Coilovers can be used to adjust the height of your vehicle without actually having to make any adjustments to your springs and is achieved by adjusting the threaded sleeve which covers your shocks.

Sway bars will introduce far more stability through the joining of your suspension and aftermarket sway bars reduce understeer and the chance of rolling your vehicle by means of a metal bar which is thicker in diameter than your stock variation.  Installing these devices means that you are now able to accelerate through a corner rather than having to break or roll through them.

When it comes to lowering kits, lowering spring will not only lower your vehicle to the road, but iwll also improve the handling to a point.  Beyond that point, you will experience additional complications, so knowing just how low to go is vital.  Taking corners is much easier in a vehicle where the centre of gravity has been lowered but you do need to consider that having less space to absorb bumps means that your ride may not be as smooth.

Making adjustments to the height of your car may also mean that you need to make adjustments to your tires.  When you lower your vehicle your tires tend to wear out on one side and by installing a camber kit, you can fix this problem.  It is important to remember that each adjustment you make to your car may result in additional adjustments having to be made to get the right balance, but the pleasure of working on your car and the end result is worth the time invested.

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.

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.

If you don’t have a lot of experience in installing lowering kits, then it may be time to bring in the professionals.  Compressed springs have a huge amount of stored energy which can make them very dangerous to take out.  They have been known to fly out of the chassis if not properly installed.  A professional probably won’t charge you more than fifty dollars to get the job done properly.

Another feature that is important to consider before purchasing your kit is the type of springs that you install.  A heavy-rate spring system is not always the answer as having too much spring rate can cause the tires to lose contact with the road and bouce too much while soft spring rate might cause the entire suspensio to continually bounce.  The best way to ensure you are getting the right spring rate is to buy a kit that includes them.

Knowing the lingo is going to help a lot, so here are the three things you’ll want to ensure you understand each of the terms and know how they relate to each other.

1.  Spring Rate:-  Often rated in pounds per inch which represents the amount of fore required to compress the coil spring by one inch.

2.  Spring Load:-  The amount of weight that a coil spring can support at any given compressed height.

3.  Sprig Sag:-  This happens over time and will eventually drop a cars ride height even lower.

You will probably have one of two main reasons for investing in a suspension lift kit, either for looks or for performance.  Although these two work together, they are definately different in the types of adjustments you will want to make for your vehicle.

Adding inches to your height and being able to invest in some serious looking wheels will make heads turn.  The easy part of the installation is achieved almost immediately once your kit is in place, but it’s very important that you also take into consideration comfort of drive, safety and handling when buying your kit.  There is always going to be a little bit of compromise on height if you want to ensure your safety.

If off road performance is your reason for your lift kit, then you’ll definately want to ask yourself a couple of questions before you invest in any suspension lift kit.  What type of off road handling do you need?  Will you be a lot of high speed desert racing or perhaps just a little cross country.  Whatever your needs, you’ll find a kit that is customized to that particular type of driving and will give you the optimum performance.

If your vehicle is going to be used for day to day purposes as well as off-road, then you’re kit may have advantages to weekend fun, but could take strain during the week.  Larger wheels can make for a uncomforable and noisy ride on standard roads and the additional weight of larger wheels will put strain on your suspension.

Handling your vehicle when it has been lifted can also be a little tricky and remember to ensure that once your vehicle has the kit installed that it is still legal to drive on road.  At the end of the day, there are always compromises to be had, but with the right suspension lift kit you can have your dream vehicle that turns heads and makes you smile.

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.