I finally lowered my car

[gregc]

I used H&R springs for a G8. The ride isn't too far off from stock. It seems a little bit stiffer due to the 20" rims. It sits 7.5 inches from the rocker panel to the ground. The install wasn't easy considering I've only lowered old cars with shocks all around with solid rear axles. The rear tires do rub if I hit a hard bump. But otherwise it rides fine. I wouldn't recommend putting 9" width in the back if this is a concern to you. I was only going to do the rears to factor in the lack of police equipment in the back, but it was uneven looking. I ended up doing the fronts as well.
I got the install directions from the DIY section in the G8 forums. There are 2 things to note if you plan on doing this. In the G8 DIY, the say to undo the upper control arm, the rear sway bar linkage and then undo the shock mount from the top. But since the OEM spring in our cars are so tall, you'll have to undo the lower control arm as well. He also mentions using a T30 socket to undo the rear sway bar linkage, but he didn't mention that the T30 socket goes in the threaded end of the bolt and not the back. I wasted 15 minutes trying to remove the plastic cap on the back and realized the T30 socket goes on the threaded end. This is to keep the bolt from spinning when loosening the nut.

The front was a little easier. There was just a couple of problems I encountered. When undoing the front sway bar linkage, you have to use an open ended 17mm wrench in the back of the bolt to keep it from spinning when undoing the nut. Being a 2011, I didn't expect that bolt to be so rusty, so spray it with PB blaster the night before. The other problem was trying to find a socket to hold the strut while undoing the top not. A 10mm socket was to small and an 11mm socket was too big. There must be some kind of special tool you need to buy to fit the strut shaft while loosening the top nut. I ended up using a vice grip as soon as the shaft started spinning.

Now about the factory springs. The OEM rear springs were taller than the H&R. The front OEM springs were shorter than the H&R by an inch. The diameter of the front OEM coil was 1.5mm, the H&R was .2mm thinner. I'll still have to check on the rear diameters, and Bill I'll get the part numbers tomorrow.

Anyway, the drop was more than I had anticipated. But I like the overall look of it now. In hindsight, I should've gone with the Eibachs because it doesn't lower the car as much as the H&Rs did.

I'm still waiting on my Impala center caps from CP and that's why they aren't on.
These are the before and after. I had to manipulate the coloring so you can see the actual drop on the car from the before and after shots.

[Navy Lifer]

Looks much more aggressive and "together". Wonder what happens when the car is loaded with passengers, luggage, or both....does your car have aux battery?

[gregc]

Correction on the OEM diameter. It is 1.5 cm, not mm. The H&R are 2mm thinner.

[Solardude]

How does the lowering effect the driveability wwhen you get 4 or 5 people in the car?

[gregc]

How does the lowering effect the driveability wwhen you get 4 or 5 people in the car?

Not sure, I haven't had no more than 2 people in my car. I did have my rear fenders rolled to accommodate the staggered Camaro rims. But I've since reverted back to 18" G8 rims with the stock tires. The stock Caprice PPV sits high because it needs to accommodate the 100's of pounds of equipment an up fitted police car has. If I had to do it again, I would go with stock Pontiac GXP springs or Chevy SS rims. That would at least lower your car to a non police car height.

[GTPprix]

Looks sweet!!!