes down to what else you would do with the money instead :)
I guess Id wait till I got the Rims on and then see how it looks...
I first bought some Spring compressors from AutoBarn ($20 a pair....)
You could buy a set and compress the stock spring by the 30 mm and see what it looks like. That would be the Cheapest option.

As far as NRMA goes ... you can put on a full exhaust system and it is ok... You CANNOT ALTER THE MOTOR .. ie cams but other than that everthing else should be fine.... (I forgot to ask about the POD?... Ill do that tommorow)
Good Luck with your decision...

Haydn

do the insurance pricks bother abt modifications to your car if you are only on 'third-party property'?

i have a panel filter and lukey muffler. will that upset them?

I would think if you have wrong size rims or turbo on the car and you run into someone... your insurance company is going to have to pay for the other guys repairs... So im sure that they will try and not have to pay... if your system is illegal...
With NRMA at least.. your mods are OK but check with the company first...
Haydn

[quote:06c2afd073]I first bought some Spring compressors from AutoBarn ($20 a pair....)
You could buy a set and compress the stock spring by the 30 mm and see what it looks like[/quote:06c2afd073]

if i was to buy some spring compressors aswell, would that mean i could compress and lower my current 'super low's' by lovell??

:badgrin: :badgrin:

i wouldnt mind dropping em by 30mm again :badgrin:

Butcher...if u dont tell em bout sumfin on your car...they 'cancel' your insurance. there fore covering no1

Slayer. Ask how they measure the 'lowered' springs? While in the car? they pull out n measure? Go by The make of spring (pedders low 30mm drop)

if i was to buy some spring compressors aswell, would that mean i could compress and lower my current 'super low's' by lovell?? I wouldnt mind dropping em by 30mm again :badgrin:
Yep thats right.... (Mind you, you have to get them on there first...
I put them on my orig Pedders supper lows and they were fine.... Wether or not that killed my shocks I dont know.... I could only put them on the Front ... as if I compressed the back ones any more they fell out ... even under load :)..... Thats why I got the shocks reconditioned and shortened...
If you use these lowering kits... (hang on I think a guy on eBay sells them........ http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2422560153&category=32624 hehe I thought I remembered see them.... This is a good price since it lowers ALL 4 springs.
I paid $25 each corner for mine...
Anyway if you use these you can only drop your ride by the distance between coils... as all they do is pull the coils together.



Butcher...if u dont tell em bout sumfin on your car...they 'cancel' your insurance. there fore covering no1
For sure. Thats why you tell/ask them everything ... anonomously first :D

Haydn

wow thanks for all the information. I'm really caught in 2 minds atm whether to bite the bullet and go a 30mm drop with pedders but even before that I still need to find out how the hell they measure it. What would I need to find out? Things I can think of are
1. What is the hight of this base model magna they talk about
2. Where is this hight measured from
3. If I do get it lowered and have to make a claim where will they get figures on my car from

does that pretty much cover everything?

Now on the other hand I'm still thinking don't bother because honustly alot of the reason for lowering was for looks and 30mm isnt gonna do a whole lot of that. I'm also thinking if I don't bother it may give the dealer less things to whinge about when I go back for my 6month services on my car?

[quote:a39e4f38b3]2. Where is this hight measured from [/quote:a39e4f38b3]

i think they measure from the centre of the wheel to the top of the guard.

thats how they work out how low the 'super lows' are :P

thanks booya

Just rang nrma again and spoke to another guy who basically agreed with me that not taking sagging into accuunt is dodgy. He said if I get the suspension place to put on paper its a 30mm drop than I should be ok. Now I guess this is better news but once again everyone seems to say something different which could still make it nervous times when making claims

1. What is the hight of this base model magna they talk about?

I spoke to NRMA.... they get there detail from Mitsubishi...
I then spoke to Mitsubishi and here is the answers.....
V6 or 4cyl &nbsp &nbspFront &nbsp &nbspRear
TE&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp410* &nbsp 395*
TH&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp428* &nbsp395*
TH Sports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp393* &nbsp 368*
TJ&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp428* &nbsp395*
* - +/- 20mm

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN... Well great news for SOME of you....
You can drop you car 45-50mm from the values above and be ok.
and for some lucky few.. they can drop their ride hights buy up to 70mm if they have the +20mm ride hight to begin with.
One thing the Insurance Company said was ... that the 30mm drop is off the base modals... What this means is if you have a SS ute (which is already by factory dropped heaps... then you CANNOT drop it another 30mm ... you have to use the base modal rule..)
However they (NRMA's underwriters) said that Magnas are fine EVEN the SPORTS modals to drop a further 30mm.



