Suspension height adjustment & alignment.

[jodyr]

I installed a set of ST Suspension X coil overs. Is there a technique to change the suspension height without having to perform a front-end alignment?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Dpro]

It depends, technically no.

Though if you are not changing ride height drastically it might not alter things enough to worry about it.

Though putting in new suspension and lowering the car initially should be followed up by a wheel alignment.


Most people with adustable ride unless changing it because of different tracks set it and forgot it..
A thing to remember when lowering the car though is not dropping your roll center too low which will cause bump steer and handling gremlins.

A quick easy way to check that is too look at your control arms once lowered with the car on the ground. You want them to be angle downward or at the most flat out.

My buddy and I have played around with the suspension quite a bit on our cars and have pretty much found handling wise the car likes the control arms to be at least at a slight angle downwards.

Otherwise while it can look cool it will rub on stuff, exhibit bump steer and just not handle as well.
One can buy taller ball joints that can alleviate this and stay low but thats advanced suspension tuning time and you are not at that stage.

 

[jodyr]

Thanks for that info. I'm actually riding just under the maximum to accommodate snow driving. My plan is to drop it after ski season, but only to the stock dimensions.