How low are you willing to go?

Are there more members that love to lower their car too?
Well I do, just did it with my 26 year old Rabbit/Golf MK2.
I bought a 80/60 lowering kit. (80 millimeters lower at the front, 60 rear)
Here's a picture of it while standing next to an MK2 with original suspension.

It has much better handling because of it and it changes the look of a car drastically.

reply to post by Regenstorm


Tugging at the ol heartstrings here... Remembering my youth... VW freak over across the pond. I've owned a handful of MK2s plus a couple Sciorrocos and Corrados. and yes they all got the treatment... Did not look right otherwise. I live in New England so or roads are a bit rough but it only stopped an inch of lowering. Oh how I miss my toys.

Back in my younger days I lowered many of my cars. Here in Australia the legal limit is 100mm. ie there must be 100mm clearance under the lowest point of the car, not including tyres obviously...
The problem with that is most speed humps are between 100 - 200mm high!!!
Hence I don't lower anymore...

By the way, Love seeing an old brick on its guts!!!!! Good form right there...

reply to post by Regenstorm


Well good sir.
Low cars are gorgeous i must admit at times
It looks nice btw.
But where you live (Germany or USA) there is no road humps..
Here in the Uk there is a hell of alot
So no can do haha

all you need now is the bug hub caps, or some ol'skool bmw rims, a pair of camo cargo shorts..and watch the ladies melt. hahahahaaa.

looks dope OP.

reply to post by BlastedCaddy


You're right about the fact that they don't look right when they ain't lowered.
My front spoiler scrapes a lot, but who cares.

reply to post by hellzdoms


I live near the Netherlands, that country is also full with them. I'm used to scratching my floor panels and exhaust pipe.

reply to post by snakebit



I was thinking of 15" ATS Cup rims, but no money for that. So I'm restoring a set of 15" "Fire and Ice" rims at the moment.

Backwards! If ya gotta pick'em up truck, you can go no lower than this:



Anything else is a chick wagon.

reply to post by Regenstorm


Ahh i see. Well I guess you would not like it if it was your Buggatti
Well I cannot afford a car so I'm going to get a bike
Can not wait.
Insurance is too expencive here for young drivers.

I looks pretty good all right.I've lowered countless cars over the years.I live in Scotland,out in the scenery and i dive tight single track country roads plus A and B roads mostly so my car needs to have clearance.

Our roads are terrible fulls potholes,badly patched sections and speed bumps plus want it to hold the road well,have endless grip but handle like a go cart,be chuckable,quick to react to ever changeing road,lively and controllable.Also reasonable good at soaking the knocks and not too harsh everythings rattling like crazy.lol.

40mm or 60mm at max but it depends what your wanting.If its about looks thats fine,if it's a question of improving the way it takes the road then lowering is ok but theres better ways.

I dropped an 81 VW Diesel pickup on Eibachs in front and it hes been so long ago I don't recall what I did to drop the rear.. It looked great, rode like $h1t, tore out one of the strut towers and busted the oil pan... I now own a 2007 Honda Fit on aftermarket coilovers set at stock height.. I got tired of reattaching the bumper to the front fenders every time I drove to town and back with Swift Mach sport springs that really did improve handling and cornering ability without hurting the ride quality... If I didn't enjoy driving in a sporting manner I wouldn't have installed a Kraft Werks 10PSI supercharger kit, Weapon R racing header and intake manifold along with countless other performance parts and modifications... There is no way a car that sits fashionably low can be driven as fast as a car with adequate ground clearance without something being damaged.. Where I drive which is in the real world where roads have bumps, dips, wash board and loose surfaces on curves and livestock or wildlife along with four legged pets that require meandering off of pavement at times and more than two or three inches of overly stiff suspension travel.. A friend of mine whose Fit is featured in Honda Tuning Magazine that is on the news stands right now became a believer in ground clearance and supple suspension when he began racing instead of posing.

reply to post by hypervigilant


So far I didn't wreck my spoiler. It's an original MK2 GTI spoiler and it's very flexible. It only scrapes a little when I drive over speed-bumps and the road in front of my house because it's an old road and it is flattened on the edges because of the many tractors that use it. The lowering kit gives my old MK2 much better handling, just like the lowering kit I installed on my Audi a couple of years ago. My Audi was just as comfortable as before I installed it.

Yes but was that simply a set of lowered/uprated springs or did that include dampers too.

Also do you mean road holding when you say handling.

The thing with reduced suspension travel and higher rated springs is thats ok when its a moderate change [up to 60mm in my experience] but take the car down a really tight,twisting,single track road with is constantly changing its camber and full of dips,summits and angles you will find that lowered suspension systems arent quick enough to react or have precise enough control.

Ask yourself why rally cars arent lowerf to the deck !!!

For many people that won't matter as they never encounter those conditions in the real world but I drive those kind of roads daily aswell as normal roads.

If what you want is improved handleinp/road holding then uprated suspension bushes and anti-roll bars are an overall much more effective route than lowering springs.

Again ask yourself how does a lower ride height improve the road holding and grip then you can see there are far better ways to improve the way it drives.

Of course from an appearance p.o.v then lowering is undeniably a massive improvement to a cars looks.

That though doesnt instantly mean that improvements to road holding apparent under normal road conditions mean a car will handle better in more demanding situations.

Depends on the car, I agree about the old boxy VW's, they look much better lowered. But, my 74 Chevy Nova that I had, had been lowered, and not the right way either, the springs had been heated. It looked awful and didn't ride or handle any better than if it'd been left stock, but each to his own I guess. Some cars just don't look right lowered, some don't look right unless they're lowered.

reply to post by Regenstorm

When my son graduated from high school we got him a 1990 Cabriolet that he was convinced by his friends to lower.. I don't recall what brand of springs we put on it but it wasn't long before he slid into a curb when trying to go around a corner as fast as he could with the stock springs.. I admire the appearance of a dropped car but most guys I know online think that overly short, stiff springs with negative camber is going to provide better road holding ability, handling and are willing to forget about comfort ... Where I live being dropped much at all causes grief but some guys elsewhere do fine dropped real low and driving slow but not around here... Here is a link to my favorite type and brand of springs www.swiftsprings.net...

Speed bumps and dips, oh man...

reply to post by dave_welch

reply to post by hypervigilant


It's important that you don't shorten the springs by heating them or cut a piece of them. You'll have to change the shock absorbers too (shorter/stiffer ones). Here in Germany regulations are tight, you can only install lowering kits that are certified by the TÜV (In Germany you have to let your car inspected every 2 years by them) and you have to register the kit at the TÜV and they put the certification in the papers from the car.

reply to post by netgamer7k


Speed bumps are not such a problem, just don't go too fast.
I don't have any troubles on bad roads.
We had a little snow yesterday and I had to plow through the snow.

Somebody say something about their car being low?