Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension How low is too low? Adverse effects?

Hmmm. Just saw this same comment on a Saturn racing prep site. Their comment was that any lowering past 30mm, for their cars, and you'd be prepared to replace these things quite a bit.

Is there an accepted limit for our CV joints? Back to my original question: How low is too low?

I don't think there's hard data of when "things" actually start to break.

The Saturn page you read is about racecars, where stress is maximal for prolonged periods. A season's racing is probably harder than 5 years of street driving..

A local race team runs VR6 VW's and they have once told me that although the cars handled better very low, they would have CV joint failures all the time.

Does all this translate to our 'tours on the street? To an extent yes, I guess you have to look at your mileage. I've done about 15k mile on an extreme drop without breaking anything. I know it'll happen though, sooner than on a stock setup, but I'm willing to bet it'll still last a serious while. The street is no racetrack...

Dispite what you think the driveshafts are designed operate in a level plane,when the car is dropped more than around 1 1/2" the drive shaft wear rate increases.......on a lot of fwd race setups the engine mounts are raised to correct this & hoods modded re clearence...to get the shafts back in wack....

So, stock height is best, but an inch (BAT) or so (Eibach) should be OK. 1.5" (Koni Kit, B+G) is pushing the limits, and 1.75" (H&R) is right out (and the B+G "Autobahn" at 2.25" is really wacky).

Am I getting it?