Just wondering how low in mills I should go with 18 inch rims on my VRX. If anyone here has lowered there VRX with 17 inch rims would like your thoughts as I've never lowered any car I have owned before. I don't want to go too low in comparison to wheels size as it would just look stupid, and also don't want to be so low that it's uncomfortable to drive. I really think lowering a VRX with 19 inch wheels thrown on is the sweet spot in terms of looks. But unfortunately I'm stuck with my 17 inches for now (don't get me wrong though, I love them) and just not sure how low to go without making it look ridiculous.

Any recommendations?

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk82/djchozen91/IMG_0449.jpg

Kings Lows are fine for general use. Any lower and its a nightmare in carparks and speedhumps.

Superlows on a 380 is still easy to drive

I have super lows with 19s on stock shocks and it feels better than stock. It's not too low, I don't have to go sideways over bumps, it looks better.

I do want it lower though, but that's another story :(

How big of a risk is it to just go springs without new shocks?

my shocks are dead, and its so annoying. Do it right, do it once.

Get shocks and springs

King superlows all round, I'm running them and I don't find it hard getting into anywhere. If you want lower get coil overs!

Granted, my shocks only had 50k on them, so it may be different for you.
I'm aiming to have coilovers before my shocks get shit. I drove with shit shocks in the TF - never again.

Cut the springs and dump it so when you drive it sparks

Cut the springs and dump it so when you drive it sparks

I know people that can do this.

Having installed about a month ago King superlows on the front and lows on the back on the advice of similar threads to this on the forum it's about the best thing you can do for the car.

You can put lows/superlows all around however your car doesn't appear to sit 'right' as the front wheels have such a large gap from wheel to wheel arch compared to the rear wheels. With the super lows its about 20mm lower than low (which is in turn 30mm lower than stock) but I have barely scraped on anything (bar one very steep driveway) so far in my experience and others on here you'll be fine =) Seriously, speed humps, 90% of driveways/kerbs, all fine. The 380 sits up so high standard it's ridiculous.

Ride quality (I'm riding on 19"s) does deteriorate to an extent however the upside is, of course, handling which is significantly improved. Most important for me was the terrible rear 'duck' that the 380 exhibits upon hard acceleration due to being a FWD (I've got a 5 spd manual - really shows this off thanks to short gearing/high torque engine) is significantly reduced meaning that more weight is kept on the front wheels meaning an increase in traction.

My only concern down the track is increased tyre wear (in particular front wheels) running on superlows which I'm not sure if other members can vouch for here?

I got the springs all from Ebay, there are several sellers now however much cheaper than rolling into and suspension store and paying RRP. I paid total about $290 for springs and Install costs were $350 at a Jax Quickfit. I left the shocks stock as mine had about 100xxx kms so still some life left for now.

Having installed about a month ago King superlows on the front and lows on the back on the advice of similar threads to this on the forum it's about the best thing you can do for the car.

You can put lows/superlows all around however your car doesn't appear to sit 'right' as the front wheels have such a large gap from wheel to wheel arch compared to the rear wheels. With the super lows its about 20mm lower than low (which is in turn 30mm lower than stock) but I have barely scraped on anything (bar one very steep driveway) so far in my experience and others on here you'll be fine =) Seriously, speed humps, 90% of driveways/kerbs, all fine. The 380 sits up so high standard it's ridiculous.

Ride quality (I'm riding on 19"s) does deteriorate to an extent however the upside is, of course, handling which is significantly improved. Most important for me was the terrible rear 'duck' that the 380 exhibits upon hard acceleration due to being a FWD (I've got a 5 spd manual - really shows this off thanks to short gearing/high torque engine) is significantly reduced meaning that more weight is kept on the front wheels meaning an increase in traction.

My only concern down the track is increased tyre wear (in particular front wheels) running on superlows which I'm not sure if other members can vouch for here?

I got the springs all from Ebay, there are several sellers now however much cheaper than rolling into and suspension store and paying RRP. I paid total about $290 for springs and Install costs were $350 at a Jax Quickfit. I left the shocks stock as mine had about 100xxx kms so still some life left for now.

