What are my options for an easily adjustable height suspension?

drivethruecp · May 5, 2005

I am a newbie to suspension by the way.. I want to drastically lower my 2002 mp ES but I want to also be able to bring it back up to stock height easily (to avoid scraping my car constantly as my friends do, it being my daily driver and all...because its rough around here..). I am planning on putting at least 17's on it also.. I know I can bag it, but I don't think that is what I need....and I am not really understanding the whole adjustable coil-overs...how easily can you change your height? Is there other options for air springs..or something.. what are each way of doing this and what are the pro's and con's. Bagging is just too expensive.. and I don't really need all of that... Any recommendations or explanations? Include brands, etc.

bonesmp5 · May 5, 2005

tell us what you plan on doing with the car ----
is it for some track time or do you just want to be LoWeR than normal -- hehe

JCell · May 5, 2005

i've never heard of easy adjustable suspention, on most of them the car jas to be jacked up and with 2 rackets, the suspention can then adjusted

FunkyBuddha · May 5, 2005

Ya what JCell said. Any of the coilovers...gotta jack up the car to adjust the height.

drivethruecp · May 5, 2005

(its just for looks...no track..) So is that easy thing to do...jack up the car and adjust them. How long would it take each corner or all of them? Can this be done nearly daily...or is it bad for them? I think I saw something on a forum saying adjusting them too much is bad for them..is that true? Any other suggestions? How reliable are the adjustable coilovers..and how exactly do they work..? It would usually drop my car how much..and then bring it back up to stock height? Is the ride still the same in the stock height position? Any specific brands? Thanks!!!!

Nutari · May 5, 2005

airbags... hydraulics..

push button, instant height change.

drivethruecp · May 5, 2005

What are ALL of the other options? I don't want to use airbags or hydraulics..

apexlater · May 5, 2005

No offense, but why would you want to adjust your ride height DAILY? Plus, if you are constantly raising and lowering your car you will have to compensate your alignment also.

If you are willing to spend the cash, there is an air-ride system that is height adjustable from inside the car with a dial. I don't know all the details, but a guy I kinda know has it in his WRX. It might be Tein, but I'm not sure. It's really noisy too.

I think you are going to have to decide either be slammed and deal with the show look and buying new ground-effects every month, or keep your stock springs for the street and buy a set of lowering springs to install anytime you go to "show" your car, whether at an event or a parking lot, or whatever you need to be slammed for.

my .02

drivethruecp · May 5, 2005

apexlater said:
No offense, but why would you want to adjust your ride height DAILY? Plus, if you are constantly raising and lowering your car you will have to compensate your alignment also.

If you are willing to spend the cash, there is an air-ride system that is height adjustable from inside the car with a dial. I don't know all the details, but a guy I kinda know has it in his WRX. It might be Tein, but I'm not sure. It's really noisy too.

I think you are going to have to decide either be slammed and deal with the show look and buying new ground-effects every month, or keep your stock springs for the street and buy a set of lowering springs to install anytime you go to "show" your car, whether at an event or a parking lot, or whatever you need to be slammed for.

my .02

Can you find out more about the "air-ride system"? This kid had a blazer in GA that had that I think..there like air shocks...you fill them up and let the air out or something...or is that diff. How the ride quality with those? thnx

mountjonas · May 5, 2005

drivethruecp said:
Can you find out more about the "air-ride system"? This kid had a blazer in GA that had that I think..there like air shocks...you fill them up and let the air out or something...or is that diff. How the ride quality with those? thnx

(google) is your friend.

EcLites · May 5, 2005

If you do go with air ride suspension make sure to go with the air "struts" and not "bags". The bags are the ones that usually give people trouble because it can easily get tears in it causing leaks. On the other hand the struts are more durable. I am currently doing research on this because i intend on buying a air suspension kit for my car. I am not familiar with MSP's but from my understanding the EasyStreet line by Air RIde is the line to go with. All their kits are made specifically for each car and are direct bolt on replacments. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions regarding air ride suspension. I'v become an expert over the past few weeks. :lol:

drivethruecp · May 6, 2005

Can someone explain how the adjustable coilovers work EXACTLY? They seem like the most reliable? and less expensive.. How would the ride quality be too?

