ok all here is a newbi Q for ya.
I want to lower my car but I have heard that I should keep the car at its normal ride height and put bigger wheels on. So i ask you here is what I want. I want to take out any body roll and stiffen the suspension. I wanted to lower it just 1.5" front and back. With the lowering I was going to also put on the sway bars to take out the body roll even more then what the lowering would do. Any ideas fellow 8 owners?

Not really understanding the question. What do you mean bigger wheels? bigger diameter, like 19"? If so that is not going to lower the car or effect the stiffness of the suspension at all. If you want to lower it, stiffen the suspension and get rid of body roll; shocks, springs, and sways are the way to go. Bigger wheels can be a nice cosmetic upgrade, and can also help add a bit more grip if they are wider than stock, but they can also hurt performance because they usually weigh more and even if they don't, the weight is futher from the center of the wheel.

Ok let me explain more. I was talking to a guy and he told me I should just put 19"s on and not lower it. he said that if I lower it that it will make the performance in the corners worse. Also he stated that it would be a rougher ride. I want to lower it and when I take my vacation I was going to be in the area of Eugene OR anyway so I was going to have Les Schwab tires do it because the price is great and I hear that they do great work.

Ok let me explain more. I was talking to a guy and he told me I should just put 19"s on and not lower it. he said that if I lower it that it will make the performance in the corners worse. Also he stated that it would be a rougher ride. I want to lower it and when I take my vacation I was going to be in the area of Eugene OR anyway so I was going to have Les Schwab tires do it because the price is great and I hear that they do great work.

Lowering (by cutting your springs) will negatively affect the handling. However, lowering by buying new springs and shocks or coilovers will positively affect handling. Getting 19 inch wheels will most likely hurt handling, unless it's one of the few wheels that are lighter in 19 inches than we are stock, in which case it will help handling a bit since there is less sidewall rollover. However, it will negatively affect your ride. If you're looking to gain in cornering, you should definitely get a set of springs and shocks or coilovers over 19 inch wheels.

Ok let me explain more. I was talking to a guy and he told me I should just put 19"s on and not lower it. he said that if I lower it that it will make the performance in the corners worse. Also he stated that it would be a rougher ride. I want to lower it and when I take my vacation I was going to be in the area of Eugene OR anyway so I was going to have Les Schwab tires do it because the price is great and I hear that they do great work.


Lowering the car and stiffening up the suspension will give the car a somewhat "rougher" ride, but that will equate to better handling in the corners due to less body roll, lower center of gravity, etc. and it sounds like this is what you are looking for. I would suggest either Koni or Tokico shocks (both are adjustable so you can control how stiff the suspension is) and maybe Eibach springs (there is a much larger spring selection for the 8 than shock selection, the Eibachs lower about 1.5 all around).

I would NOT have Les Schwab install your suspension. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them in the past and so have several friends. If you are thinking about getting 19" wheels, I would stay away from Schwab also because their wheel selection is crappy, cheap and heavy.

the guy you were talking to has no ideas.

the guy you were talking to has no ideas.

Thanks for the advice all. I was going to go with H&R for my lowering but I also heard that Eibach is a lot better. So who would you suggest I go through to get the lowering done? I live in San Diego and the only reason I was going to get it done at that place was due to the fact of the price.

Many here have experienced that H&R actually lowers the car much more than advertised... might be quite a bit lower than you are looking for.

Before you lower the car you need to consider where you drive it and if the car after it's lowered is going be be able to handle driveway slopes, etc.

Yeah I looked into that and my friend has his like dropped 2" and he has to go in an anlge on every driveway. I mostly want the better cornering and I hate body roll.

front and rear sway bars and dropped car will reduce alot of body roll.

What your friend is talking about is going to a larger diameter wheel, then putting on tires with the same overall diameter. This gives you a smaller tire sidewall with less flex. That would reduce body roll somewhat. Shocks, Springs & Swaybars would reduce this more, be cheaper and improve handling more. GrandAm Koni Challenge ST RX8's race cars use 17" tires.

just look into a suspension upgrade like others have stated. sway bars will eliminate a lot of body roll.