I've been running on Kings superlows on the front and lows on the rear, same as you, for 3 years now. I've had 17s, 18s, 19, & 20s, now back to 17s.

With the 19s & 20s I had increased tyre wear on the inner edges of the rear tyres only, due to excessive negative camber.

Never had any problems with excess tyre wear on the front tyres.

My current 225/50/17 Potenza RE001 Adrenalin tyres have done 40,000k, are only just over half worn, and have worn evenly front & rear. I make sure to rotate them every 5,000k.

Edited OP... realized wheels are 18" not 17". My bad!

That's some pretty good endurance out of your tyres TreeAdeyMan! I'm up for a rotation soon, as in the next week soon. Front tread starting to look a bit sad, rear tread barely changed in 12 months. That's FWD for you!

And djchozen91 yep no dramas with 18" wheels. Seriously man if you can find the cash go for the superlow front/low rear as for ~$700 all up your 380 will be a significantly better handling car, with about the only downside being a firmer ride as tyre wear now confirmed to be a non-issue upon lowering your car. Not to mention it looks more like a performance Mitsubishi should, not jacked up like a Pajero!

That's some pretty good endurance out of your tyres TreeAdeyMan! I'm up for a rotation soon, as in the next week soon. Front tread starting to look a bit sad, rear tread barely changed in 12 months. That's FWD for you!

And djchozen91 yep no dramas with 18" wheels. Seriously man if you can find the cash go for the superlow front/low rear as for ~$700 all up your 380 will be a significantly better handling car, with about the only downside being a firmer ride as tyre wear now confirmed to be a non-issue upon lowering your car. Not to mention it looks more like a performance Mitsubishi should, not jacked up like a Pajero!

What about shocks?

That's some pretty good endurance out of your tyres TreeAdeyMan! I'm up for a rotation soon, as in the next week soon. Front tread starting to look a bit sad, rear tread barely changed in 12 months. That's FWD for you!

And djchozen91 yep no dramas with 18" wheels. Seriously man if you can find the cash go for the superlow front/low rear as for ~$700 all up your 380 will be a significantly better handling car, with about the only downside being a firmer ride as tyre wear now confirmed to be a non-issue upon lowering your car. Not to mention it looks more like a performance Mitsubishi should, not jacked up like a Pajero!

Whoops, slight miscalculation, have done 35,000k on them not 40,000!

wow, $700 for springs & installation is expensive...

Very. Jax is my local place where I go for everything I can't do myself and I would never be charged that much for installation. Labour is $60 an hour. That's almost 6 hours labour for springs!!

sorry $300 not $350, just checked the invoice, with wheel balance and alignment too! =)

"What about shocks?"

Hmm some others may have to vouch for this as I've only had my car lowered for a few months now and racked up less than 5,000kms from a wear perspective... I would expect from common sense superlows to give standard 380 shocks a harder time than standard, lows probably not? Although the result of this would be increased tyre wear, which there appears to be little report of thus far on the forum (to any material degree)?

All relevent also how many KMs your car has as well before you get the job done... I think if you have anymore than 150xxxkms at the moment might just be worth your while doing shocks (superlows) + springs together, get it done right, and I'm sure another 120,000-150,000kms+ is comfortably on the cards before any work required again due to higher wear, if you even have the car then that is =)

Otherwise from a performance perspective unless you're super serious about performance on your 380, and lets face it if you are you should probably be looking at a different car altogether - stock shocks fine =)

increased tyre wear, which there appears to be little report of thus far on the forum (to any material degree)?
Have a look at your last wheel alignment. If you're running anything more than around -1° camber you're likely to start wearing the insides of your tyres quicker than your outsides.

A little bit of negative camber on the front isn't bad (even though it's outside of the factory specs) as it means you're not wearing the outside of your tyres quite as quickly. I think factory spec on the rear of Magnas is close to -1° anyway (I think it's 50'?).


