Cars with lower suspensions are unquestionably cool. Just a few inches closer to the road and a new set of wheels can make a tremendous impact in any vehicle. Just how much does it cost to lower a car??
To a large extent, the price of lowering your car is determined by the vehicle itself. To put it another way, lowering your automobile will cost you at the very least $500 in labor, and more realistically, $1, 000 or more. In order to raise the quality of the components and decrease the automobile, the price can rise quickly.
Why is Lower a Car so Expensive?
When it comes to the expense of lowering a vehicle, you need go no further than the price of the factory shocks. You need a new set of shocks, or rather, coilovers, which are rarely less than $800 for a very basic set to produce the required effect. Due to the difficulty of changing shocks, you’ll almost certainly need to employ a mechanic.
It’s possible to have the desired effect, even if you don’t get a gain in handling or performance. Warning: this list may contain dangerous and ineffective techniques, but I’m including them nonetheless to give you the most complete picture possible.
1. Coilovers
If all you want to do is lower your car, coilovers are a waste of money. In contrast, coilovers are essential for a race-ready configuration.
You can usually modify the height of most coil overs, but you need also think about the control of rebound and compression. These two systems are concerned with how rapidly the weight shifts to and from the tire. Unless you’re building a race car, you don’t need to mess around with adjustable rebound and compression settings on your coilovers.
If you want your car to roll more in corners and absorb more bumps, you’ll need to adjust the spring rates. The force required to compress a spring by one inch is the unit of measurement. The firmer suspension will substantially improve the balance of your automobile when cornering. In order to keep the ride as comfortable as possible while minimizing damage from potholes, it’s important to find the right balance between the vehicle’s use and the suspension’s stiffness.
Coil overs are expensive and intended to last a long time, therefore the manufacturer’s guarantee is critical. To ensure you get the best bang for your buck, check to see whether KW Coilover has a kit for your vehicle in stock.
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To acquire the proper alignment, an additional $100-$200 is needed to pay for the labor costs of installing the device. For those who have a strong interest in automobiles, this is a great moment to start working on their vehicles at home. If you hire a mechanic, they’ll provide you with all the tools you need, but you get to keep them and save even more money on your next project by doing it yourself.
Mounting coilovers – necessary tools:
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Antiseize and pentrating oil are included in the total cost of $250, which is less than what a professional technician would charge. To top it all off, each item on the list is a must-have for anyone who works on cars on a regular basis.
A written explanation on how to install coilovers is too lengthy and complicated, therefore I strongly recommend checking out youtube videos for step-by step instructions.
2. Springs
With lowering springs, you may lower your car without breaking the bank. When you install coilovers, you no longer need the factory strut and coil spring assembly, but when you install a lowering spring, you only need to replace the stock spring. These aftermarket springs are more densely coiled to make up for their shorter length, which gives them greater handling but also a stiffer ride.
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For a lot less money than coilovers, you can get a decent set of lowering springs, which will cost you between $50 and $100 each. For those on a budget, H&R and Belltech make high-quality springs, but Eibach is the finest option.
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Remaining spring tension can cause serious injury if it isn’t taken care of by a professional. My grandfather and I once worked on a VW Golf 2 to replace the springs, and I still remember the amount of force we had to apply to the spring to get it in place. Modern lowering springs are much tougher, so paying a professional approximately $200 to get them changed is better than risking harm.
3. Drop Spindles
If you’re looking to lower your vehicle, drop spindles are probably the quickest and most affordable option. The spindle lowers the car without modifying the suspension by moving the shaft that mounts the wheel closer to the fender and therefore closer to the ground.
Using a drop spindle may reduce ride quality marginally because the stock suspension is tuned to perform best with the stock spindle. Drop spindles also don’t improve handling, but they also don’t stiffen the ride much more either.
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Lowering springs tend to be less expensive than drop spindles, which can cost $200 to $300 for each pair. If you’re looking for the best value, consider Belltech’s selections. If you’re up for the challenge, check out the video below for a brief summary of the spindle-changing process.
4. Spring Cutting
Many would-be street racers in the pre-internet era lowered their cars by chopping down the stock springs. There are a number of reasons why this is now considered a poor method of accomplishing a task.
Cutting the spring necessitates the use of a powerful angle grinder and a high-quality blade. You can generally obtain two lowering springs for the price of an angle grinder.
For both procedures, you must use the grinder to get to the spring, but the process for spring cutting is slightly different. Because of this, reducing springs is the best option for you. You’ll have better handling and stability, and you’ll have less of a chance of messing up than if you used chopped springs. As a precaution, I wanted to inform you that this method existed, but I strongly discourage it.
5. Air Suspension
Those of you who have seen the music video for “Still D. R. E.” will know what this portion is all about. When it comes to air suspension, most people refer to it as lowrider suspension. This is known as “extreme air suspension” or “airbag suspension,” which is intended to provide a more pleasant ride with greater adjustability.
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Luxurious vehicle and SUV manufacturers employ it, but you can also buy mounting kits to improve your suspension. The suspension itself isn’t too expensive, and a full set costs around $500. However, labor costs can easily exceed $1,000. An air compressor, air tank, and other auxiliary things are required to bring the total cost up to several thousand dollars.
Aftermarket air suspension is, in my opinion, a lowrider-specific upgrade, not one that belongs on a regular automobile. I’d rather buy a vehicle with factory air suspension rather than try to install one myself or pay a fortune to have it done for me by someone else.
6. Leaf Springs
Leaf springs in the rear of trucks and SUVs may be used to support the heavier payload. Even though it is a simple and inexpensive home improvement project, lowering leaf springs will require some welding, drilling, and experience working with hard metal. Here is a video that demonstrates how to lower a vehicle by a few inches by flipping the leaf spring’s position with the axle.
FAQs
Is lowering your car bad?
If done appropriately, lowering the car should not cause major damage to the vehicle’s structural components. More crucially, the softer suspension absorbs potholes and speed bumps more effectively, reducing the amount of vibration sent to other areas of the vehicle.
What is the cheapest way to lower a car?
There is a cheaper option on paper but it is more prone to break and damage other components than the spring cutting method. Getting a set of lowered springs is the cheapest technique that truly works.
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Summary
As a result, you now know how much money it will take to lower your vehicle. Coilovers can do wonders for a race-ready automobile, but reduced springs are a more affordable option if you’re just seeking to change the aesthetic of your vehicle. Hopefully, the information in this guide has been useful to you in your quest to find the perfect car setup. If you still have questions, feel free to browse through some of our other articles!
