How would someone go about lowering a Geo Metro?

[95_corolla]

I don't know much... but I was thinking of lowering my corolla. You may just try lowering the front and not worry about the rear, easier & cheaper.... maybe just put smaller tires on the back.

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Got stuck in a snowy street with the Lambo (1 1/2"-2" drop) and I'm sure my non-lowered Tempos would have motored right on through there without breaking a sweat as the problem was the floor bottoming out on snow.

Just another thing to keep in mind if you have to rely on your car in less than ideal conditions.

That is a good point. My Geo needed some pushing this winter (probably 3-4 times). It's a bit bizarre to me because the rear-wheel-drive Fiero NEVER got stuck the 3 winters I had it. Maybe it was because the car has ideal weight distribution. The old T-Bird on the the other hand, now that car got stuck a lot! Silly light rear end.

I guess a person could have cut springs for the summer, and slap on the normal ones the same time the winter tires are put on.

[skewbe]

Hmm, I wonder what happens if you put shrader valves on the pressure side of your struts? A sort-of DIY air adjustable shock arrangement.

[VetteOwner]

well whatever you do when u cut them try to keep the metal as cool as possible...and if its hitting the bump stops just cut them off...and trim/cut whatever else hits...i origionally only had about an inch clearance between the axel and the bumpstops on my truck so i cut them off and now i have a good 3-4 inches...i could go even more if i get a notch kit. I really need to lower my truck more (mostly for looks not so much mpg...) thinking about another 2 inches (4/4 drop total)lowest i can go would be a 5/6 drop. but them im riding about a tad less than half a soda can height...deff not good in the winter/roads around here.

[Bill in Houston]

I meant to post this sooner. These are not the optimum answer, probably, but they will let you easily try out having a lowered car and then undo it if you don't like it, or you need some ground clearance for snow season.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...003419/c-10101

I thought about trying them on the Element, but it rides pretty rough already. If it was just me driving it and riding in it, I could stand it, but I don't think my family would put up with it.

[DRW]

Originally Posted by skewbe

Hmm, I wonder what happens if you put shrader valves on the pressure side of your struts? A sort-of DIY air adjustable shock arrangement.

Like this? I did this to the front and rear struts on my other car before I could afford good shocks. It works OK for small changes and fine tuning, but it's not enough to change a luxury car into a race car.

On my car the front strut shaft has about 1.1 square inches of surface area, so pumping up the shock to 50psi adds 55 pounds to the spring rate. The rear shocks have a small shaft with .37 square inch area, so 50psi in the shock adds 18.5 pounds to the spring. The spring rate of air inside the strut/shock is highly progressive. I measured it when the shock was fully extended and fully compressed. If I had ten psi extended it went up to 45psi when fully compressed. I also noticed the seals seemed to grip tighter and add friction at higher pressures- these shocks obviously were not designed to handle much pressure. I was concerned about durability so I kept the pressure around 20 to 30 psi at stock ride height.

Another area of tuning that opens up with this mod is the shock oil weight and volume. Typical shock/struts use 5 weight oil. Motorcycle shops usually carry heavier weights like 7.5, 10, 15, and sometimes 20weight. Heavier oil compliments stiffer springs since a stiff spring will rebound quicker on a given shock. I had Eibach springs on that car which were about 20% stiffer than stock. 10 and 12.5 weight shock oil worked nicely, 15w was OK, 20w was bad.

Changing oil volume inside the strut/shock has an effect on air capacity and the progressiveness of the airspring. I kept the oil volume the same just to play it safe. I didn't want to blow out seals or crack the JBWeld holding the valvestem in place!

[Peakster]

I've decided that chopping the springs should be most cost effective (take 1/2 coil at a time off, try them out for a few days, cut more if desired). Now I just need to find a place where I can take the springs to be cut.