Springs or shocks first?

[WeaselBirdW68]

Well, ive decided to lower my car and i want to know wich i should do first, since i have to budget. Im gonna go with the Eibach spring set and bilstein shocks, but wich one will affect my car the most? I wanna go with the one that will improve my car's handling, ride and overall feel 1st. Any input is appreciated.

Thanks in advance =)

[hockeyman]

Best bet is to save up, buy and install both at the same time.
IF I had to make a single decision though, I'd say the springs first.

[slow6]

depends on your application and what you want to get out of it.

you obviously want a car that handles good at the expense of acceleration(draging)

if your shocks have alot of miles on them then i'd replace the shocks first.
koni, bilsteins are good but expensive
you need more research

this is only my opinion dont take it to heart

[99v6cam]

save for both, install is too much of a PITA to do it twice.

[FireFighter]

Both.

[rhouse21]

Do you wanna look good or drive good?

If you wanna look good, do springs first.
If you wanna drive good, do the shocks, hands down. I love my bilstiens. Even on stock springs they're soooooooooo nice.

...Still, you'd probably save install $$$ and/or effort by doing them together.

[WeaselBirdW68]

Originally posted by slow6:
depends on your application and what you want to get out of it.

you obviously want a car that handles good at the expense of acceleration(draging)

if your shocks have alot of miles on them then i'd replace the shocks first.
koni, bilsteins are good but expensive
you need more research

this is only my opinion dont take it to heart

TY for all the input guys, and i think that i will wait and install both....though that is gonna be a hard wait, lol, i'll think about it everynight. But, my question is, why would i lose acceleration? Im really new to this whole suspension thing so please explain.

[slow6]

sorry i got to technical there.
the way our cars are designed with drag racing the front end goes forward and a little upwards to allow the rear end to get more traction.

dont worry about it, cause you are more into handling anyways.

the thing that sux about upgrading these cars is you end up doing everything at the same time to save on time/money. LOL

[rhouse21]

To pick up on slow6's theme...

You ever notice how when you nail the gas you feel like you're getting thrown backwards into your seat? Well, this is because your acceleration is inducing a phenomenon known as weight transfer where the driving force from the rear wheels interacts with the car's mass and center of gravity (cg) and the rear wheels actually "try to outrun the rest of the car," causing them to carry more of the car's weight than when the car is sitting still. This is why some of the big-dogs can actually do wheel stands and why some have wheelie-bars (to prevent wheel stands).

Drag cars actually want some weight to shift to the rear wheels because the amount of power you can put to the ground without spinning the tires increases as the tires become more loaded. BUT if too much weight goes to the rear, the front tires will no longer be able to steer the car because they're too lightly loaded. It's a very delicate balancing act for those guys.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about most of that in our cars. Still, if you were trying to do good at the strip and had springs that were too stiff, your car may not be able to transfer enough weight to the rear for your tires to hook up their best, and you'd loose time down the strip.

On the other hand, if you were trying to get good track times autocrossing or something, having too soft a spring could have you body-rolling all over the place.

Like slow6 said, look at the type of driving you plan to do and go from there. But if you want handling, I agree that the eibachs and bilstiens are a great choice.

[ September 08, 2005, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: rhouse21 ]

[Crashtest]

I have to agree. I put on H&R springs, but added cheap shocks to save money. Not to happy about it. Save a bit longer if you have to, it would be worth it.

[WeaselBirdW68]

Originally posted by rhouse21:
To pick up on slow6's theme...

You ever notice how when you nail the gas you feel like you're getting thrown backwards into your seat? Well, this is because your acceleration is inducing a phenomenon known as weight transfer where the driving force from the rear wheels interacts with the car's mass and center of gravity (cg) and the rear wheels actually "try to outrun the rest of the car," causing them to carry more of the car's weight than when the car is sitting still. This is why some of the big-dogs can actually do wheel stands and why some have wheelie-bars (to prevent wheel stands).

Drag cars actually want some weight to shift to the rear wheels because the amount of power you can put to the ground without spinning the tires increases as the tires become more loaded. BUT if too much weight goes to the rear, the front tires will no longer be able to steer the car because they're too lightly loaded. It's a very delicate balancing act for those guys.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about most of that in our cars. Still, if you were trying to do good at the strip and had springs that were too stiff, your car may not be able to transfer enough weight to the rear for your tires to hook up their best, and you'd loose time down the strip.

On the other hand, if you were trying to get good track times autocrossing or something, having too soft a spring could have you body-rolling all over the place.

Like slow6 said, look at the type of driving you plan to do and go from there. But if you want handling, I agree that the eibachs and bilstiens are a great choice.

Ahhh, ty. I get it now. You and slow6 explained it very well, ty.

[rhouse21]

We try. ;)