06 Drop with Eibach Pro Kit

[Long_Island_LS]

Recently had the car lowered on Eibach's pro kit. I read a lot about coilovers/springs & I basically went with springs because of the $$. I only have 42k miles on the car, so to swap out the struts before necessary is a waste IMO. The coilovers were gonna run me a lil over $1500 installed...and the springs were gonna cost $540 (alignment included) - so i decided to save the $900 for now.

I had the shop cut 1/2 a coil off the front springs - the rear of my car was already a 1/2" lower than the front because of the music and 2nd battery I have in the trunk. In the rear I used spring helpers in between the coil of the springs (the same ones that QuickLS used) to help prevent the car from rubbing over dips (hopefully anyway).

Based on what I read, I expected the drop to be about 1.25" in the rear and 1.5" in the front. The end result was about 1/2-3/4" lower than expected. I have about 1.5" in the rear and a 2" drop in the front. I still have to take final measurements.


Anyway Ill upload more pics when the 19's are on. Here are a few for now.


Before

After



Before

After

 

[RigsLS]

Looks great! I agree with not swapping out for new shocks with that low miles, money saved for now.
Looking forward to see some pics when it has had a chance to settle a bit and the 19's on. Hopefully no rubbing!

 

[Tric]

Looks awesome. It would be to low for the speed bumps in the parking lot at the complex I live in.

 

[LS4me]

Looks awesome. It would be to low for the speed bumps in the parking lot at the complex I live in.

Or my mother-in-law's (or most around here) driveway, or any speed bump here, or many dips.......

Looks good though!

 

[hite337]

Very nice

 

[1LoudLS]

I likey

 

[Alax7]

That looks perfect. You might hit some stuff here and there but if you learn how to take an extra second to take bumps and such at the right angle and speed you can manage get go a while without rubbing.

 

[Long_Island_LS]

Thanks guys. Ive been driving carefully. The 19's are going on this weekend and I am anxious to see how she finally sits. Hite you might recognize them - Mille Miglia EV-R 19". The exact ones NYC LS8 had.

I purposely went over the biggest speed bump I know of, and bumped slightly on the frame behind the front wheels - didnt scrape the front though and thats what worried me the most - so I went slower the second time and didnt bump. I can pull into my driveway, but i have to back into my gf's driveway - no biggie. Im pretty sure the car has fully settled in the past 3 weeks, so im ready for the 19's. I will post pictures next week.

 

[Andrizzle]

Looks like the LS was meant to look.

You can definitely learn how to drive with it lowered. It is like a game.

All about the angle of attack!

 

[LS4me]

Thanks guys. Ive been driving carefully. The 19's are going on this weekend and I am anxious to see how she finally sits. Hite you might recognize them - Mille Miglia EV-R 19". The exact ones NYC LS8 had.

I purposely went over the biggest speed bump I know of, and bumped slightly on the frame behind the front wheels - didnt scrape the front though and thats what worried me the most - so I went slower the second time and didnt bump. I can pull into my driveway, but i have to back into my gf's driveway - no biggie. Im pretty sure the car has fully settled in the past 3 weeks, so im ready for the 19's. I will post pictures next week.

There are numerous speed bumps at a mall near my MIL's (and of course she likes to go there....) that I couldn't clear with the Eibachs. Didn't matter how slow I let the front wheels down, the crash braces would drag. It was so bad I called the mall management; not that they cared..... One of the reasons I went back to stock height.

 

[Long_Island_LS]

love the stance. when the a.ss drops about 1/2" in drive its almost perfectly level...maybe a slight rake.

I wouldnt want to go any lower. entering and exiting parking-lots has become a process.

 

[1LoudLS]

honestly, I wouldn't care if it scrapped all day long, a lowered LS just looks to o damn good to keep it riding so high!

 

[1LoudLS]

also Long Island: that wheel with that amount of wheel gap looks perfect, you couldn't ask for a better fit.

 

[RigsLS]

Wow, just wow!
Looks amazing Long_Island, great job! makes me want to switch GEN's.

 

[Robot]

love the stance. When the a.ss drops about 1/2" in drive its almost perfectly level...maybe a slight rake.

I wouldnt want to go any lower. Entering and exiting parking-lots has become a process.

View attachment 828469561

View attachment 828469562

bad a55!