2. Where is this hight measured from?
From the center of the hub to the underside of the lip of the guard.


3. If I do get it lowered and have to make a claim where will they get figures on my car from
As above.

Worst case ... you try and damage the guards with the ambulance gurnie as they are wheeling you away.. "screeming and bleeding" :(

So there you have it.
Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing a few more lowered Magnas around.
Haydn

oh tbutcher thats fantastic! why havn't any of the nrma people told me this I must be asking all the wrong questions. The guy at nrma basically told me 165mm clearance from the ground is stock height. Ok just did a dodgy measure with my fingers and ruler and my car appears to be
430mm front
400mm back

Something interesting to add.

A friend of mine has insurance on his 97 Lancer with AAMI for $1400 in Melb (bad subburb and he's only 21..)

Anyway, he got 16 inch rims put on and asked if that changed anything.. nope.
Now he wants to get it lowered and they told him they won't cover 'performance' mods. They said goto Just Car (apparently a subsidurary of AAMI).

Just Car won't cover a 'stock' car, only a 'performance modded' car.. anyway, with the lowered suspension, it'll be $700.

So basically, he's getting the suspension done, moving to Just Car and saving money.. nice.

Moral: Checkout Just Car to see what they can do for you.

-Dan

[quote:8db3fe22cb]If you use these lowering kits... (hang on I think a guy on eBay sells them........ http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2422560153&category=32624 hehe I thought I remembered see them.... This is a good price since it lowers ALL 4 springs. [/quote:8db3fe22cb]

YAKES!!!

they look dodgy :S

you have them fitted right TbuTcher?? :S
did you have to take the springs out to fit them or can you do them while the car is just jacked up??

cos if they can be fitted while the car is in the air, i might give em a go, but im not all that confident taking the springs out all together :S

ok so here's where my thoughts are at now.
Going by tbutchers info I should be able to drop my car 50mm and still be ok?

Now I'm thinking of covering myself both ways and seeing if the suspension installers will say its a 30mm drop whatever I put in.

If they do I will have to make the choice between

pedders 30mm springs.
or
kings 40mm springs (lows)
or
pedders 50mm springs.
or
leaving the car stock.

basically I still want a comfortable ride using my stock shocks and not to encounter camber issues. I'm still thinking not bother at all because of possible warranty issues. I have 3 years left on my warranty do the dealers usually change shocks?

Anyway need some opinions :)

Ride height measurment should be taken from the rim of the guard to the rim at its lowest point to the ground etc.,

Ride height measurment should be taken from the rim of the guard to the rim at its lowest point to the ground etc.,

Ummm - Wouldn't then changing the rim size impact on this - cos a 15" is higher from the ground than an 18" rim!!

I though that the ride height was measured in the way attached in teh picture!!

Manual

Booya...
I had them installed but wanted "DUMPED" so I got the coil overs... which changed the springs ..
Ok to install them ..
Jack car.
remove wheels.
remove brackets from packet and pull them apart.. You will hav 4x horseshoe shaped brackets and 8 bolts and 8 nuts per spring.
place one of the brackets with two of the bolts onto the spring (you place the bolts on first as they are quite long and you need to have them all in place BEFORE you start to tighten).. It is Important that you relise that the spring is going to be compressed and tehn when you go over a bump it will compress further... SO you have to make sure that the bolts WILL NOT HIT anything if the spring compresses alot more.. SO I put the bolts facing the longest section .. (if you look at my picture you will see what I mean)
Ok then you put on the other half and the nuts...
do this to two OPPOSITE sides of the spring. (refer pic) (note on the other side of the spring you will face the bolts in the opposite direction)
Then start tightening them up...

I found that it is HARD to tighten them and takes a LONG time to do them up... Also depending on the spring (and how far apart the coils are) you may have to compress the springs a little first to get the brackets on there..
This is what happened to me..

The best way is to take out the shocks with springs attached and then put the loose top brackets on the spring with the bolts, (do the same for both side of the spring) Put on the other half of the brackets then useing Spring compressors, start to compress the springs until the bolts push through the second bracket... then put the nuts on. Continue to tighten the spring compressors and the nuts.... Eventually the two coils of the springs will join together and you are done.

