Lowering a car on 13" rims???

[jock23]

Is it pointless?

I havent got the money to go out and buy new wheels having only just got new tyres for my car, but my Nova 1.2 looks like its on stilts at the moment.

I was thinking about getting a kit to lower the car by about 30/40 mm but I am not sure if its really going to make any difference. Has anyone ever done it before, and any pics???

[boredbloke]

You could probly lower it 100mm and not have any probs!

although if you saved the 50 quid it'd cost ya for springs, your half/three quarters of the way to getting yourself a set of 14" gte alloys that'll give the car a better look anyway.

[Jack]

Yeah go for it. It'll improve handling, and if/when you do get alloys, you'll already have the springs to go with them - nothing worse than an alloy-ed car with standard suspension, you think yours looks like its on stilts then with alloys on and std suspension it'll look far worse!

[Philsutton]

do it, i had my coilovers all the way down when i had astra GTE wheels on. No rubbing an it was a few inch off the floor

[Ricks]

send me a pic of ur car mate and ill photoshop it and make it look low for you

[Nobby]

mines the same m8 at the moment, can u post the pic up wen u do it plz?

[jamie gsi16v]

paint your steels white and drop it 60mm

[burney]

My car is lowered 60mm on 13" rims, well not now it isnt but it was and i havent updated my car on here yet take a look http://www.novaload.net/features/viewfeature.php?ref=704

[sickrabbit]

I,m no mechanic - I,ll admit it freely..I,m also new to motors so please help on this one......Ive won a set of p1 30mm suspension + springs off ebay ..just asked for some advise on helping to fit em and have been told -DONT . The advise came from a mate - who said not to prat around with the suspension ( moreso if the replacement is second hand ) for the reasons of saftey ( braking ) and camber . The p1,s are ready to fit with no specialist tooling required ....just jack the car up drop out the old and in with the new(ish).

should i go ahead , and please what should i be looking out for - faults ect??
I,m embaressed at my lack of knowledge - but that can be remidied - i hope !!

many thanks. :oops:

[ANDYRACER]

It sounds like ur mate is the one with no knowledge fit them the things u should look out for is to check the springs for cracks and push the damper down and make sure it springs up again. If this is all fine fit them its not a hard job and can be done in about an hour.

[Jack]

Novas have crap handling as standard, and definately needs "prat"-ing around with to improve. 30mm is a good way to stiffen things up a bit. My mate has 40mm Pi springs on his SR and it made a world of difference.

Anyway. When you say springs & suspension, I'm assuming you have the dampers too? Check for any signs of damage, corrosion, dents etc, and also they're not leaking any crap. As for the springs, yes, check for damage again, cracks etc (make sure both rear ones are the same height :wink: )

30mm shouldn't affect camber, its only when you go >60mm that problems start to occur. And braking will be far more affected by the condition of your wheels than the springs... Might even improve braking by reducing the crappy brake judder a lot of novas suffer from when braking at speed....

[flowlikewater]

save your money, you likely to want to get bigger rims or a bigger drop, just save the money till you know what you want! then go all out for it.

why get a 30mm drop then later on get a 60mm then an 80mm?

same goes for the alloys!

[Jack]

why get a 30mm drop then later on get a 60mm then an 80mm?
Because he might want driveability and good handling characteristics over looks...

[ade]

go for the biggest drop you can get and get a set of fancy chromed 13" wheels

PIMP Style!

8)

[Jos]

Im still on my steelies :lol: but thats 'cos my insurance company won't insure me at all if I put alloys on.....changing them in sept when my re-newal comes around.

I've just bought a set of -60mm, and awaiting their delivery, so then I'll no longer look like an AT-AT walker :lol:

I've heard that at 60mm+ I should be looking at getting the camber angle looked at by a trained garage?

[helmie]

ive got mine lowered 60mm on 13"s

[Adam Moran]

Go for -60mm on your 13's :wink:

Spray paint the wheels gloss black too.

IMO i think it looks the dogs bolocks, hardcore :lol:

[SKoob]

well i think this looks pretty good
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v30/SKoob/brown_nova.jpg
really really low on 13" merit rims 8)

[Jack]

That is by far the spankiest nova I have seen for a long time

[boredbloke]

I do love that front bumper!!!

I want one!

[coxie]

if u cant afford wheels at the min but want a gud luck mate id jus drop it 60mm straight away .. itll look great an with a lil arch work u can throw 16" or 17"s under if u decide on it later n itll still look mint 8)

[Jack]

I do love that front bumper!!!

I want one!
Are those just a standard phase 1 bumper with an extra valance? Or a proper all-in-one piece? Burgo's new one looks like its a two-piece item, yet there was a B reg SR round here that had the same bumper but looked like it was all in one... (afaik he ditched it a while back for a later GTE style grille and bumper :roll: )

They listed in EPC?

[SKoob]

AFAIK they are a 2 piece bumper