Lowering - Why is more than 30mm bad?

[dhdev (Oli)]

Why is it that I always see people saying that more than 30mm lower on a nova ruins the handling? Is this statement based on the fact that UK roads are bad and the required stiffness at this drop will make it too bouncy? I run my nova much lower than 30mm and it handles superbly on track.

[Jack]

Probably stems from people fitting just a set of 60mm springs and keeping everything else standard. Tracks tend to be a lot smoother than your average road as well, as you said it'd probably bounce around too much - IMO for a road car you want a little bit of play in the suspension, too hard and the car will bounce and skip over the road.

For track cars, so long as the suspension geometry is modified to take account of the lowering, I don't see why you can't go lower than 30mm...

[Matt2107]

I think its more to do with the camber etc?

You said it better Jack lol

[Stuart]

as said, most people who modify cars dont really know what they are doing (bar messing about on GT/Forza) and just fit parts without getting them setup right etc.

also people tend to the cheapest route rather than the "right/best" route so fitting a set of -60 ebay specials on will obv be much much worse than say std ride coilovers..

the old -60mm and you get near horizontal wheels dosent help either lol.
Provided you set the parts up that your fitting (and other parts to complement) then there is no reason why you can lower the car till it wont move, then lift 1mm... (with the right parts of course).


as a bad example get GT/forza running, have a car on std ride height and drive it, then lower it all the way and dont change anything else and see how it drives lol

[craig green]

Good question.
I think its to do with how poor our road surfaces are, how poor most -60mm springs are & the combined effects of bump steer, drive shaft deflection angles, camber issues & tyre wear through wrong tracking.

Strictly speaking for a useable A & B road car you should be able to compromise with 30mm knocked off the ride height from a std GTE/GSi. This will be more like 40-45mm off a poverty spec model though (approx). Assuming its well damped ofcourse. This should see the optimum grip is maintained without washing out or promoting understeer through excessive tyre loading.

So base cars can go lower than 30mm for the desired handling & ignore cheap 'pretend' suspension brands for maximum traction.

[Stuart]

also "tyres is what wins races cole"

[dhdev (Oli)]

So the old 30mm rule is aimed at people who just want a sporty road car thats not gonna be too stiff and bumpy. If you go lower you compromise ride quality and traction on bumpy surfaces and the car will require more extensive work to regain proper alignment.

Sound about right?

[alistairolsen]

if you fit a standard spring and damper suspension kit, 30mm is ideal because it lowers and stiffens the car, mildly increases neg camber and has no other side effects. if you go lower you need to actually make adjustments tot he basic suspension.

On a smooth track, the way to go is very low and very soft with very stiff anti roll bars (well it would be if nova arbs werent gay) To the extent of tubbing and turreting the rear and massively flaring the front wings, unfortunately this would be impractical on our poor road surface and requires fabrication work and adjustable suspenson components outwith the reach of most keen road drivers

[dhdev (Oli)]

Disagree with the very soft point of view for the track nova. I agree that ARB's when done properly are a good idea, however they will not prevent dive under braking and squat under acceleration, for this you will need a stiffer spring :thumb: