Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

I will be lowering my car with the eibach pro-kit and have read in a couple of threads that I probably need an adjustable panhard rod. Why is it suggested?? Is it for alignment purposes? I know the car would handle better with it but is it a must with the pro-kit? I also got the KYB AGX adjustable shocks and struts. what do you guys think about this set up? and one last question...how stiff do i set my shocks once i get the springs installed?? the **** on them reads form 1-8....8 being the stiffest. Thanks

nighthawk15

It is for alignment purposes because more likely than not the rear end will want to shift to one side when you drop it. I also highly recommend a set of lower control arms and relocation brackets because another bi-product of lowering is that the geometry of the LCAs gets thrown off.

BACKN70

I just did a prokit w/ bilstein hd's outback, and kyb agx's up front. I would've thrown some bilstein shocks upfront but they were on backorder. I have my settings on 8 and they are still not firm enough.

It sits good ( I ran no isolaters in the back) but intend to keep them around just in case/when the prokits start to sag on me.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

That is something else I wanted to ask. I have heard about the eibachs sagging...what exactly does that mean and how does the car look?

nighthawk15

It means the car drags its ***. Some people have the problem some don't. Don't quote me on this because I don't have any super reliable sources to back it up, but I have heard of some guys using the LT1 springs in the back. Supposedly they are a better design but I don't know if that's true. I don't hear of many sagging complaints on the LT1 cars so there may be some truth to it. At any rate if you want to be extra safe you might check out some Strano or Hotchkis springs.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

I will do that...i have been looking at the hotchkis, i'll take a look at the stranos as well...I pretty much been looking at the adjustable panhard and LCAs along with the relocation brackets and have one last question...do I also have to replace the front ones and add brackets as well?? sorry for all of the questions...i've had my car only for about 4 months and i'm trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks.

nighthawk15

Nah your front suspension will be just fine. You should get a 4-wheel alignment but give your springs some time to settle first. I would recommend a panhard bar that you can adjust on the car even though it will add a little to the cost because if the rear end shifts at all while the springs settle or anything that will let you adjust it without having to pull the whole thing off. It can also make the installation a bit easier because if your holes don't want to line up exactly you can just shorten or lengthen the bar, then make adjustments after you put it on. That part is completely optional though. Just something that seems like a good idea to me and it doesnt add THAT much more to the cost. Mine was like $160 from UMI.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

Ok, well I found UMI is giving me the best price on everything I need. I am now set on a set of strano springs since i've read a lot of positive things about them. Where do I buy or order them?? or is it through Sam only??

nighthawk15

I believe you can only get them through Sam Strano but I haven't really checked elsewhere. I believe his site is stranoparts.com. And yeah UMI's prices are awesome. Very quality peices as well from my little bit of experience with them.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

Friend told me that I can run the PHR and recolation brackets w/ the stock LCA's w/ no problems...is that true??? Im kind of on a tight budget so not getting LCA's would help my wallet until I can save up for them. nighthawk, u seem to know a lot about suspension...do u think my KYB AGX's will handle the spring rates of the stranos?

nighthawk15

Thanks a lot for the complement, man . You can run the stock LCAs if you really want. I just said get the LCAs because you may as well put em in while you're down there, but if you are very tight on money right now and would rather not you could just get the LCAs later. As far as the shocks go....Those are really not a good shock probably to be using in a lowered application, but if you already have them they will work. A lot of people aren't real impressed with them. A set of the Strano revalves would be a much nicer setup. I believe you need to call Sam for those though because he custom valves them for whatever spring you are using. Not a big deal, I am not sure how hard he is to get ahold of though because I have not done any business with him personally yet. Konis should handle the spring rates nicely too just the way they come.

