FAQ: Aftermarket Lowering Springs

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/EIBACH-PROKIT-LOWERING-SPRINGS-98-99-CADILLAC-SEVILLE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33582QQihZ010QQitemZ200030705054QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

This Ebay seller has 50 sets at $224 + $40 shipping to lower 48.

Jack, are you still waiting for yours?

turtleman wrote:

definitely good idea, dave. I don't know how much spring wear is noticed on the riv but usually springs get pretty tired after about 100k miles. I know on most of gm's mid-sized passenger cars, you can literally see that the car sits lower past 100k. If it's to the point where ride hight is changed, it can wear out your new shocks faster also. Guys come in to my work all the time with trucks and minivans with 100+mi buying new shocks every year and never replacing the springs. The springs are what hold the weight of the car.

That's just about got me sold! Shocks and struts are too expensive to be buying them every year!

Quote :

Please provide the exact model and year of your car and your choice of springs with your payment or send us an email after the payment

What exact springs do we need?

Are these a 1" or 2" drop for us? I thought regular STS springs were a 1" drop, so if these are a 1" drop over regular STS springs, wouldn't that make them a 2" drop?

Quote :

Jack, are you still waiting for yours?

Yep. I called Intrax a couple week ago, because I wasn't sure if the problem was on Never Enough's end. Intrax assured me that they are waiting for the springs to come in from Europe and that it WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. So I've decided to hang on another 30 days or so. I could go with Eibach, but I don't think the one inch drop is what I'm looking for.

Quote :

I thought regular STS springs were a 1" drop, so
if these are a 1" drop over regular STS springs, wouldn't that make
them a 2" drop?

Why would that be the case????

Jack in OK: Sorry, thought you had ordered Eibach.

Jack the R: Eibach lists 3872.140 as the # for Caddy STS 98/99, and shows 1" front and rear. I'd interpret that as 1" lower than stock Caddy springs. I don't personally know if the Caddy OEM springs are lower than our springs. Me, I'm sticking with OEM, ordered them this morning. A 1" drop was tempting though.

jax95riv wrote:

Quote :

I thought regular STS springs were a 1" drop, so
if these are a 1" drop over regular STS springs, wouldn't that make
them a 2" drop?

Why would that be the case????

I mis-remembered what Jason wrote earlier. I've reread the thread though and it's only a 1" drop.

Scared me. I thought I was going to end up with a three inch drop!

1.7 may be bad enough. I went down a sloped driveway once and scraped the nose so bad I thought the chin spoiler was going to tear off!

I have the Ebach STS springs on my '97 Riv. Front is fine, rear is too weak to hold up the back end without a 1/2" spacer. I plan to go with an air-ride for the back as soon as I am done with my other projects. Because the Riv is heavier than the STS you get more of a drop. More like 2".

I wouldn't mind a 1" drop in the front, but it looks like Eibach only sells the complete 4 spring set. I don't see a listing to buy fronts only. Not that it matters now, I already ordered OEM fronts from the dealer.

ewolfe, how much firmer was the ride after installing the Eibach STS springs?

Keep in mind i did addco sway bars, poly bushings, GR2 struts, rancho's, and everything in between. The ride is great. Not bone jarring (unless the Rancho's ar turned up) at all but no body roll, very solid. It also does not look like some of those rice burners bouncing down the road because of a poor setup. I'll be in Greenville, SC and ATL all this week with the Riv if anybody is close, I'd like meet up...expecially you guys with tuner knowledge! HPTuner will take a long time for me to get use to.

ewolfe0050 wrote:

I have the Ebach STS springs on my '97 Riv. Front is fine, rear is too weak to hold up the back end without a 1/2" spacer. I plan to go with an air-ride for the back as soon as I am done with my other projects. Because the Riv is heavier than the STS you get more of a drop. More like 2".

That combination of drop and rims sure does fill out the wheel wells nice.

What did you do to get your speedometer to read correct with that wheel diameter?

It is good to know the eibach springs give a 2" drop. I think I need more clearance than that.

quote: "What did you do to get your speedometer to read correct with that wheel diameter?"

Another advantage of the DHP PowrTuner!

I am only running a slightly taller tire (1/2")... the error on the spedo is very, very small. Besides, who looks at the speedo anyway!!! I am just in the infancy of the HP Tuner but this will be corrected.... Any body dealt with the HP Tuner vs the DHP?? (probably needs to be in another thread.)

ewolfe0050 wrote:

I am only running a slightly taller tire (1/2")... the error on the spedo is very, very small. Besides, who looks at the speedo anyway!!! I am just in the infancy of the HP Tuner but this will be corrected.... Any body dealt with the HP Tuner vs the DHP?? (probably needs to be in another thread.)

The table under "speedo" in the VCM editor can be used to scale the speedometer correctly, it requires some math, but its there. Ive never seen DHP, but I love my HPTUNERS!!!!

AA wrote:

quote: "What did you do to get your speedometer to read correct with that wheel diameter?"

Another advantage of the DHP PowrTuner!

That's good to know about.

ewolfe0050 wrote:

Because the Riv is heavier than the STS you get more of a drop. More like 2".

Here's a thought - if Turtleman is right about saggy springs wearing out shocks and struts prematurely, wouldn't the Eibach springs, with the 2" drop, also cause the shocks and struts to wear out prematurely?

I don't understand why the saggy springs would cause the shocks and struts to wear out though. The shocks and struts are not going to support the weight of the car, or wear out because of the change in ride height. They're shipped collapsed and apparently can sit that way indefinitely. If the springs weren't supporting the weight of the car the shocks and struts would just go back into the collapsed position they were shipped in and be happy there.

Maybe the shocks and struts have to do more dampening of the worn out springs motion, which causes premature failure.

quote: "I don't understand why the saggy springs would cause the shocks and struts to wear out though."

Me either. Has it been determined that luxury cars with soft-riding suspensions are prone to wearing out shocks/struts more so than sports cars with stiffer springs?

Well, the stiffer the spring, the less travel the shock should experience. Of course, I would think shocks for cars with a stiffer suspension would be designed with that in mind, and would wear at a similar rate to a softer riding luxury car. Who knows....

I haven't had any of these problems with the shocks/struts on our cars or similar cars like the caddys and auroras really but none of them were modded with different springs and stuff.

Hey Mountainrider,

Coil Spring Specialties
632 W. Bertrand
St. Mary's, KS 66536
(785) 437-2025
Fax: (888) 386-2027
info@coilsprings.com

I can't endorse them as I haven't used them (yet) but it sounded like they know what they're talking about. Let me know what they say.

So, I called and spoke with the Coil Spring Specialties tech guy.

He needs the numbers from the tags on the OE springs and then can hook me up with a stock length straight wound spring of the correct weight for our cars.

Some additional info that would probably be very helpful is the stock weight at all 4 corners or at least weight distribution front to rear.
Anyone have those numbers?

For a 95, per Road & Track -

curb weight - 3610 (3740 as tested, no sunroof)

weight distribution - (with driver) 63/37

Do the math and you can get the weight on the corners (assuming symmetrical weight side to side)

Thanks for that info Jack. Now as soon as I have the numbers from the tags on the OE springs, I can place my order. Getting them may have to wait until this weekend when I can get the wheels off. No amount of peeking underneath is revealing them. They are needed for length and strength base-lines

Have them go much stiffer.
GM no longer publishes the spring rates, but all the G-bodies had comparably soft springs. None were what you would call firm. I misplaced my file with the springs in order of firmness