Lowering your car makes a statement and knowing what you are going to need before you get started will help to determine how much improvement in looks and performance you can get for your budget.  It is important to know that each adjustment you make to your vehicle will result in different handling abilities and that some adjustments require additional equipment to get it to operate at optimum.

When you lower your car, you will immediately be putting stress on your OEM struts and shock so its important to ensure that you one of the following two on hand to counteract this problem.  You can either invest in coilovers such as D2, JIC or Mugen, but they are costly and may not be the first choice for someone working to a budget.  If money is an issue then consider purchasing separate struts, shocks and springs to replace what you have and you can then control the height of your vehicle much more.  While performance shocks and struts will make the ride that much more comfortable, the advantages of investing in coilovers far outweighs the price difference.

Coilover units have all the necessary components including struts, shocks and lowering springs and a camber adjustment built in which will help a great deal with your tire issues that you may otherwise have to contend with.  There is also a great deal of versatility when working with coilovers in that you can make adjustments all the time depending on your personal taste as well as possible changes in driving conditions.

Camber and caster alignment is vital if you don´t want to run your tire tread down extremely quickly, so if you are not making use of a coilover with camber adjustment facilities, you will have to purchase this separately.

We´ve all seen cars that have been lowered and for many there is good reason to do this, besides the fact that it makes the car look more appealing and sporty.

The main reason that people would consider installing a lowering kit is to increase the amount of handling the car has, particularly around corners.  The reason for this is that the car is much lower to the ground and it´s center of gravity is more centered.  This means that when the car turns a corner it will sit more firmly on the road.

If you are planning on lowering your car for this reason, then it is important to consider that not all lowering it good for your vehicle and if you take it too far, you will find that the vehicles performance is actually hindered by the lowering and that it can damage the undercarriage of the vehicle when travelling over small bumps and driveways.  The ideal lowering level will depend on the make and model of your particular vehicle, but essentially you should be looking at no more than an inch to an inch and a half.

Not only can the undercarriage experience some bumping, but the turn of the wheel can also be hindered by it touching the lowered body of the vehicle.

Before lowering your vehicle check to see what the effect will be on other parts of your vehicle too including your OEM struts and shocks and where possible you should consider buying performance suspension parts to counteract any issues that you may face.  Coilovers are a great option in that they have a built in camber adjustments but they are a little more expensive than just purchasing individual struts, shocks and springs.

While lowering and lifting your car or truck suspension will definately improve the overall look.  Making use of coil springs or air suspensions sytems, you can lower the ride height of your vehicle and by adding shocks and sway bars, you’ll be able to enhance the control and performance of your vehicle.

Dropping or lowering your trucks suspension requires one of three different approaches:-

1.  Using coil springs to drop the front suspension is the simplest method.

2.  You can use spindles or a-arms to lower the factory ride height.

3.  Finally, you could introduce air suspension into the truck suspension.

When choosing the type of lowering kit, you will want to ensure that you take your particular truck model into consideration.