I guess you can do them in the car... it is just fiddley.. and I found it hard since I couldnt get the bolts throught the second bracket without compressing the springs slightly first.

I have a pic at home that Ill post tonight of the finished compressed spring.

I havent re-read all this so I hope it makes sense..
Haydn

Ride height measurment should be taken from the rim of the guard to the rim at its lowest point to the ground etc.,
THAT IS WRONG!!!!!! sorry
it is to the centre of the wheel/hub. from the lip of teh guard.
Refer to Manuals Pic... it is correct.

Haydn

ok so here's where my thoughts are at now.
Going by tbutchers info I should be able to drop my car 50mm and still be ok?

Now I'm thinking of covering myself both ways and seeing if the suspension installers will say its a 30mm drop whatever I put in.

If they do I will have to make the choice between

pedders 30mm springs.
or
kings 40mm springs (lows)
or
pedders 50mm springs.
or
leaving the car stock.

basically I still want a comfortable ride using my stock shocks and not to encounter camber issues. I'm still thinking not bother at all because of possible warranty issues. I have 3 years left on my warranty do the dealers usually change shocks?

Anyway need some opinions :)
Remeber Slayer that you need to measure YOUR ar as it may already be one of the ones that is -20mm therefore you can only go another 30mm.
So if yours is a TJ the distance shown in Manuals Pic to the red line HAS to be EQUAL or GREATER than 378mm at teh front and 345mm at teh rear.
See what it is now and then if it is 430mm you can get the 50mm drop springs.
Also Mitsubishi said that the measurements are "UNLADDEN" so becareful of your subs and crap.... Im unsure how that may effect it.

Haydn

TbuTcher:

did you have any troble with the compressors?? did it affect your handling/ride quality dratimacly?

is it 'safe'

can you cut the rod when its on, so there isnt that 'long' bit???

:S

sounds interesting... do you know if places like Supercheap/Autobarn have these, if so i might pop in when im in adelaide and fooya can help me ;) haha!

[quote:b53e78d614="Slayer"]ok so here's where my thoughts are at now.
Going by tbutchers info I should be able to drop my car 50mm and still be ok?

Now I'm thinking of covering myself both ways and seeing if the suspension installers will say its a 30mm drop whatever I put in.

If they do I will have to make the choice between

pedders 30mm springs.
or
kings 40mm springs (lows)
or
pedders 50mm springs.
or
leaving the car stock.

basically I still want a comfortable ride using my stock shocks and not to encounter camber issues. I'm still thinking not bother at all because of possible warranty issues. I have 3 years left on my warranty do the dealers usually change shocks?

Anyway need some opinions :)
Remeber Slayer that you need to measure YOUR ar as it may already be one of the ones that is -20mm therefore you can only go another 30mm.
So if yours is a TJ the distance shown in Manuals Pic to the red line HAS to be EQUAL or GREATER than 378mm at teh front and 345mm at teh rear.
See what it is now and then if it is 430mm you can get the 50mm drop springs.
Also Mitsubishi said that the measurements are "UNLADDEN" so becareful of your subs and crap.... Im unsure how that may effect it.

Haydn[/quote:b53e78d614]

Yeah thanks haydn I measured mine and it was ~430 front ~400 back so seems all good. Just rang the suspension place and they said they could put 30mm on the invoice hmmmm

did you have any troble with the compressors?? did it affect your handling/ride quality dratimacly?
I had no trouble with them... Remember to check them for tightness after a few days/1 week.. and re tighten..
Because, Like you I was compressing superlows... they tended to botom out... (the shocks would full travel and hit the bump stops I guess) Lower was better for handeling... Quality of ride died somewhat .. and I find it quite bumpy (im running 45 profiles with 44psi so this could also effect it)


is it 'safe'?
Im sure that they are "not legal" so you would have to check that one out...
They certainly didnt move once I tightened them. (high tensil bolts) Like any suspension Mod unless you are getting all components matched then something is going to fail... (I dont know if my shocks died because of this being done or they were going to die anyway or died quicker... BUT THEY DIED)
The stock shocks are not ment to travel such short distances and wont like it much I recon.
Also the camber is the other issue... Make sure you get it checked.


can you cut the rod when its on, so there isnt that 'long' bit???
I guess... remember they are high tensile so could be hard cutting them...
also once you cut them .. you will find it near impossiable to reinstall them if you need to for anyreason.


sounds interesting... do you know if places like Supercheap/Autobarn have these, if so i might pop in when im in adelaide and fooya can help me ;) haha!
I got mine from Autobarn. $24.95 each corner.
Haydn

Cheers TB..

ill lok into it when i get back from adelaide :D:D

when i get back from SA too, it will be time to pull the car apart and wire up the whole ICE system properly + custom boot building time :badgrin:

ahhh.. time, time time and money ;)

When I got mine done they recommended getting a camber kit for anything lower than about a 35mm drop.

