how should i lower my GST onto 18's without a bumpy ride and with good handling

[98FWDSM]

ok, i plan on lowering my car as soon as spring hits i am planning on a set of 18's and i dont plan on spending 1G for a set of real coilovers, i was looking at a set of arospeed coilovers and was wondering what shocks i should get so that way my car doesnt bump around everywhere and it still has good handling???

Thanks

 

[jtmcinder]

You won't spend much money, but you want the car to ride nicely and handle well. Yeah, that's gunna happen.

Prioritize. Then people can help you.

- Jtoby

ps. one of the worst things that you can do if you want the car to ride nicely and handle well is put oversized wheels on it ... if you haven't bought the 18" wheels yet, think again from scratch

 

[heavyD]

Originally posted by jtmcinder
You won't spend much money, but you want the car to ride nicely and handle well. Yeah, that's gunna happen.

Prioritize. Then people can help you.

- Jtoby

ps. one of the worst things that you can do if you want the car to ride nicely and handle well is put oversized wheels on it ... if you haven't bought the 18" wheels yet, think again from scratch

What he said. 17" wheels are a better compromise as you will never get a decent ride from 18's and lowering springs.

 

[98FWDSM]

well, the only reason that i was thinking about 18's was because it has stock 16's on it now(thinkin about it now, they might be 15's) and there is ALOT of wheel gap....ok, if money was no object and i got a set of 17's and some arospeed coilovers, which shocks would you get??

Thanks

 

[vertGST]

i am on 18's with ground control coilovers and my car rides almost liek stock. but then again i am in south florida and most of the roads down here are smooth as glass.

 

[jtmcinder]

When you guys (who are interested in how the car looks) talk about fender gap, do you mean the gap between the tire and the fender or the distance from the rim to the fender? If you mean the former, then the wheel size isn't the issue; the tire size is. If you mean the latter, then I will never be able to help you.

When "performance is king" (see posting guidelines), the only excuse for running large wheels is that you have huge brakes for road racing. And even if you have huge brakes, you shouldn't have to go any larger than 17".

Why do large wheels lower performance? In terms of acceleration and braking, they hurt because they raise the rotational inertia of the tire and wheel combination, so more energy must be "wasted" changing the speed at which the wheels are spinning, leaving less energy to change the speed at which the car is moving. In terms of ride, they hurt because they usually weigh more than the same total diameter using a smaller wheel, which raises the unsprung-weight ratio.

Put another way: how many true racing cars do you see with huge wheels and super-thin tires?

- Jtoby