z28SSilvest

Looking to lower my daily street driven car and get rid of some wheel hop as well as mostly the ugly wheel gap that comes with a stock height F-Body. I honestly do not have a problem with the DeCarbons, but whenever I get on it, the wheels break lose and I barely catch, so I'm pulling the trigger on suspension.

Looking at getting everything from StranoParts:

- Strano Performance Lowering Springs
- Lower Control Arm Brackets (Bolt on)
- Double Adjustable Panhard Bar
- Double Adjustable Control Arms
- On Car Adjustable Koni Sport Shocks/Struts

So I have 2 questions:

Do I really need all this stuff to safely lower my car?

Are Koni shocks and struts really worth the $1000?

Thanks!

JD_AMG

If you are having traction problems you need to look at tires first.
If its wheel hop then suspension mods may be in order.
The only thing you need to lower the car is springs. But the front and rear alignment will be off, and the stock shocks will commit suicide.
Any alignment shop can do the front for you (look up good alignment specs, don't let them just put it to "stock" specs or "in the green").
An adjustable PHB will center the rear end after the car is lowered, not a necessity but the rear will be off a little without it, and if you have wider wheels/tires they could rub.
Adjustable rear LCA's align the rear end front-to-back. Really only useful when running big tires to move the axle to prevent rubbing. Also might aid in traction, with the drawback of a rougher, and possibly noisier ride.
Relcocation brackets adjust the rear LCA geometry, gaining you traction but sacrificing handling for it.
The Konis are well worth the money if you value handling and a taut, firm yet not jarring ride. Easily the best mod Ive done to my car hands down,and I wouldn't own other fbody with out them, but thats me. Nothing suspension wise will come close to making this much of a difference.

z28SSilvest

Wow thank you for taking the time to write that up. I have been doing tons of research on Koni vs bilsteins and all the other stuff but I keep hearing nothing but good about koni shocks and struts, so best thing would be to go with them, some strano springs, and an adjustable panhard bar. I do not plan on doing auto cross or anything like that, but the car will see the track this upcoming year.

ZForce1

Let us not forget the adjustable torque arm. You will need to adjust the pinion angle upon lowering. Springs are cheap. It's correcting all the altered suspension geometry that's where the money and time comes in. Definitely worth it in my opinion. Also, as far as the koni's go - to me they are not worth it. I know I am in the minority here, but I can't see dropping a grand on shocks, especially as good as my SLP Bilsteins are.

z28SSilvest

Hm, you're the second person out of about 60 to say that a torque arm is needed. I just heard people getting the panhard, springs, and shocks, then a re-alignment. Also, don't you need to use a lot of the stock strut internals with the bilsteins?

JD_AMG

Adjustable torque arm is not a bad idea, but still not something totally necessary.
And if handling is the main goal, Koni SA's are the minimum choice of shock. Your front Bilstien's are equivalent to running the front Konis on full soft rebound, which you wouldn't run if you had them (at least in the middle or closer to full hard - it makes quite a big difference.)

Adjustable torque arm doesn't hurt, but it made a very minimal difference for me.
Using bilstien shocks, the front shocks you need to re use the spring perch from the previous shocks.

z28SSilvest

Gotcha. Yeah I'm just going to go with the Koni performance pack that Sam Strano has on his website. The main goal is planting the rear when I step on it lol. Right now it just spins through first, second, and even third I would like to improve ride comfort a little and be able to adjust it, hence why I want to go with the Koni S/a

ZForce1

I initially got an aftermarket torque arm after installing lower gears - I could not hook up to safe my life. I would sit and spin the tires no matter what. UMI torque arm made a huge difference. I just adjusted it after lowering. I never drove the car lowered without adjusting pinion angle first, so I don't have a comparison to draw from other than knowing how lowering affects pinion angle, which affects how weight gets transferred to the rear wheels, etc. But I agree you could do it later on if you wanted. It would be good to do at some point, though.

z28SSilvest

If I weren't to put in the torque arm right away, would I be hurting/straining anything?