on protegetech.com they have lowering springs and struts which ones are better i am lost when it comes to suspension all i know is engines some of ya'll other pros hook me up with some info

 

struts won't lower the car, but springs or coilovers will. The struts help control the springs.

 

Actually, I think the terminology is a little more intricate than that. People very often say "strut" when they really mean to say "shock". The strut is the term used to describe the spring/shock assembly. For example, a MacPherson strut setup is a strut in which the coil spring is placed around the shock, like on our cars. There are different kinds of struts, for example, most trucks use a non-MacPherson strut in wich the spring is next to the shock, they are seperate. If a company is advertising a strut, you will need to find out if they mean shock, or if they are actually selling a performance strut combination (spring and shock combo). Odds are that they really mean shock, but that is the wrong term... I don't really know why people started to refer to shocks as struts, but it had me confused as well until I studied up on it more. Also, all springs for our cars are coilovers, but the ones usually reffered to as coilovers are adjustable...

Shocks will cost you more, but the actual PERFORMANCE improvement will be greater than that of a lowering spring. Then again, springs are cheaper. The shocks will make the car stiffer in turns and over bumps, helping to minimize the car's bobbing motion. Springs will only really make a difference in cornering. They both have co-operative roles, so you can't really say which is better, as you really have to change both to really improve your handling performance. Springs only will make the car bob more and shocks only will still roll quite abit. Also, to get the total handling package, I suggest strut tower bars and sway bars.

Holy crap! This has been a long post, but I'm not about to delete any of it...

Most people start with springs, as they make the car look better by lowering it and reduce roll, and are usually the cheapest.

Hope that helped even though I rambled on...

 

hehehe, bob the techy
while thats all technically true, things are reffered to on a more commum basis (BTW, i had explained this in a previuos thread, of which i can't remember though...it had pics and everything )

in our enthusiats circle, struts are commonly known as the MacPhersan strut type. Springs are springs, coilovers are the adjustable type, and shocks are shocks (without a large seat for the spring)...

i looked eveywhere and can't seem to find the thread...maybe somebody else can...sorry.

 

That's cool man. I knew you most likely knew the destinction, I just wanted to clarify, 'cuz PUNKProtege was saying that he did'nt know much about suspension, so I did'nt want him to be confused right off the bat...

I certainly don't and I don't expect anyone else here to be walking on eggshells trying to be careful about what they're saying and using the right terminology and all that... Just wanted to clarify, cause I was confused about the whole thing when I first started looking into suspension. But since we use the terms differently on this forum and most places on the net, we gotta keep using 'em that way, I guess...

Lemme know if you find the thread, I'd like to see it with pics and all.