 

[Robot]

honestly, I wouldn't care if it scrapped all day long, a lowered LS just looks to o damn good to keep it riding so high!

Hey what about some bump rubbers? I was thinking about them for my car. They come in all sizes and shapes. Well worth a try. I used them back in the 80s in San Diego after getting tickets for dip dodging. Look for bump stops. They work the same way as steering lock limiters. No joke. They don't scrape the ground, they are put somewhere on the suspension component or frame of the car to prevent the suspension from traveling too far. They don't touch when cruising.

 

[Long_Island_LS]

Hey what about some bump rubbers? I was thinking about them for my car. They come in all sizes and shapes. Well worth a try. I used them back in the 80s in San Diego after getting tickets for dip dodging. Look for bump stops. They work the same way as steering lock limiters. No joke. They don't scrape the ground, they are put somewhere on the suspension component or frame of the car to prevent the suspension from traveling too far. They don't touch when cruising.

our stock struts actually come with a "bump stop". They had to trim about a 1/4" off of mine to allow for proper travel distance without constantly bottoming out. Good idea, but the LS already has them

 

[Robot]

our stock struts actually come with a "bump stop". They had to trim about a 1/4" off of mine to allow for proper travel distance without constantly bottoming out. Good idea, but the LS already has them

Well, the LS doesn't have struts but I know what you mean. If they had to trim them by that much then a stiffer damper is needed with stiffer rebound. The springs you have are the stiffer they have right?

 

[Robot]

our stock struts actually come with a "bump stop". They had to trim about a 1/4" off of mine to allow for proper travel distance without constantly bottoming out. Good idea, but the LS already has them

There is a product out there just for your problem. I saw it on a Corvette once. Its a set of air bags that go on the front suspension that temporarily lifts the front end when you approach steep driveways. It doesn't effect anything else its just for that purpose. I'll try and find the link and post it here.

 

[Robot]

our stock struts actually come with a "bump stop". They had to trim about a 1/4" off of mine to allow for proper travel distance without constantly bottoming out. Good idea, but the LS already has them

Dude, I've done alot of reading and there are kits out there but most deal with jacking with the suspension dynamics and I'd be like Hall & Oats I can't go for that. Besides they are way over a thousand dollars. No can do. I'd be looking at fashioning some sort of air bags to put under there to lift it up and make sure when they deflate they are. Completely out of the way so it won't effect the suspension. Maybe some sort of bladder where the current bump stop is. How big are the air springs from the Marks?

 

[Long_Island_LS]

Well, the LS doesn't have struts but I know what you mean. If they had to trim them by that much then a stiffer damper is needed with stiffer rebound. The springs you have are the stiffer they have right?

im pretty sure they are struts... last time I checked they only list "struts" for the LS... but they kinda look like strut-shocks IMO lol

I appreciate the concern, but the part that was trimmed was fairly insignificant.



They trimmed the bottom nub off the orange rubber "bump-stops" ^ (see the pic of my old 02 struts). The eibach springs prevent the strut-shocks from compressing as much as factory springs so I should never really "bottom-out".

The air bag system is a good idea, wish I could afford to bag the LS

 

[joegr]

im pretty sure they are struts... last time I checked they only list "struts" for the LS...

Most call them struts, but they are coil over shocks. I have a car with struts, there is a big difference. Struts is a cheaper suspension set up.
(Many call the COPs that the LS uses coil packs, but they are not.)

 

[Long_Island_LS]

^ Ty for the clarification. I know this comes up often lol. They kinda look like shocks, but they are listed as struts?

.. so they are "strucks"?? lol ..I guess the difference is internal?

 

[joegr]

With struts, you don't have an upper control arm. The strut takes on that function, but it is usually not as precise as having an upper control arm.
On the LS, the shock and the spring are just doing what shocks and springs normally do, it does not matter that they are together instead of completely separate.

 

[Robot]

^ Ty for the clarification. I know this comes up often lol. They kinda look like shocks, but they are listed as struts?

.. so they are "strucks"?? lol ..I guess the difference is internal?

Ok, so I lifted my car up this morning to watch everything that moved. The only place I could see a possibility is a bladder between the upper control arm and the inside wheel well next to the coil shock assembly. It looks like that could get you at least 3" of lift. I looked everywhere under the car and there is just too much stuff in the way to put it anywhere else.