FunkyBuddha · May 6, 2005

drivethruecp said:
(its just for looks...no track..) So is that easy thing to do...jack up the car and adjust them. How long would it take each corner or all of them? Can this be done nearly daily...or is it bad for them? I think I saw something on a forum saying adjusting them too much is bad for them..is that true? Any other suggestions? How reliable are the adjustable coilovers..and how exactly do they work..? It would usually drop my car how much..and then bring it back up to stock height? Is the ride still the same in the stock height position? Any specific brands? Thanks!!!!

Ok..you're asking how long it takes. How long does it take for YOU to jack up the car corner by corner? Seriously...do some research man. There are tons of info on this website and google is a few clicks away.

apexlater · May 6, 2005

Air shocks in trucks and vans are usually used for towing purposes. And the air suspension is a Praxxis I believe in the WRX. Adjusting a coilover set-up isn't hard to do, just hard to do right.

There is a perch where the spring sits, and you can adjust how high or low it is to adjust your ride height, the key is you will have to adjust, put the car down, measure ride height, get the car back up to adjust, repeat as necessary. I'm not even going to get into corner-weighting the car to balance it.

It just doesn't make any sense, to me, that you would want to change your ride height DAILY. What/why exactly would you do that?

BradC · May 6, 2005

apexlater said:
Air shocks in trucks and vans are usually used for towing purposes. And the air suspension is a Praxxis I believe in the WRX. Adjusting a coilover set-up isn't hard to do, just hard to do right. There is a perch where the spring sits, and you can adjust how high or low it is to adjust your ride height, the key is you will have to adjust, put the car down, measure ride height, get the car back up to adjust, repeat as necessary. I'm not even going to get into corner-weighting the car to balance it.

It just doesn't make any sense, to me, that you would want to change your ride height DAILY. What/why exactly would you do that?

Praxis is correct. You can find more info @ Tirerack. Bridgestone makes it. SCC had it on their project WRX and were not the most please with it. It wasn't as ideal as it sounds, although they said it was good.

apexlater · May 6, 2005

Yeah, the thing is noisy and doesn't perform very well handling wise, but if you like the ability to control the ride height from in the car, then it may be what you are looking for.

drivethruecp · May 7, 2005

So it seems there is no real "quality" way to do this...its either dropped or stock.. The more I read about airbags and air shocks...etc.. just seem unreliable... Damn...

I took a look at the Praxis Advanced Suspension system..seems like what I want? But the don't have it for my car do they..a little to pricey too.

My reason for doin this is that it is my daily driver/ commuter and the roads can seriously f up a dropped car. I mean I love it dropped...as most..but I wish there was a way to have the best of both worlds.. sounds stupid...but logical// any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks for all of your input!

JCell · May 7, 2005

i've heard from people that have dropped rides that kits r ususally unrealible, but custom setups seem to perfrom way better

bonesmp5 · May 7, 2005

My turn ---

Airbags can be very reliable -- it just all depends on who installs it for you and which bags they use ---- install is a key factor in a system like this --
keep in mind that Semi Trucks use bags -- even puplic transportation uses bags on Buses so they can lower the front to assist people getting on and off the bus from a high curb ---

I dont thik Big rigs and buses would use such system if all they had was problems ----

a forum member says he had bags on his pro for 43k miles ----- (cheers)

bonesmp5 · May 7, 2005

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=175933339&dealer_id=55758260&car_year=2002&search_type=both&make=MAZDA&model=PROTE5&transmission=Manual&distance=0&address=97216&advanced=&certified=&max_price=&min_price=&end_year=2006&color=Yellow&start_year=1981&color3=&color2=&isp=y&engine=&lang=en&cardist=982

What are my options for an easily adjustable height suspension?

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