I've only got King "Lows" on mine but I think it's a good compromise b/w ride and handling (but then again I ditched the factory shocks...I guess I should have them...the car was only 1 month old when I did it).

Are King lows 40mm? They told me they were only around 30mm lower :evil: Better go check that my car is still covered by my insurance.

gday magnale

I'm going from what I've read on the aussiemagna store which suggests 40mm. Would it be possible for you to measure the distance like in manuals picture on your car.

I'm thinking I might ring and book a set of kings lows in my car and make sure they write down 30mm on the invoice. My only concern now is my factory warranty. Would I be correct in presuming if my shocks go mitsubishi won't replace them?

So if yours is a TJ the distance shown in Manuals Pic to the red line HAS to be EQUAL or GREATER than 378mm at teh front and 345mm at teh rear.


Dude - do these measurement apply for the TH as well as the TJ?? Or are there other measurements for the TH??

Just cursious to know - might like to check to see how legal it is - but it doens't look low cos their is still about 3 finger gap in between the rubber and the gaurd!! haha

And with the lows on teh rear there is about a 4 finger gap - but i am fitting superlows so it should drop it to the same height as the front.

Cheers

Manual

from my understanding of what tbutcher has posted the TH non sport is the same height as the tj so yeah the maximum lowering should be the same. Go run outside and measure the distance to your arches for us manual :)

Sorry...I don't know...but I don't think they would. I don't think shocks are covered by our new car warranty (unless they fail after you've only done 5000K's or so)??? That's half the reason why I just put in better ones when I did the springs.

Yeah, no worries...I'll measure it tonight. Some guy told me that as a general rule of thumb, you need to be able to fit a coke can under any part of the car for it to be legal.

ahh ok then in that case I shouldn't have any problems changing the springs if I'm not going to lose anything out of it.

Ok sweet just spoke to another kings distributor and he said they are 35mm

from my understanding of what tbutcher has posted the TH non sport is the same height as the tj so yeah the maximum lowering should be the same. Go run outside and measure the distance to your arches for us manual :)
Thats right Mitsubishi said that they are the same between Th and TJ..
I didnt get TF sorry people who have them.
Haydn
Ps Im glad I have a Sports as I can go down as far as 343mm front and 318mm rear.

Ps Im glad I have a Sports as I can go down as far as 343mm front and 318mm rear.

Hmmm - mate you mind if I swap you your VIN plates hehe

maybe I can turn my into a sports!! hmmm - theres an idea!!

haha

Oh - and sorry I can't just walk outside and measure my car - it is about 15k's away and I am at work!! Sorry!!

Will do it tonight and hopefully post some results when I get my internet working again!!

Manual

[quote:f12e127343="TBuTcher"]
Ps Im glad I have a Sports as I can go down as far as 343mm front and 318mm rear.

Hmmm - mate you mind if I swap you your VIN plates hehe

maybe I can turn my into a sports!! hmmm - theres an idea!!

haha

Oh - and sorry I can't just walk outside and measure my car - it is about 15k's away and I am at work!! Sorry!!

Will do it tonight and hopefully post some results when I get my internet working again!!

Manual[/quote:f12e127343]

pfft and you call yourself a moderator! useless I tell you! :) don't mind me I'm just going insane after a week off work sick with nothing to do but stress about lowering

pfft and you call yourself a moderator! useless I tell you! :)

Well thats the nicest thing i have been called on here !! hehe - normally it is a lot worse!!

It's cool - will get specs up tonight!!

Manual

I just arranged for my springs to get installed next Wednesday. King's lows for me.

The place I'm getting it done at do a lot of show cars, etc. and stock some of the big dollar stuff eg. eibach, tein, koni.

