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[Albatross]

What did you do move the wheels up   as the picture of your car by the garage, looks like it has not been lower, look at the boot on the garage door  

As stated the initial pictures were crude (i.e. 5 minute) PhotoShop jobs to see what it might look like if it were to be lowered. The pictures on the 2nd page are actual pictures of the car after it is lowered.

The reason the bottom of the Garage door is stepped like that is that I have shortened the whole picture by removing 2" from between the wheels and the main body of the car. Simple really. If you look carefully at all the initial pictures of the hypothetically lowered car you'll see quite a few little "anomalies" caused by the rushed job in PhotoShop. Check the tall 6th course up of bricks on the right hand of the picture for example.

[BIGHUCK]

I've been umming and aahing (is that how you spell it?) about lowering my car for a little while now and still can't make up my mind.

The 'lowered' picture below is a crude PhotoShop job, but it gets the point accross.

Since doing the editied picture I look at the original one and it starts to look like a 4x4

What do people think, go for it or leave it? lower is the way to go mate looks the biz





Also, would anyone disagree with Eibach as the preferred route should I go for it? Are there better options? I'm only thinking of 30mm kits maximum.

[BIGHUCK]

OK, the Elite has now had full MV6 springs and brand new std MV6 shocks fitted all round yesterday at WIM.



I think it is just low enough now, it has certainly tamed the back end which seemed to be miles in the air.

It feels a whole world better.

nice  

[micky]

Hi Albatros, please can you tell me if you used gen Vaux parts for your lowering conversion and any part numbers( and an approx price) if avail (my local dealer tells me that they won`t go on my Elite with s/l but I know he is telling me porkys!! )Also I guess it would`nt really work, but what would be the effect of simply immobilising the air supply to the s/l. Also I`m a bit naive here, but why did you need different width spacers front and back? Thanks!! Micky

[Albatross]

Hi Albatros, please can you tell me if you used gen Vaux parts for your lowering conversion and any part numbers( and an approx price) if avail (my local dealer tells me that they won`t go on my Elite with s/l but I know he is telling me porkys!! )Also I guess it would`nt really work, but what would be the effect of simply immobilising the air supply to the s/l. Also I`m a bit naive here, but why did you need different width spacers front and back? Thanks!! Micky

Hi Albatros, please can you tell me if you used gen Vaux parts for your lowering conversion and any part numbers( and an approx price) if avail (my local dealer tells me that they won`t go on my Elite with s/l but I know he is telling me porkys!! )Also I guess it would`nt really work, but what would be the effect of simply immobilising the air supply to the s/l. Also I`m a bit naive here, but why did you need different width spacers front and back? Thanks!! Micky

I used MV6 springs and shocks all round. This does mean that you lose the self-levelling, but unless you're planning on towing a caravan it doesn't matter.

The air lines simply disconnect from the system in the middle of the car and there is a valve which means that the compressor realises that there are no shocks connected and doesn't bother trying to pump them up. Dead simple.

I would strongly recommend getting your car set up properly afterwards at somewhere like wheels-inmotion.

It is one of the best upgrades to my Elite that I have made and the car drives so much better now.

I could give you the part numbers, but they are different shocks at the front depending on the size of engine you have, and you haven't provided you car information in your profile.

The rears don't come on the Trade Card and that TC Book is my only source of part numbers. :-/

The reason I had different spacers on front and rear is quite simple. If you look at a regular Omega the rear wheels seem much more 'tucked in' under the car then the fronts. I personally wanted it to look a bit more balanced and the wheels nearer the arch. The rears needed pushing out further to give it the balanced look. The difference is only 9mm per corner between front and rear (18mm wider at the rear axle than the front), but it makes all the difference.

It is a bit complicated but...

The old Elite wheels are ET38
The new Signum SRI wheels are ET45

So I lost 7mm of track width per corner or 14mm per axle.

I then added 50mm of track on the rear axle (25mm per corner) or a net of 18mm per corner.

On the front I added 32mm on the axle (16mm per corner), so that is a net gain 9mm per front corner.

Sorry about the long post, but you asked a few complex questions

[CateraMV6]

I dont know why but my rear end sits way too low doesnt it, its all stock components and my self leveling does work... maybe it looses pressure over time... the back end sort of sits low so does the front end but not as bad...

[micky]

Hi Albatros, your a star, thanks for the info you have provided!!!! My own car is a 1999 Elite estate 2.5 in silver that has just had a Steinmetz kit fitted all round and really looks fantastic, that kit really enhances the appearance of the vehicle. At the moment she still rides on the original alloys which do not actually look too small, despite the kit, although I think if these wheels do stay on the car the track could do with widening by 20 mm or so, especially at the rear. The biggest thing for me at the moment is to reduce that gap between the top of the rear tyre and the arch (to get away from that up in the air look) hence my interest in your conversion.   If you do have any part no`s at all it would be great, if not don`t worry as I do not want to put you to any trouble. As a matter of curiousity do you think it would be possible to change the set up on the rear end alone as the front spoiler is pretty near the deck already !! So many people that I have spoken to have given me so many different answers. Thanks once again for your help, Micky.

[Albatross]

Yeah, you could change only the rear set-up, but I would be inclined to do both ends. The lowering is only "officially" 15mm, but that is from a new car's set-up.

You'll get more than that in lowering at the rear because the self-levelling system is just stupidly high. If your front is that low as you say as standard I would begin to suspect that perhaps your front needs doing anyway as the springs and shocks could well be tired out.

The biggest thing to bear in mind is that by going to MV6 suspension you will massively improve the handling, if you only do the rear and not the front I suspect that the handling may be a bit off and certainly not what you're after.