Pondering performance changes for my Stinger

[Waynerm002]

Over the past couple of weeks I have been adjusting my seat for better comfort and driving position for spirited driving and have been pushing the car a bit more and realizing I will need to make some changes. Already have a rear sway on order to help with the lean in corners but I think I'll probably have to get lowering springs as well but want to keep the comfortable ride. I need to figure out which brand will do a slight drop to lower the center of gravity while maintaining the comfortable stock ride while also improving the handling. I might have to also get the front sway bar but I'll take these changes one step at a time to see how things go. Tires might also need some improvements along with wider wheels

What brought this out is when I went into a turn and heard the front tires squealing and the front end pushing wide. Reminded me of how the Optima hybrid was before the spring and tire change. Cornering got better but with less roll, you can go in faster but that then over powered the tires and called for something better. I've read through the lowering threads but now want to see if anyone in the DC/MD/VA area who as done lowering would be up to let me take a ride in their car to get a feel for the different systems, ARK Performance, Eibach and Storm. Let me now. Oh, I'll also be in the NY area the week of Thanksgiving if anyone up that side would be cool with that. I would really appreciate the opportunity "try" them out before deciding. Thanks!

 

[WildBill]

At some point I'm going to order the full Eibach spring and sway kit.
I'll install F & R sways right away and save have the springs if I ever want to install them.
The price on the kit is pretty good not to buy the whole thing.
Reviews have all been very positive with any of the parts installed.

I'm personally a little leary of dropping the car any more due to the fact that it is already a low entry/exit and the snowplow effect in the winter.

 

[Ozstung]

In hind site probably best do the sway bars first. My springs (Eibach)have dropped her a little lower than I expected, I bottomed out over some speed humps on the weekend and that was a bit of a shock. Did have 3/4 of a tank of fuel and 220lbs of kids in the back. With out that weight it was good, the springs definitely are an improvement, but the sways reduce the kicking out at the back and reduce flex and cornering is on another level.

 

[niko]

I have the @arkperformance lowering springs. I love them give the car a nice drop plus the ride is smooth and comfy just as like stock. U should definitely get them. U will have no regrets with them.

 

[Waynerm002]

Yeah, I'm real hesitant to do springs as I have had that experience where the car gets too low and bottom out on speed bumps and some places have some enormous one in my area. The Storm springs are listed as having a .8" drop which I would be fine with as long as it is .8" on the AWD and not lower because it was designed for RWD and when used on AWD drops even more. It's tough to get in this car at the current height so I really don't want to go much lower. I'm hoping they can do something that keeps the ride height but take out roll and make it handle better, say a .5" drop.

 

[Waynerm002]

I have the @arkperformance lowering springs. I love them give the car a nice drop plus the ride is smooth and comfy just as like stock. U should definitely get them. U will have no regrets with them.

You had them over any speed bumps or up an inclined driveway?

 

[Kamauxx]

I don't think the Eibach springs will cause any bottom outs. At only <1" lower than stock if you hit something with them you probably would have hit it without them. Plus, they're proven, as many ppl are running them problem free.

 

[NS_Stinger]

I've lowered ever car I've owned but not this time. The same problem always happens to me regardless of how good of a spring brand i go with. The springs always sag way lower that expected after a couple years of use.

 

[Waynerm002]

A couple of years, sure you expect that, not a couple of weeks. Thing is, it seems Eibach has 1 set of spring which lowers the AWD cars a bit more however, depending on where you are, your speed bumps might not cause an issue. Went through a neighborhood the other day and the speed bump was the highest and longest I have ever encountered! Looked like they just dumped a bunch of asphalt across the road to stop SUVs from speeding and didn't take sedans and lowered cars into account. There were a lot of scrapes on it.

 

[Helo58]

A properly designed spring will never sag. To sag, the spring would have to be compromised by accident or corrosion damage, be bent outside of the normal range of operation, or placed into a load setting outside of its designed load range. If a spring was sagging, it would have signs of damage (i.e. excessive rust, dent, crack, etc). If a spring sags due to overuse or fatigue, then it was being used outside of its design range or it was being used with worn dampers or other worn suspension components.

With lowered cars, people sometimes think the car is sagging because they failed to properly clock the bushings (if they aren's spherical) by loosening all bushing bolts and properly torquing them under the correct load and ride height. If this isn't done, the rubber bushings can tear to relieve the preload tension on them causing the car to look like it was sagging.

 

[Waynerm002]

So what you're saying is we need to make sure we get the car to a reputable shop to install springs and get the car setup correctly instead of doing it ourselves and possibly messing something up.

The other part of your post I always have questions about is how does the lowering spring affect the stock shock. As they weren't designed together, dropping the car an inch or more and using the factory shocks seems like this would cause the stock shocks to not perform optimally and cause them to wear faster. Would that be a true statement?

 

[Helo58]

It is hard to question the logic of letting the professionals do the work, provided they know specifically what they are doing (Stinger specific). Reality is, some of us like doing the work or can't (or won't) pay someone else to do it, so we still end up with backyard pros doing the work.

Most shocks range/travel is important and is sufficient reason to ask the shock manufacturer about fit. For example the Bilstein B6 is designed for stock/OEM ride heights. The B8 has a shorter body and is suited to lowered cars. Both shocks provide the same valving. Although the car would be lowered, it would still be operating within the limits of the spring and result in no damage. As long as the spring is bent in the elastic range it won't result in damage, it is when the spring is plastically deformed that sag will occur.
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-elastic-and-plastic-deformation

Changing the geometry or setup of suspension settings never changes only one thing. The "art" of properly tuning a suspension sometimes even escapes the manufacturer's themselves. Personally, I have never wanted to alter the suspension on my cars for fears of making it worse. A reputable suspension tuner should be able to be found, but they are typically going to recommend expensive hardware and be costly for consulting beyond what most non-track drivers will be willing to pay.

 

[Waynerm002]

It would be nice if KIA had another "tune" for the electronic adjustable suspension and one for the non-adjustable version, a sport version if you will. Based on how the car is designed, making it too low isn't what I want but having it lean less in corners and not have the rear end bounce in corners at speed over a bump.