I am sure this topic has been milked daily and constantly brought up but I was other forum members direct opinion on what they think. Any input is accepted. I recently sold my explorer and purchased a 2009 Chevrolet cobalt ss sedan in victory red Well now I'm kinda stuck. I've done a good bit of work to this car and my next step is lowering it. Where I live they might as well rename it to bump city. The roads aren't the greatest so I'm not looking to slam the car with crazy amounts of camber. I'm looking for a modest drop but don't want to get to pricey. I came across two options: Eibach sportline springs or K-sport coil-overs. Now according to prior research I was told lowering springs shorten the life of the factory shocks/struts. With that being said eventually I would purchased a set of koni struts/shocks to go with the springs. If I decide to order springs I will also order the sway bars as well. The total would come out to about 1200$ for the shocks, struts, sway bars, and springs. Now after looking into coil-overs I stumbled across K-sports. Keep in mind a set of coil-overs included full adjustable ride heights, new strut/shock assemblies, and full damper/camber adjustments. The coil-overs are 1,000$ shipped, and I love the fact that I can adjust the height if needed. I would later add sway bars bringing the total to 1300$. The question is should I go with springs/sway bars for now and replace the struts/shocks on a later date. Or get it all over and done with and order a set of coil-overs. Again I'm not looking for something to slam my car, but at the same time I was to get alittle lower since the factory ride height seems to high for me. Thanks guys!

 

And I haven't quite gotten into the track scene yet, but its something I am looking into in the future.

 

If your intentions is only going low, get the coil overs
If you plan on handling well, go koni and powell YYZ springs.
You don't need to replace the front sway bar, it's good enough on the SS
and for the rear sway bar go with powell also, his stuff is worth every penny.

 

Sportlines are alright, they do give you a nice drop but the ride is kinda shitty. I say you look into john powells speing called yyz(i think) v2. Becauae the v2s do give you a bit more pf a drop than the v1 and to what I heard the ride is almost as stock feel and they handle great at the track. My 2cents.

 

personally i wouldn't do either of those options. depending on how many miles your stock suspension has on it i would just go with either SSC/CM springs right now or Powell YYZ for absolute best handling. sportlines are a rough ride and ksports (i know the older models of coilovers) tend to be bouncy, can't comment on the recent models. there is a reason the stock ss/tc fe5 suspension is the best of all the cobalts, and SSC/CM/YYZ springs are the closest spring rate to stock but give you a nice subtle drop

 

qft

 

I'll explain the path I took after just finishing buying all the parts. I picked up a used Powell hardcore rear swaybar ($210 shipped) then bought a set of Koni struts off of riceburner ($280) then ordered the rear Koni shocks ($258) lastly picked up Powell YYZ V.3 springs ($360). So all in all it's cost me $1108 and I won't have to toutch the suspension again. It'll be a bit lower and handle better while having a good ride. Had I went for coilovers it would have been about the same price way worse ride quality, questionable reliability depending on which brand you choose, worse handling but a better drop. The negatives don't seem to outweigh the positives, at least for me anyways.

P.S. swaybar is on with the rest being put on this upcoming Saturday.

 

I have the Pedders springs with the koni shocks right now. Its very nice! I am in the military so I have to go over numerous speed bumps on base every day and I just barely make it over. The car feels great at speed and nice on the track, I auto-x as much as I can and it handles just fine. I really wish I had a rear sway bar though. If you plan on tracking then get the sway bar with it all. Basically just get ahold of Powell and give them your credit card number... just get it all!... if you get the springs/shock/sway combo you will handle much much much better then the guy next to you with the coils... just my 2˘

 

^^ this... think about why your getting them really. If where you say is that bad plus your thinking about possibly racing, coils would most likely irritate you more than suit your cause, not to say coilovers are bad at all ( I love my stances) and they have amazing handling . Springs are not adjustable but not too pricey either so if you don't like the first ones you get then it won't be hard to get another set if your intentions change in the future. From my experience ksport used to have poor customer service so keep that aspect in mind too.. good luck on deciding! I have rear koni yellows ill sell if thats what route you decide on man..

 

x2 bajillion

 

I think I'm about to ask a dumb question....but I'm gonna anyway....

if you spend the bucks on coilovers, you're paying for adjustability, yes?

so...
adjustable ride height = yay
adjustable damping and rebound = yay
camber plates = yay

shitty ride quality due to stiff springs = coilovers suck ?

waitaminit.....

when I worked at the hot rod shop if we didn't like the way the car rode on its coilovers, we swapped the springs until we were satisfied

why can't we do the same thing here with these coilovers?

 

Coilovers don't suck at all. I love mine and yes you get all the adjustability BUT the op said his streets are very bumpy which with the stiffness will make it bounce so it probably isnt ideal (yes you can buy separate springs but why putbmore money into it when he doesnt care much about being low) and also dropping with bad roads can be a bad thing anyways, i havent seen all coilover at max height but I cant imagine them being too much higher than sportlines or k sports.Either way, I think what everyone was saying is that to us springs/ bar/ struts are a better way to go especially if hes not too concerned about a drop as much the ride.

 

granted this was on two different cars but I've had both setups and to be honest the best one was the coilovers, and this was with going up and around in Detroit, another place with horrid streets...

seems like from here on it'll be preference and amount to spend

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note booyahh

 

Surprised you say that. I don't drive my car to Detroit anymore, because I'm on coils.

 

Okay so it seems alot of people have gone different routes on this one. From what I'm hearing go with springs. But not eibachs. Thanks for the advice about the sway bar never knew that. Guess ill only pick up the rear bar. If I go the spring route I'm not upgrading my shocks till mine go. So in the end ill have to replace them a later date. Or do you think I should wait till I can afford the shocks, struts, rear sway bar, and springs all at once. Can anyone give me a link or something for these yyz springs? Or send me the name of the person I should pm for pricing? Thanks guys! Appreciate all the help so far!

 

Just get the rear sway bar and see how the car behaves with the stock struts and springs. Then make changes from there. From what I heard for AutoX, the stock setup is actually pretty good


Just read the OP, your looking for the drop? Or the performance? performance, Id stick with stock struts and get a 1" drop spring. I keep hearing the name Pedders thrown around for springs.

 

I want it lowered though. Not much maybe a 1" in the front 1.5" in the rear.

 

So keep the stock struts and shocks till they go bad? Get a good set of springs with a modest drop, and get the rear sway bar?

 

yes.

 

That's honestly what I was leaning more towards. I just really don't feel like replacing then later on.

 

How are ssc lowering springs? Compared to stock and other brands?

 

I've had them on for a year now, well the CM springs that a lot of people say are te same. Ride is damn nearly the same as stock- and they are supposed to have similar rates to stock as well, which is a good thing. The drop is decent, though most of us could go for it being a touch lower, especially in the rear.

 

Thanks man all I'm looking for is about a an inch in the front and to level the back out since we all know how these sit in the rear. Pretty much set on the ssc springs with a rear sway bar. Gonna be about 400 for it all. Then once my shocks and struts go I'm going to pick up a set of konis. Thanks everyone!!! Still interested in this info about the yyz shocks!

 

Here is all the information you requested.
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/susp...prings-282321/
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/gene...powell-296456/
The springs are $360 shipped and you can order the hardcore rear swaybar at the same time if you want to buy it new.

 

360$ for springs? Ugh that's more than I hoped. From what I hear the sscs are nice and for 210$ shipped new they seem to be more appealing to my budget. Thanks though!