So I was looking at shocks/struts to replace the factory ones on my car. Bilsteins were recommended to me and I have seen pretty much nothing but great reviews. Looking into the B12 ProKit which comes with Eibach ProKit springs, I see that the kit is about the same price as buying 4 individual Bilsteins. The problem is that I have seen conflicting reports on how much lower they drop the car. I have heard anywhere from 15 to 40mm.

What has been your all's experience with these springs after they have settled?

I have to watch lowering my car as I live out in the hills of KY, so I have uneven and rough roads, steep driveways, and gravel roads to contend with not to mention parking lot speed bumps. I have factory size tires. Am I going to be bottoming out or destroying my bumper or my tires if I get the kit?

 

eibach pro kit with tokico d-spec shocks

 

travlee, did you need to adjust your camber afterwards? Looks good for a basic drop. I'm wondering if a basic alignment that corrects the toe will be enough to avoid going thru tires for a small drop like this.

 

yes, but i also swapped everything out... fuca, rear camber arms, toe bolts etc

 

Travlee's Z is almost identical height to mine. Not dramatically low at all. Just enough to make the suspension "right" for comfort and performance, IMO.

Here you go Sebastian.... some weekend reading with a few more testimonials about the actual (not ADVERTISED) lowering with ProKit springs:

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...-line-kit.html

And..... (reviving a long dead but extensive thread covering this topic as well):

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...il-over-2.html

 

Thanks again. Did you have to buy an alignment kit, or were you able to align the wheels without one?

 

you will prob need to get the kit

 

It takes skills driving a lowered car. I have friends who bottom out at stock height but their driving habit/personality differ than mine.

Steep driveway - avoid, take an alternative entrance... if none, park across the street or another parking lot and walk from there. I've done this before lol.

 

Ok I got a question for you guys.

If lowered as you did do you guys blow through your bushings? Every thread I read people talk about tearing bushings after drop and shock/spring replacement for ANY lowering.

I feel like this is just from low and slow boys who don't drop properly. Doing a proper strut and spring swap with a small drop wear bushings?

Or is the just from when you drop the the floor and or don't do it properly ie drop springs on stock struts or OE cut springs.

I want a slight drop for look and preformance with new springs and struts but don't if it comes at the cost of blowing bushings prematurely as a result.

 

i had a lower inner blow out, but dont think it was related to lowering. i would imagine it was mostly the camber kids that had issues

 

I went with Bilstein B6's and Swift Spec R springs. I also installed Whiteline rear subframe bushings while I was in there. But to answer your's and DezertZ question. I would go ahead and buy adjustable Front Upper Control Arms and Rear Camber Arms. I currently have just the SPC Rear Camber Arm kit w/Toe bolts. Elongated the Tie Rod holes and installed the bolts there. Which is what you need to do or you won't have enough toe adjustment with the drop.

I went ahead and opted to get it aligned as is that way since I was getting mixed reviews about whether the FUCA were needed. Keep in mind with the stock setup the front (non-adjustable) is already at the camber limit (-1.3 deg). At least mine was with the HR and updated springs. So now that I have dampers/springs/RCA wToeBolts/RSF bushings my front camber is at about -1.75 deg. So to your question of needing an alignment kit? This depends on your driving style and how long you want tires to last. Since I like to drive the Z like its meant to be (IMO) around turns, yet still being "conservative" with the gas pedal at the light, I plan on picking up a set of Z1 FUCA. I like the replaceable parts aspect and the fact I can adjust caster as well. But I want to get my front camber at -0.5 like the rear is now. Plus I plan on getting aftermarket wheels and going to a 9-10" wide rim on the front after the first of the year. So if you have stock rims (or stock size/offset) and don't mind buying tires a "little" more often than usual.. then keeping it stock up front is an option, at the cost of slightly accelerated front tire wear. How often is often? Again, depends on your driving style. But IMO I would anticipate getting adjustable FUCA at some point.

 

Buy them. Much firmer ride, yet comfortable. I installed them myself, no problems in 5k miles.

 

GENERAL rule-of-thumb (but most certainly varies by car): Lowering more than 1"/25mm, it's highly likely you will need to add adjustment capabities. Under that, maybe not.

Technically speaking, I did NOT need to with such a minimal drop. Alignment was "OK" following lowering BUT I preferred to bring the camber back to the middle of the range so opted for same stuff that Travis did, above.

I'm sure I touched on that in one of the other threads I linked earlier. But as I mentioned somewhere - maybe this or your other thread - you can add the adjustable alignment gear after you've lowered and checked alignment.



Which bushings? Going to assume you're referring to suspension bushings on the control arms, links, etc. No matter for sake of discussion.

In GENERAL.....

ANY time you alter suspension geometry, you're going to be taxing something over (and possibly beyond) what the car was engineered to do.

Some times it's beyond their engineered spec, some times not. But no, with the mild lowering we're talking about here, it's highly UNLIKELY that you're going to be overtaxing any bushings. And that's particularly true when doing proper alignment with no out-of-OEM-range camber settings and/or running really funky offset wheels that overtax wheel bearings and the like.

 

Man, LOVE that pic, John. Great subject matter in great surrounds! Woof!!