EDIT: I just noticed in one of your earlier posts you said something about sorry for asking so many questions. Never, EVER be sorry for asking questions. That's how you learn.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

Well the KYB's are already installed so i guess i'll just stay w/ them till I can upgrade later on...I heard the revalved bilsteins would make a nice setup as well...but for now i got no choice but to stick w/ the KYB's and the stock LCA's...i'll try and get a hold of sam strano and try and order a set of springs from him...thanks a lot man...n keep your Z nice n clean

BACKN70

Buying my Agx's were a waste of money, If the Bilsteins weren't in backorder I would of gone Bilsteins (had to get my car on the road). My buddy has bilstein/prokit setup and his prokit spring on the rear passenger is sagging big time, but not the driver rear side. I took a look at it and it was sagging about 3/4-1 inch over the driver side. I assumed that the passenger spring probably didn't have an isolater, and that the driver side did. We found out that both had isolators, so therefore we concluded the spring has sagged.

Sharpe

iTrader: (7)

I thought the reason you had to buy an Adjustable panhard was to get wide tires to fit under the fenders. For instance, if the rear is off-center, then one tire will fit without rubbing but the other won't at all. Then, when you get it centered, both will barely fit (hopefully).

Otherwise, i read that it helps keep the car from fish tailing or pulling one way or the other off the line.

But, I'm no expert at all. Just what i think I've read.

simple

iTrader: (8)

pavlock performance has on car double adjustable PHR's for $89

these are rod ended bars tho, so road noise might increase just a tad!

nighthawk15

Glad to help any time and will do!

T-hawk

iTrader: (9)

This is basically correct. The adjustable panhards are to recenter the rear after lowering... but only become manditory when a set of wide tires are on the car to prevent rubbing. The adjustable panhard not only recenters the rear to give the tires equal space, its also stiffer so that there is less deflection in the suspension that could cause the tires to rub while cornering.

While there is some advantage to having an aftermarket panhard rod on the car even in a totally stock application, it is not required, nor is it going to make a major seat of the pants difference just driving the car on the street. Nor are LCA's. Unless you are planning on racing with the car and doing it pretty regularly at that, its not worth it to buy the LCA's or panhard if you are on a tight budget.

If you read up in the suspension section, you will find that most guys that have the car set up for cornering run the stock LCA's and an adjustable panhard. The softer rubber bushings in the stock LCA's prevent unwanted bind in the rear suspension (verses poly bushings in most aftermarket) and allow all the roll stiffness tuning to be performed with the springs and sway bars, and dampened with the shocks. If and when cornering cars use aftermarket LCA's they generally use the rod ended ones because they do not bind the suspension at all. The aftermarket panhard in these guys cars is usually of the rod end variety to eliminate all side to side play in the suspension, which significantly reduces the chance of upsetting the car while cornering and keeps even wide tires from rubbing. While this is all great stuff on a car that will be pushed hard on a track or auto-X, its totally unnecessary on a car that is being lowered to look cool on the street or have a better "feel" on some twisty roads.

If you read about the drag racers, they pretty much always change out the LCA's with ones with poly bushings (or rod ends for the hard core guys) to help reduce/eliminate wheel hop. These along with aftermarket torque arms, relocation brackets, different sway bars, and drag specific shocks and springs for the more serious guys.

Lowering the car changes the suspension geometry any way you look at it. The question is whether or not that will make any difference in the way you use your car?

There is no "one" suspension set up that allows the car to do everything well... there are suspension set ups that are pretty much better than stock in everyway without giving anything up... but they aren't the best at anything either, just better than stock. There are a lot of parts out there for our cars, and some are necessary (shocks are a must on our cars, since the stock ones suck at everything), and some are not. When you ask questions about your set up, it helps a lot if you describe exactly how you will use the car and what you are trying to accomplish.

Then the real suspension experts can give you advise.

While I'm no expert, I'd say skip the LCA's and panhard rod. You don't need them.

Assassin66

iTrader: (8)

well my car is a DD and i don't plan on taking it to the track very often...maybe once every 3 or 4 months...im lowering the car mainly for looks at this point but have big plans for it in the future (then it will spend a lot of time on the track)...ive never been to an auto-xs and probably will never do it with my car...theres a 1/4 mile drag strip that we go every couple of months but thatz it...and theres the occassional street race that you encounter every so often...with that said what do you recommend?? everybody has told me to buy the adjustable PHR and recolation brackets and heard I could leave the stock LCAs which is what i was planning on doing.