Street Smarts: When to Get Low

If you’ve ever watched a sports car race, you’ve probably seen the cars take tight corners or blast through chicanes on the rumble strips.  Then you thought two things: 1) How can I make my car handle like that? and 2) That looks uncomfortable.  Road racing cars are lowered on extremely stiff springs.  You can get virtually the same kind of suspension for your car, but do you want to? 

Great handling has many factors: responsive steering, low weight, downforce, and essentially tires.  But springs can play a big part.  Lowering your car stiffens your suspension so you can spend more of your power launching back out of the corner and less compensating for body roll.  It also literally lowers your car’s center of gravity, so there’s less body roll in the first place.  This distributes your car’s weight more evenly across all four tires so you get better traction on the inside wheels. 

Plus, if we’re honest, lowered cars just look better.  You get rid of wheel gap and give your car a crouched, ready attitude. 

Comfort, however, is a trade off.  A lowered car will always ride rougher than a car on taller springs.  And we’re not just talking about on rally-driven dirt roads.  Get your car low and stiff enough and the slightest pothole will jar you awake – which might actually be a low-tech, awesome alternative to those silly lane-drift alarms.  Speed bumps will also be trouble, and cars with already low front lips or body kits could suffer.

Thankfully, it’s not just one or the other.  You can get adjustable kits, or find something in the middle that doesn’t lower as much but still offers the stiffness.  Brands like Eibach, BBK, Ground Force, and Hotchkis Performance have some great options for you to check out.

By Andy Sheehan