All relevent also how many KMs your car has as well before you get the job done... I think if you have anymore than 150xxxkms at the moment might just be worth your while doing shocks (superlows) + springs together, get it done right
Shocks are very subjective. I'm pretty fussy with my suspension so I'd replace them regardless. At 150,000km I would definitely be replacing them if you're going to the trouble of changing your springs. It's just as much labour to replace the shocks as it is to change springs, so if you're paying someone to do your suspension work, it makes a lot of sense to get it all done at once.


Otherwise from a performance perspective unless you're super serious about performance on your 380, and lets face it if you are you should probably be looking at a different car altogether - stock shocks fine =)
You don't need to be super serious about performance to appreciate the gains better quality shocks make to both your ride and handling.

When I lowered my Magna, I was quite impressed by the ride because of the better quality shocks. It certainly felt more comfortable over larger bumps than the stock shocks.

yep agreed subjective about shocks-I couldn't see the value at least in replacing my shocks at 115xxx kms however each to their own if you are chasing that bit extra by going aftermarket shocks :-)

Yeah my 380 is at 160,000ks. My only problem with replacing both shocks and springs at the same time is solely the cost. Everywhere i have been quoted so far has been around 1000.

I have on the shelf here Low Dobinsons, they are $290 for the set, fitting you are looking at $260 plus a wheel allignment.

Dampers are a bit of an issue as there is little made, Boge are still stuffing around and have not yet released them, aside from Koni which I can do but are horribly expensive due to the labour to make them there is no much else available

Yeah my 380 is at 160,000ks. My only problem with replacing both shocks and springs at the same time is solely the cost. Everywhere i have been quoted so far has been around 1000.

Yeah that sounds about right for springs, shocks, install + alignment. Madmagna's price below also about on the money from when I called around in Brisbane a few months ago.

Up to you djchozen91 - to be honest I would save for another few months and spend the $1,000 to get it done right otherwise to cut corners you'd spend your $600 now without shocks, then have to get new shocks by about 200xxx (if you want good performance from them that is - which should be part of the reason you are lowering your car I presume?) which is going to be perhaps $450+labour anyway. So in effect you'd be spending twice as much on labour doing it this way as you'd pay for springs + install then shocks + install = x2 install costs. Painful.

My 2c anyway - over to you, cheers, Kurt

If you're getting new shocks then getting coilovers is something to think about as well.

I believe it's around $1650 for the k-sport coilovers plus install. This gives you the ability to play with height, stiffness, etc.
Will also get you lower than SuperLows if you're after that kind of ride height

In relation to coil overs, i am unsure why these have suddenly become the lates in thing, perhaps the fact they are cheap for some of the imported brands.

Personally I would not bother with them for a street car. Sure, I can also do group buys of KSport for example and get them out the door for around the $1500 mark a set BUT as stated, I do not generally recommend them for street use for several reasons including legality and life span which will never be anywhere near as good as a std set of dampers and springs

^ this. I would not expect coilovers at this price point to go the distance. Could end up being a very expensive exercise if they wear out prematurely.

I just want coilovers for the ride height. My king lows are uneven on the rear and it annoys me highly... The handling is just a bonus

I've decided with the money I get from selling my old ford falcon I'm going to do this properly as many have recommended and go the full coilover installation route.

The only issue with this Mal is that std springs don't get the ride height some people are after :( Unless Dobinsons SuperLows are lower than Kings?

If I decide I want my car lower, I'd be perfectly happy with a good set of dampers and springs. But I'm not sure that combination with allow me to go any lower than I already am with stock shocks and superlow kings. Coilovers will give me this, so it may be the only choice...

Anyone how how good 'Pedders' lows are?

Don't do Pedders, they are notorious for sagging!!

Righty O' So Kings Lows it is!

Righty O' So Kings Lows it is!

Nope, king superlows or K sport coil overs;)

^ Kiffy speaks the truth ......

Yeah i don't know why you wouldn't go superlows or lower. Kif never complains about his comfort and it's not like it's hard to drive lol.

LoL I meant superlows :P My bad haha