Reckons that springs that dump your car over 50 or so mm are no good for a street car, downright dangerous, and ending up costing you more money due to massive wear on all of your suspension components.

This is the same bloke that converted a mate's 66 Mustang to an independant front end set up with massive brakes.

Just what he reckons..........

yep well I bit the bullet and got them to order in some king springs lows for me. let me double check with you guys is this the right model numbers? kcfl-42 and kcrl-43
Pedders for the same price would of been better value but they seemed to be either 30mm or 50mm if the kings are 40mm I'll be happy.

I'm more stressed than excited about saturday now which is stupid but hopefully I'm happy with the end results

Slayer,

do give us an update of the end result...

exactly where r u getting it done?



Remeber Slayer that you need to measure YOUR car as it may already be one of the ones that is -20mm therefore you can only go another 30mm.
So if yours is a TJ the distance shown in Manuals Pic to the red line HAS to be EQUAL or GREATER than 378mm at teh front and 345mm at teh rear.Haydn

i measured the distance from the centre of the wheel/hub to the wheelarch... and the existing figures are:

Front: 408mm
Rear: 387mm

so that means i can only lower the sola|2a by 30mm up front and 40mm @ the rear??? :?

it is interesting how these figures for my sola and those for your ride differ so greatly... r u sure that ur figures are correct? i do not doubt ur measurements but just wanna make sure that they r accurate... better safe than sorry hey?!!

another pt to make, would these figures differ after u fit on aftermarket wheels????? i am going to get my new wheels b4 i tweak the suspension just to play safe!!

solaja - if you change the wheels it has no effect cos the centre of the hub is still in the centre

Manual

yea true that manual... but in case the there is a slight difference in the new wheels turning diameter... i dunno.... ??!!

nah its cool solaja- they measure from the centre of tehwheels so it willhave no impact on teh measuremetn

Manual

Ok, the only way it can make a difference is ...
If you put 20" rims on and tehrefore the centre of the rims are like 12" from the road.... the fact that if you had 15" rims then the distance may be 9".
So what does this mean.... ?
Well the higher the car is beging raise of the ground means more Gravity pushing down on the car.... therefore for spring compression.
o get your wheels first and then your shocks if you want to make absolutly certain.
Haydn

PS does this make sense? :D

Ok, the only way it can make a difference is ...
If you put 20" rims on and tehrefore the centre of the rims are like 12" from the road.... the fact that if you had 15" rims then the distance may be 9".
So what does this mean.... ?
Well the higher the car is beging raise of the ground means more Gravity pushing down on the car.... therefore for spring compression.
o get your wheels first and then your shocks if you want to make absolutly certain.
Haydn

PS does this make sense? :D

true - but you shouldn't be changing the rolling diameter of your wheels- if you up the rim and down the rubber the same ratio it will still work out ok

Manual

yea true that manual... but in case the there is a slight difference in the new wheels turning diameter... i dunno.... ??!!

True Manual but he said "difference in the new wheels turning diameter" and therefore it will be affected .... albeit a verysamll amount...
And you shouldnt go changing the rolling dia anyway.
Haydn

got it, Manual and TBuTcher :D !!

ok it's all done :)

Overall I'm very happy the rims look great and the lowering looks better than I expected much lower than I thought but comfort really hasn't changed considering I now have stiffer springs and lower profile tires.

had a bit of screwing around when I went to get it done i.e they were busy and I stood around forever then they didn't have the tyres I ordered so ended up with a different tyre :(

I will have a bigger update probably tomorrow I'm a bit crook atm so need to head to bed but heres a early teaser photo.

much nicer!!

Manual

Nice Slayer.

Much more sleek and sexahhhhhh now!

Show a before and after shot.
Haydn

thanks guys :)

yep will deffinately have before and after pictures up soon i.e tomorrowish with full details of what was done etc

the picture I've posted was just a quicky and you really can't tell it's been lowered much but if I take some tomorrow you'll be able to tell.

thanks guys :)

yep will deffinately have before and after pictures up soon i.e tomorrowish with full details of what was done etc

the picture I've posted was just a quicky and you really can't tell it's been lowered much but if I take some tomorrow you'll be able to tell.

The springs will take a little while to settle down yes

Manual

LOOKING REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL GOOD MATE!!!!

welcome to the lower spring magna club ;)
:lol:

thanks for the nice comments guys an updated post with pictures can be found here :)
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1456