Right i have been looking into lowering spring kits for a 2003 1.6 Stilo. I have been looking at 2 in particular, one lowers the car 35mm front and back. The other however lowers 45-50mm at the front and 30 at the back.

Now i will be keeping the standard 16'' alloys, my heart is telling me to go with the second kit but my head is telling me that i could end up destroying the underbody of my car on all the local speedbumps.

Would the second kit be too low? Or would i get enough clearance to avoid damage to the underside of my car?

If you must do it at all go for the 35mm drop..it wont end there tho and you will need to check geometary when its dropped other wise it could lead to problems..

....and will need matched dampers too unless you're happy to live with degraded handling.

When i spoke to one of the technicians they said that for a 35mm drop the standard dampers would be ok, and it would handle better than normal due to the copious amounts of body roll the standard springs provide.

Sindri said:

When i spoke to one of the technicians they said that for a 35mm drop the standard dampers would be ok, and it would handle better than normal due to the copious amounts of body roll the standard springs provide.

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Ok you would no doubt get away with it but sports dampers have a shorter piston to accommodate the spring length so what Argo told you was technically correct.. doesnt pay in the long run to cut corners on things like this it only comes back to bite you in the ar$e in the end..

PNL said:

Ok you would no doubt get away with it but sports dampers have a shorter piston to accommodate the spring length so what Argo told you was technically correct.. doesnt pay in the long run to cut corners on things like this it only comes back to bite you in the ar$e in the end..

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So are you saying that after a period of time the standard dampers would end up knackered?

Sindri said:

So are you saying that after a period of time the standard dampers would end up knackered?

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Very possibly YES..your living on borrowed time on old shocks..

Sindri said:

When i spoke to one of the technicians they said that for a 35mm drop the standard dampers would be ok, and it would handle better than normal due to the copious amounts of body roll the standard springs provide.

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They all do. Many people can afford the springs, but not the dampers. So they say that to make a sale to those who can't afford the dampers.

Morty Mort said:

They all do. Many people can afford the springs, but not the dampers. So they say that to make a sale to those who can't afford the dampers.

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Bloomin right..Ooops I mean..:yeahthat::doh:

Morty Mort said:

They all do. Many people can afford the springs, but not the dampers. So they say that to make a sale to those who can't afford the dampers.

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I wasn't speaking to a random salesman, i spoke to one of the guys who would be fitting it onto the car. So 'making the sale' wouldn't make any difference to him.

Sindri said:

I wasn't speaking to a random salesman, i spoke to one of the guys who would be fitting it onto the car. So 'making the sale' wouldn't make any difference to him.

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Yes it does. Having someone coming in with a coil spring set is more work than not coming with anything.

It's the same amount of work with or without dampers. Maybe 10 minutes extra to unbolt the two nuts in the boot to change the two rear shocks. That's the actual difference in workload for the garage. The lower bolt has to come out anyway. And the McPherson strut layout demands the unit to be split up.

I really don't know what word to use: Shock, strut, damper...

35mm wouldnt be worth the money as it wouldn't be that noticeable,

45-50mm would still leave plenty of clearance, im lowered roughly 100mm, and if i slow right down for speedbumps i dont catch them, so you'll have no problems.
i ran 50mm springs on standard shocks for about 5months and they were fine..

coyle said:

i ran 50mm springs on standard shocks for about 5months and they were fine..

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And f*ucked your drive shafts up..

Sindri said:

When i spoke to one of the technicians they said that for a 35mm drop the standard dampers would be ok, and it would handle better than normal due to the copious amounts of body roll the standard springs provide.

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That would only correct if you only drove on perfect roads.

For most UK roads driving without matched damping you'll find the wheels simply don't keep in contact with the road surface - and that in case anyone needs to tell you - is very bad

I drove for 6 months lowered by 35mm. There's one road I encounter every week which has approx a 3" drop in the road surface (basically a pot-hole but with smooth edges which the council don't bother to fill).

The first time I encountered it lowered, the front of the car dropped into the hole and then bounced out again. At the same time there was an almighty crash as the underside made contact with the road surface Needless to say after that I was very careful to treat the pothole just like a speed bump and never again exceeded 15mph

Now I'm back on oem springs, that road keeps reminding me of what a really good spring/damper set-up is like. I can hit that drop at 30mph and all you hear is a "ker-plump" like sound as the suspension deals with it - with the car staying basically level without a suggestion of a bounce.

On good roads you may not notice the problem too much but I promise you that on the windy/fun stuff that you'll need to reduce your speed considerably. What really wears you down, even on good roads, is being constantly on the lookout for road defects whilst taking the fast curves.

Driving on any bad surface is basically a joke

PNL said:

And f*ucked your drive shafts up..

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Its the 100mm drop for 12months which has done that
and it was only a spider joint, not the driveshaft lol

coyle said:

35mm wouldnt be worth the money as it wouldn't be that noticeable,

45-50mm would still leave plenty of clearance, im lowered roughly 100mm, and if i slow right down for speedbumps i dont catch them, so you'll have no problems.
i ran 50mm springs on standard shocks for about 5months and they were fine..

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:yeahthat: i think the exactly the same as coyle. 30mm isnt really that noticeable. Thats how much my car was lowered before i was introduced to coilies. even set to 85mm i have no problems with speed bumps. I avoid potholes lowered or not they damage every car.

I had 50mm on my old red stilo you could really tell the difference and no rubbing EVER! Honestly you would kick yourself for not getting the 50mm if you want that lowered look!

30mm


50mm

another view

Ged20D said:

:yeahthat: i think the exactly the same as coyle. 30mm isnt really that noticeable. Thats how much my car was lowered before i was introduced to coilies. even set to 85mm i have no problems with speed bumps. I avoid potholes lowered or not they damage every car.

I had 50mm on my old red stilo you could really tell the difference and no rubbing EVER! Honestly you would kick yourself for not getting the 50mm if you want that lowered look!

30mm

50mm

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Just looking under the red one it dosent look as though it could get over a speed bump.
I dont know what sort of speed bumps you people have where youre living but theres no way you would get over them where I live at a slow speed or you would be grounded. I can only think that all these lowered cars have knocked fook out of the speed bumps and lowered them by a few mm.

Ged20D said:

50mm

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This can't be right. Mine is lowered 30 mm on sport shocks and is lower at the front than this red one.

johnson550 said:

Just looking under the red one it dosent look as though it could get over a speed bump.
I dont know what sort of speed bumps you people have where youre living but theres no way you would get over them where I live at a slow speed or you would be grounded. I can only think that all these lowered cars have knocked fook out of the speed bumps and lowered them by a few mm.

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the picture of the red car was taken from the north east, Brigg to be exact. I spent alot of time over them neck of the woods. Never had a problem anywhere i have been. Speed bumps round my way are pretty savage especially round the missus parents. I only grounded once and it was the other day trying to get up a curb... me being a pleb though. It was never going to be possible haha.
facing certain difficulties Is just one of them things that you have to be prepared for when you are lowering no matter where you live