Advice on lowering

[Jonny-SR]

Hey all,

Fingers crossed i will be the owner of a 1989 1.4 SR next week.

I love the look or a lowered nova and i would like to do it to mine but on the cheap as money is tight currently,

The car has the original steelies included but is currently on some 15" 5 spoke alloys that came off a fiat punto, i know this cause its a mates car, i am unsure of the offset and tyre size.

How much can i lower by on just springs without scrubbing and/or destroying the handling ?

I know ideally i want a shock and spring setup but i cant afford it and if i change springs i can always uprate the shocks later

Advice ?

Cheers folks

[lee coley]

30mm with out shocks,however im on 80rear and 60front on standard shocks best looking on ebay you can pick full kits up second hand for the price of new springs,

g-max ok for general use on a budget,billys are not that much only 30quid rear and 45quid front each for the shocks.im getting billy shocks in the near future because the lower springs dont work very well with standard shocks.

[Jonny-SR]

in what way do you mean they dont work very well with std shocks ?

any chance of a pic of a 30mm drop ? i cant find any

EDIT - will early corsa suspension stuff fit?

[SUP4NOV4]

You want 60mm really 30mm isnt nowt good especialy since you say you love lowered nova's just get some seconhand 60mm springs on mint

[Jonny-SR]

i would prefer 60mm as i do think t looks lush, especially when i get the wheels refurbed in gloss black !

should i be ok with the rims though bearing in ming i dunno the offset of tyre size ?

[lee coley]

ive got 49ET and they just fit without arch mods,195/45/15 tyres.

the shocks will be squashed down all the time with the lowered springs so wont last along time and handeling will be poor compared to uprated gas shocks,

also they bounce instead of damping(so some-1 said on here)

[lee coley]

60front and 80rear on 15''rims.the rears are 90mm corsa springs so there are probably 70-80mm.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u103/123yoza123/low.jpg?t=1176058559

[Jonny-SR]

that looks sweet, exactly how i want mine,

i need to find out more about the rims and tyres really dont i

cheers pal

[Jon_nova1]

40MM is as far as you can go on standard shocks, anymore and your shocks will go pretty quick and handling will be really poor, at 40MM your shocks would last abit longer, and handling still be poor, but ok enough to drive.

your best getting a kit, you can easily lower the car on springs and shocks by 60MM maybe 80 on the back?

[Jonny-SR]

how much am i gonna be able to get a 2nd hand kit for though ?

[Jon_nova1]

you can get a new Jamex kit for ?200 mate

http://www.jamex.co.uk/products-list-regular.asp?hgid=1&sgid=12&cmk_id=48&cmod_id=911

you want the corsa A kit

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-EVO-RACING-SUSPENSION-KIT-VAUXHALL-NOVA-CORSA-A_W0QQitemZ160102611146QQcategoryZ40192QQssPageNam eZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

you'll occasionally see second hand ones, they can be had for ?50-?80

[lee coley]

ebay 100quid?keep an eye out

[Lee]

IMO you shouldnt do any lowering on standard shockers unless theyre new. Shocks get used to sitting in a certain position, 9 times out of 10 if you change where the shocks naturally sit, they will pop a seal. You can get OE gas struts if your on a budget from places like Euro Car Parts.

And yes. 60mm drop looks ace, but if you want to get the best from your car handling wise, dont go lower than 40.

As for the wheels, are you sure theyre from a fiat as Fiats run a 4X98 PCD ??

[Jonny-SR]

IMO you shouldnt do any lowering on standard shockers unless theyre new. Shocks get used to sitting in a certain position, 9 times out of 10 if you change where the shocks naturally sit, they will pop a seal. You can get OE gas struts if your on a budget from places like Euro Car Parts.

And yes. 60mm drop looks ace, but if you want to get the best from your car handling wise, dont go lower than 40.

As for the wheels, are you sure theyre from a fiat as Fiats run a 4X98 PCD ??

yes mate they are off an old shape punto, i took them off myself lol

had to get some spigot rings though as the ID was too large

[Rob]

you can get a 2nd hand kit off me for ?60 its 60mm springs on standard front shocks but with uprated and shortend g-max rear shocks plus your only an hour away from me

[Jonny-SR]

you can get a 2nd hand kit off me for ?60 its 60mm springs on standard front shocks but with uprated and shortend g-max rear shocks plus your only an hour away from me

could be very interested mate,

i wont say anything for sure till i actually have the car and can suss everything out,

will let you know

cheers