Overview
I wanted to lower the Crossfire on a budget, and what better way to do it than to cut the stock springs! Now, this is not the same for all vehicles. (And indeed should not be done to any other car without first finding out some specs). SO, it turns out that the Eibach springs have the same lbs rate than the stock ones, just that it has one less coil. This mean that if we cut the stock springs one coil, they will be the same as if we had Eibach springs.
Installation
Installation took about 3 hours for both rear sides by myself. It is straightforward, and it could be completed in about 1 1/2 hrs if you have someone to help you.
- Raise the car (take off wheels).
- Take off the two bolts near the center of the car that hold the lower a-arm plastic cover (they are 10mm) - and take the cover off.
- There are three bolts near the disc brake (two are silver and the middle one bronze/gold) which you need to take off. If you lower/raise the a-arm by placing a jack under it it will be really easy to take tension off the bolts to take them off - they all have different positions at which tension is off of them so you need to play with the jack.
- After that simply pull the lower a-arm down and pry the spring out.
- To cut from the bottom I had to take it to a mechanic with a table saw so he could cut it (my dremel didn't work, the blade totally broke off)... THESE SPRINGS ARE MADE OF TITANIUM OR SOMETHING! THEY ARE HARD TO BRAKE!
- Reinstall everything in the reverse order.
Review
I have had this mod for about 5 days and it is awesome! It lowered the car enough to give it a good look and stiffened the suspension just enough. Body roll is reduced about 80% and the looks are just awesome.
Now, I will get to lowering the front the same way, BUT if you just want to lower the rear don't cut a full coil, maybe 3/4ths and that will be more than enough to level it (<- If I did this again, I would do it like this and not even touch the fronts = less work).
If you have a spare weekend, some jacks, and beer I would definitely recommend doing this as it is free (or $10 for someone having to cut the springs like in my case) and it gives the car a MUCH sportier feeling as well as looks.
RECOMMENDED! IT HANDLES A LOT BETTER! (And remember, this is just the rear done. when the front gets done I will post a new thread with observations on it).
Notes
- The rear is a tad bit lower than the front, like I said if i weren't lowering the front I would only cut the rear 3/4th of a spring to level it.
- The suspension IS stiffer, but a good stiffer.
I used to have a Honda S2000 with full coilovers so to me this is nothing. I actually love having no body roll now.
- It doesn't rub with stock wheels and tires (not even close to rubbing).
- PLEASE align the spring pad on top of it when putting the spring back in, other wise bad things could happen. Also, cut the spring from the bottom, not the top!
Level of Difficulty - *** out of ***
Time to Complete- 3 hours (by myself)
Next - Lowering the Front through the same process... I will keep you guys posted.
Tito @ TR-Performance
www.tr-performance.com