Hey,
I just got new tires reacently and it feels like the car has trouble out at the limits with the increased grip (more roll) plus I'm looking at the thing and there's just too much space between the tires and the wheel well anyway. Being that it's an R/T it already rides pretty firm. I'd like to drop the car about an inch to an inch and a half. Is it possible to do this without makeing the ride alot harsher? I still want it to handle better and not bottom out. I was also considering doing the sway bar bushings. Does that firm up the ride much? Pretty sure I've got the stiffest set of stock bars available. My old Nissan prectically required a mouthpiece when you drove it, but after the drop it only had about an inch of travel. I'm hoping neons are more forgiving.

Thanks,

 

well any drop you give the stock suspension it wil effect the ride, but if you go with a eibach prokit, you should be fine. or you can also go with a bigger swaybar to help get rid of the body role, but the springs will give you the best gain, handling wise..............
as for the bushings, you can go a set of polyurithan,

 

I used Eibach Pro-Kit springs on stock struts and the ride is not that bad at all. You will notice the change and feel everything on the road, but itds not terrible by any means. Installing new suspension bushings will help out in firming up your suspension...i would highly suggest the Hotchkis Sway Bars, the biggest, lightest, and best quality sway bars on the market for the Neon.

Oh if you want to see picture of an R/T dropped on the Eibach springs just look in my photo gallery...some of the photos are of the car before the drop, but you should be able to tell which are which.

 

Wow! yes, it's easy to see the difference before and after. That's a nice car. I'm sticking with the stock wheels as well. I like um. So did you measure the drop distance? Looks like more than an inch. My friend went with the pro kit on his nissan, while I got talked into Suspension techniques with mine. I regret. So you have the Hotchkis bars and the bushings as well, or are you just speaking from common forum knowledge? I noticed you are in Toledo. I'm in Dayton. I should just come up and drive it!

 

The drop for the rear is roughly 1.4" and the drop for the front is almost 1.7"...i wish the rear was just a little bit lower, but i love the way it looks compared to stock. As far as the sways, i dont have them, i was ready to buy them and a bunch of other stuff for the suspension but i got caught in my turbo project...i do have new bushings all around and you do feel a diffierence, just not as much as if you put the massive Hotchkis sways on .

 

That's a pretty serious drop. This car must have a great deal more initial travel than my Nissan did. I value your opinion of the ride because I know your car rode just like mine before the drop. My wife hates how the car rides stock so I guess it won't matter anyway. So the say bar bushings would be a subtle improvment as compared to the hotchiks. You would not do the bushings if you got the big bars, correct?

Thanks,

Duane

 

Right, the Hotchkis sways come with new bushings and mounting hardware so if you think you'll be buying the new bars any time soon then theres really no reason to buy new bushings...

Back to the ride though, if she didnt like the ride stock, which i thought was pretty damn good, she will not like the ride after its lowered at all. Its a little "bouncy" just like with any lowered car, but not bad at all under normal driving. Still have to watch out for those big bumps and railroad tracks, but normal conditions the ride is still good.

 

Here's my measure. Is it hard to talk at the same tone to someone in the passenger seat? I remember this with my old lowered car (man that sounded funny). I always wondered if the ride got that worse due to the weight of another person or if it was just I didn't notice that aspect because I don't talk when I'm by myself (much) . Like I said, I'd still do it. She drives the gas hog most of the time and if we are going somewhere together and I don't insist she just gets in the Yukon. The kid's always loved the slot racer though. I bet the handling is awsome with prokit, h bars and the shock tower tie bars. SWEEEET.