TuRbOtEcTicS said:
The ride is a bit bumpier and is stiffer than stock. And it handles 1000 times better that stock too. But is a alignment really necessary?
As far as alignment goes..
I have a very crude, but hopefully effective diagram that could help explain why an alignment IS necessary after changing ride height.
In this very crude diagram, imagine that the black line represents the steering rack, and the blue lines represent the tie rods at original height, and the red lines represent the tie rods at the new lowered height.
In this example, after lowering the car, the effective length of the tie rods would have increased, causing a "toe in" condition if not corrected.
Depending on the angle of the tie rods at original height VS. Angle of tie rods after lowering, the toe would most definitely be affected.
(I have seen some rare cases where the angle before matched the angle afterwards. Originally angled down a few degrees, after lowering, angled up the same few degrees leaving the car with a perfect alignment (toe only).
Hope you can make sense of my diagram....