Suspension ideas.......

alright no two ways around it these cars came with a horrible suspension. when it was new it was all over the place. now at 72,000mi and one autocrosss season, my 04 sedan is really horrid. i am planning on overhauling the suspension over the summer. now here is my goal, i occasionally autocross this car but mainly DD, so i thought i would get H&R lowering springs,kyb replacment shocks and struts, chassis braces and some other stuff. i was wondering if what you guys thought of this. to me this seems like a good route to take. has any body found or does anyone make a uprated shock/strut package for these cars. or polyurethane Bushings..... what else should i add to my list of suspension upgrades???

The suspension is not bad for a cheap car like this, was not F1 inspired or anything like that. Rabbit made a coil-over kit, UR has a nice set of bars, the bushings have/or are being made on here, that would set you up good. Rims/rim size and tires makes a difference as well, what are you running right now?

I dont know about bushings but their are limmited options out there. ive never autocrossed but I drive winding backroads everyday to and from work. Ive got 17x7 lightweight buddyclub rims wrapped with 205/40 nitto neogens, also have eibach prokit and KYBs front and rear, my 04 hatch handles the winding backroads amazingly well

right now the car is stock, with all season tires. coil overs are not gonna happen #1 cost. #2 i dont know if i am going to keep this car. i have been looking at a 16x7 rims and the limited amount of after market shocks/struts. has anybody found a set of uprated sport struts and shocks that would work on the aveo.(kinda like the VW coil overs) as far as bushings go i was going to try and find a universal poly kit or just make my own hardened bushings. i am really interested in the UR chassis bracing, but all their stuff looks like something a high school shop class could make.... so i am going to try some experimenting. i would really like to make a rear X Brace for the Sedan.

i wouldn't throw coilovers out of the picture just yet. i think price actually came out to be about the same if not cheaper than a set of lowering springs and replacement shocks/struts. plus if you decide to not keep the car then you can just reinstall your oem setup and sell the coilovers for some money back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by luckyduscky199

right now the car is stock, with all season tires. coil overs are not gonna happen #1 cost. #2 i dont know if i am going to keep this car. i have been looking at a 16x7 rims and the limited amount of after market shocks/struts. has anybody found a set of uprated sport struts and shocks that would work on the aveo.(kinda like the VW coil overs) as far as bushings go i was going to try and find a universal poly kit or just make my own hardened bushings. i am really interested in the UR chassis bracing, but all their stuff looks like something a high school shop class could make.... so i am going to try some experimenting. i would really like to make a rear X Brace for the Sedan.

---

KYB is the only direct replacement ive found that didnt cost a fortune, i bought mine last year from just-suspension through ebay, it was about $200 for all 4 shipped, the eibach prokit I bought from discounttire.com through ebay for about $200 shipped. altogether $400. for roughly $100 more, you can get the VW mkII or mkIII coilovers for about $350 and petrified.rabbit sells end link kits for (if I remember correctly) $150 for a total of $500

That's why I told him to get the coilovers in my first post.....

The first thing you should do is get a new set of rims and tires, that would make the biggest difference overall, and then worry about the other things. The UR strut bars are some of the best strut bars you can find on the market, I am not sure what you are looking for?

Just upgrading the tires will make a world of difference. I went from the stock 185/60's to 195/60's and my stability went up quite noticeably. That is still with the stock rims. I want to get some 16x7 rims to put 205/45's on but that takes the green stuff.

205/40r16 with more low is what i ran in autocross...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by petrified.rabbit

205/40r16 with more low is what i ran in autocross...

---

me too. very solid setup =)

Mine is a DD car so going too low is not an option, And 45's will be a little better for the rough roads.

I've had my set of 205/50 15s for less than a week now, and I can already tell that the car is a lot more steady, and feels like theres more grip than the stock hankooks had. Would I be able to drop the car 1-1.5" without running into clearance problems? If so, are there any kits out there that you guys could recommend? I'm working my way through college, so low budget would be nice XD.