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Kings Springs - Ride Height

Spada33

By Spada33,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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Spada33 Enthusiast

Spada33

Posted
Posted

Over the weekend I have installed a set of King Springs (Super Low) on my 33.

I am very happy with the improved driving stability although the front end has not lowered much at all (barely an inch)

I particularly like the look of a low car and was wondering what you guys have done to get the front guard sitting extremely close to the top of the tyre. I am fairly hapy with the back...

Has any1 cut a coil on the front? If so, can you advise pros/cons. Or is there anything else I can do....

Cheers

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rev210 Grand Master

rev210

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by Spada33

Over the weekend I have installed a set of King Springs (Super Low) on my 33.

I am very happy with the improved driving stability although the front end has not lowered much at all (barely an inch)

I particularly like the look of a low car and was wondering what you guys have done to get the front guard sitting extremely close to the top of the tyre. I am fairly hapy with the back...

Has any1 cut a coil on the front? If so, can you advise pros/cons. Or is there anything else I can do....

Cheers

Too low and it will farquar the handling and upset the HICAS.

Give the springs some time to settle as well, go over some speed humps a few times to accelerate it.

Spada33 Enthusiast

Spada33

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The gap between the fropnt guard and tyre is about 2 inches (doubt whether it will settle that much??).....

I have a SII so the bumper is fairly low at the front and isn't anywhere near scraping, so I assume there should b a bit of give b4 it starts riding like a pig..... any thoughts??

SLY33 Mentor

SLY33

Posted
Posted

I just fitted 'low' as opposed to 'super lows'

(Lows are 1 inch lowered and super lows are 1.5)

My front also didnt seem to lower as much as the rear.

Whiteline state that lowering a 33 any more than 1inch will actually start to affect the cars handling in a negative way, which is why i only went the 'lows'. Apparently once you go past an inch, you will no longer have 100% suspension travel or something. (this doesnt include adjustable coilovers, as they can go quite low and still have the correct travel)

So i gather this will be noticed only when cornering near the limit.

ive enclosed an extract of the article. (The whole article is on whitelines site. www.whiteline.com.au)

"The whiteline car... uses springs lowered around 25mm (1inch) If you expect good handling, thats all it can handle."

SLY33 Mentor

SLY33

Posted
Posted

Anyone who is even near being professional, will tell you DONT cut a coil off your springs!

Leave that for the backyarders (or commodore owners? -hey, they all seem to go chop their springs, especially the rear ones :P)

I cant remember the exact reason, something about spring rate??

I think its okay to have them RESET to your desired height though. This is also very cheap, and you still keep all your coils.

:)

adam 32 Grand Master

adam 32

Posted
Posted

you dont a coil off a spring because they were designed to operate as a whole spring. cutting a coil off changes its properties completely beit spring rate, load capacity and even ability to sit on top of the shockie. i wouldnt recommend cutting springs under any situation, especially not for a skyline, theyre a classy car dammit! :P

whatsisname Grand Master

whatsisname

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by SLY33

I just fitted 'low' as opposed to 'super lows'

(Lows are 1 inch lowered and super lows are 1.5)

My front also didnt seem to lower as much as the rear.

Same here Allan. I've got Kings 'low' & the front sits slightly higher than the rear. I see this as a good thing! More clearance for the front bar.

Even a 1" drop (rear) is enough to require a camber kit if you want decent wear rates & grip off the line/straight line acceleration.

SLY33 Mentor

SLY33

Posted
Posted

You only have the LOWS matt! I thought yours looked lower than an inch for sure!

The point that often comes up (with any car) about the front being higher than the rear, is a bit misleading.

This makes a lot of people think that the car is not level, as the tyre-to-guard clearance is different from front-to-rear. This is not the case however (or shouldnt be if you purchased springs lowered the same amount!)

Not many cars are designed to have front and rear guards at exactly the same height. It is the "sill" height that needs to be level, and if you lower a car more at the front in order to get the guard closer to the tyre, you will get a "raked" look -your nose will be angled toward the ground. And while this can look tough on some cars, its not good for handling.

Take most older commodores as an example, where most models have a very low rear guard, which makes the rear look majorly low when lowered, but the front tyres will never go that far up into the guards.

NIZ30 Community Regular

NIZ30

Posted
Posted

I got King super lows (i think) on 18" rims on my R32. As far as ride goes these are better then my previous standard height GABs. On hard turns and bumps there is a bit of scrubbing problem (boxhead witnessed this on Mad Mountain). But in gerneral driving around town they couldn't be any better.

attachment.php?s=&postid=84511

blind_elk Grand Master

blind_elk

Posted
Posted

Ever thought that the old spring / shocker was worn out and could not properly support the weight of the car. So it was lower than factory to begin with. That's why it doesn't appear to have lowered too far.

Anyway, its been recommended many times in the past not to lower Skylines more than about 1" - 1.5", otherwise it totally stuffs the steering geometry.

Warpspeed Experienced

Warpspeed

Posted
Posted

There is only one problem with cutting springs, and that is how you cut them.

If you just chop the end off with an angle grinder, the high temperature destroys the heat treatment in the end of the spring.

However if you take it very gently, dipping the hot end into a bucket of water every few seconds, there will be no problem.

I have done this myself many times with good results. A shorter spring will also have less active coils and will therefore be slightly stiffer as well. The stresses in the coil wire remain the same so the spring will not be overloaded.

Take your time, and only cut off a small section at a time maybe 30mm. Refit it to the car and see how much it has been lowered. It takes ages to do, but costs nothing.

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