does lowering my SLE necessarily mean losing comfortabilty?

by **prometheus** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:23 pm

i love my solara but i would like it even more if it was lowered, but if i do will i lose the luxury ride it has with the stock springs?.... are there any suggestions.....pls thanks :sweet:

another question.... if i wanted to darken my tint would i have to take off the old tint? tnx :drinking:

by **Biggi_e** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:52 pm

any lowering will cause loss of comfort in a car. what springs are you looking for? or coilover sets?

as for tint, i would suggest you take off the old tint and get it re-done the proper way.

by **TxBmbleBee** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:52 pm

yes it will become stiffer

by **ClassySolaraGuy** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:03 pm

You need to remember though that when you do go lower it will be stiffer period. Now the stiffness all depends on your setup...struts/springs/co's. There are countless threads of people here that have tried various oem and aftermarket suspension setups. Seeing that you have a Gen 2 Lara, there isn't a whole lot of strut/spring combos like you'd find for the Gen 1-1.5 folks. Most people should agree with me on this...Do not get lowering springs on your sle without upgrading your struts to se sport struts or KYB GR2's! There is a sticky on the Gen 2-2.5 aftermarket forum that will give you a list of what's out there suspension wise and more for your lara.

by **PXLpainter** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:55 pm

Take it from me - don't do what I did and lower it with springs only and keeping the SLE struts!! It is HORRID!!!

Yes, it will be stiffer ride as others have noted... you will feel every bump in the road and your woman will bitch about it constantly (unless she gets behind the wheel often). Same goes for things like neck-snapping acceleration (yeah, RIGHT! in a Gen 2? :lol:

) and anything that makes it louder. Consider yourself warned!

by **gnegroni** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:38 pm

ClassySolaraGuy wrote:You need to remember though that when you do go lower it will be stiffer period. Now the stiffness all depends on your setup...struts/springs/co's. There are countless threads of people here that have tried various oem and aftermarket suspension setups. Seeing that you have a Gen 2 Lara, there isn't a whole lot of strut/spring combos like you'd find for the Gen 1-1.5 folks. Most people should agree with me on this...Do not get lowering springs on your sle without upgrading your struts to se sport struts or KYB GR2's! There is a sticky on the Gen 2-2.5 aftermarket forum that will give you a list of what's out there suspension wise and more for your lara.

As far as the Sport struts vs KYB GR2s...which is is better and is it worth it? I got quoted $150 for EACH strut down here in PR, and they were Camry's, not even Solaras... I'm pretty sure Reggie can do a lot better with pricing on the Sport struts.

by **yaddadaimsayin** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:06 pm

ughhh yeah thats why i'm hesitant on lowering it too. the solara rides so damn high but its such a comfortable ride! i figure springs would look cool and give me better control (maybe) but its not worth trading for comfort.

by **Aotoyota** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:16 pm

im all about the KYB struts + trd springs.

ride didnt get that bad. and fyi..the oem ones say KYB all over
it, plus they are half the cost of the oem ones.

by **Ilovemylara** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:43 am

About the tint: Yes you would have to remove it, otherwise it would be way to dark once you install more over it. Dont pay a shop to remove it though. They wanted to charge my friend 150 dollars for that. I decided to save him money by removing it for him. The easiest way is to spray it with lots of Windex (has to have Ammonia, thats the stuff that eats away at the glue liner of the tint and turns it purple) then heat it up with a heat gun , or hair dryer if a heat gun isnt readily available. Finally slowly peel it off. If done correctly there shouldnt be any residue left behind, so you wont be needing to use any razors to clean up the mess.

by **kingkakyle** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:41 am

Ilovemylara wrote: Dont pay a shop to remove it though. They wanted to charge my friend 150 dollars for that. I decided to save him money by removing it for him.

the place i go to they removes the tint for free as long as ur getting new tint from them =P

by **Biggi_e** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:07 am

if you can do it yourself, thats fine but the rear window would be a challenge

by **panic** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:43 am

any lowering will cause loss of comfort in a car

Why?

by **prometheus** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:32 am

thanks for all the replies.....
isnt there a way where they tie a couple coils of your suspension to make it lower?..... wouldnt that work? therefore having the same soft springs.

forgive me if its a stupid idea, i just remember hearing something like that in the past.

by **sdubk** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:06 pm

panic wrote:any lowering will cause loss of comfort in a car

Why?

less suspension travel = harder ride

by **panic** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:21 pm

Err... not necessarily. That's just the way it works if you use those parts.
If you use a longer, smaller wire diameter coil you can have softer ride and lower height - but it will bottom very easily.

does lowering my SLE necessarily mean losing comfortabilty?

does lowering my SLE necessarily mean losing comfortabilty?

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