[NeighborsComplaint]

I am going to lower the ride height of my GTO. It had recent upgrades including Moog OEM front replacement springs, rear Moog cargo coils (progressive wound) UMI rear control arms, "Global East" tubular upper and lower control arms, KYB shocks, tie rod ends and center link idler and pitman arm and HD sway bars front and back.

I love the current ride and handling but the car has a high '70s stance (actually much higher than stock) and want to try lowering it. I have 2" between top of the front tire and the wheel well lip front and 3" in the back.

I have a set of lowering springs I purchased but am wondering if 2" drop front spindles would be a better choice up front. I guess there are 2 schools of thought: 1) Lowering springs are preferred for their firmer ride to compensate for the reduction in spring travel and lower ground clearance and 2) 2" drop spindles do not alter the suspension geometry and retain the OEM ride quality at the expense of potental for more frequent bottoming out of the suspension.

From your personal experience, what is your recommendation?

[JLMounce]

So here's part of the issue, you're only addressing the front end. Both the front and rear on the car are going to want to come down. The only way to do that out back is with a spring change, or cutting the coils you currently have.

What can end up happening in that situation is that you end up with too much rate in the rear and not enough up front, this typically tightens the car up and it will push wildly on corner entry (if you're concerned with such things).

In that situation you would want to increase the front spring rate, which typically is done in tandem with a lowering spring. You can however purchase higher rate springs at longer free lengths to keep the factory compressed length the same, then use a drop spindle.

The drop spindle ha the advantage of changing the ride height without compromising compression travel. The spindle relationship to the ground is making the change, not reduction in spring height. A drop spindle has a disadvantage when it comes to wheel/tire fitment as you may start to see the tie-rod contacting the wheel rim or tire as you've changed the relationship of the wheel/tire package to the suspension pieces.

That is typically only an issue if you start getting aggressive with your wheel/tire setup in the front.

If you like your ride quality now and don't intend to push the limits of what the front suspension and wheel tubs will take as far as tire width, then my recommendation would be to do the drop spindles up front (Tall spindle if available) and new springs in the back in the lightest rate you can find. I would then think about adding a larger bar up front to increase wheel rate to compensate for the lighter springs.

If you are looking for a bit firmer ride, and want to add width to the front tire, I would recommend doing the lower spring package from a reputable source like Hotchkis, UMI, Global West etc. most of these companies will not do a progressive rate rear spring as they are nightmares for shock tuning. They are all typically in the 500-520 lb front rate and around 150-170ish on the rear rate. I would then run both a tall upper and tall lower ball joint. A half inch tall lower is going to gain you back about a 1/4" of compression travel while also helping to improve the negative camber curve. You can run either a half inch tall or a .9" tall upper ball joint. The 1.4" tall effective spindle height increase with the tall joints gets the A body's camber curve looking quite modern. You may find that alignments are a bit easier going with the .5" and .5" joints however.

The lower tall ball joint will also drop the vehicle half of the effective increase in height for that joint, so a .5" tall ball joint will drop the front an additional .25" beyond the springs.

ProForged joints are find for street driving and auto-x without r compounds. Want to really start getting into corner carving with sticky rubber, go with the Howe ball joints.

[moneypit]

I went with the 2" drop spindles and Hotchkis 2" drop springs in the rear. Make sure you have enough clearance. I like the way mine handles and drives. You do have to be more careful as in everything is closer to the road!

[amcmike]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

I would then run both a tall upper and tall lower ball joint. A half inch tall lower is going to gain you back about a 1/4" of compression travel while also helping to improve the negative camber curve. You can run either a half inch tall or a .9" tall upper ball joint. The 1.4" tall effective spindle height increase with the tall joints gets the A body's camber curve looking quite modern. You may find that alignments are a bit easier going with the .5" and .5" joints however.

The lower tall ball joint will also drop the vehicle half of the effective increase in height for that joint, so a .5" tall ball joint will drop the front an additional .25" beyond the springs.

ProForged joints are find for street driving and auto-x without r compounds. Want to really start getting into corner carving with sticky rubber, go with the Howe ball joints.

I was going to recommend this route as well, since it lowers as well as improves the camber gain. With only a 2" gap to the tire now, you might not want to lower much more than these give you anyway.

[HWYSTR455]

Call Global West tech line, and ask Doug the same questions. I suggest calling SPC and SpeedTech, asking the same questions. Take into account each recommendations, take the different approaches into account, and make an educated selection.

If you want, you can post on this thread what all 3 recommended, and/or any opinions on the differences in approaches.

,

[Goatracer1]

Ever consider either coil overs, which have unlimited height and ride adjustments, or an air bag suspension which also has almost unlimited possibilities.

[389]

You are going to want .9 and .5 tall ball joints to extend that small spindle to get it to negative camber on compression, if you want that car to handle. Dropped spindles need to be tall or there a waste of time.. Make sure they come with at least 7 degrees of King Pin Inclination..