I believe it's time to just flat out explain why lowering springs do not improve your handling. It infact should worsen it. The rate of your stock springs and your stock shocks were made to work with each other. The fact is that the stock shocks were not designed to handle the increased rate of an aftermarket spring. This also causes more wear and tear on the stock shocks. The wheels on the car will oscillate in a manner that will actually reduce wheel contact with the ground. The more the springs are compressed the larger the oscillations will be, thus meaning the harder you push your car, the worse it will handle.

What, you want proof? Okay, here it is. This following is an excerpt from the book Training WRX 2nd Edition by Nick Warne. These are track times provided by Whiteline's Project REX I and II. NOT QUARTER MILE. Car was required to do atleast a minimum of 4 laps, more if the driver felt he could do it faster. Professional driver running with Falken GrB's 205/50/16 tires with moderate tread.

Vehicle: MY99 WRX sedan

Session 1
Conditions: Steady light rain
Suspension: Stock
Seconds: 0.00 (base)

Session 6
Conditions: Light rain, standing water
Suspension: Stock w/ KCA319 Anti-lift kit
Seconds: -0.79 (.79 seconds faster)

Session 8
Conditions: Light rain, track drying
Suspension: Stock w/ same ALK and aftermarket lowered heavy duty springs
Seconds: -0.23

Let's recap. If the ALK provides a gain of 0.79 seconds, that means the lowering springs made the car atleast a half second slower. Keep in mind this is also while track conditions were improving.

... I'm sure someone will ask later, so I'll just say it now. Larger rear sway bar alone provided a full second faster track time.


It's plain and simple, if you want it for cosmetic reasons, there is nothing wrong with a set of springs. It's cheap and accomplishes your goal of eliminating that crazy front wheel gap. Most people probably never push their car hard enough under daily driving to feel the effects of it. Just be mindful that your shocks will probably go sooner than with stock springs.

To lower a car properly, you need to either match up the spring with a set of shocks, or do a full blown set of coilovers.

Consider this then. In order to lower the car, the spring's length has to be shorter. That means the weight of the car will compress the shocks until it meets the top of the spring and the resistance holds up the entire car. Shocks were not made to be partically compressed 24/7 more than it was origionally meant to. This would also be what leads to faster wear on the shock itself.

Going back to the aftermarket spring, they're shorter in overall length so the car can sit lower. This is the obvious. They say it's made to work with the stock shocks, okay, but think about it. It doesn't make sense. If it's made with the same rate as the stock shocks, then you would bottom them out (one reason why cutting stock springs are bad) on major turns, braking, or on acceleration. The only way to compensate for that is to make the spring stiffer, and thus avoid bottoming out the shocks. But if the spring is stiffer, it no longer works with the stock shock.

Maybe there's some spring manufacturing secret that I'm not aware of and defies the laws of physics... I guess I did get a C in physics for engineering majors