Why Lower Your Car?

I'm sure you have seen cars driving down the street that have their body lowered and much closer to the ground than stock cars. Is it all for show or is there another reason to lower a car?

Have you seen some cars driving around that look lower than stock? They may have had a suspension lowering kit installed.

Why would someone want to lower their car? There are a couple of reasons. The first is that it might make the car handle better, and the second is that some people believe that it makes the car look better.

Let's take a closer look at the first reason, better handling. To understand a little be about handling it is important to grasp the concept of "center of gravity". Imagine that you could suspend a car by a cable attached to the top of the roof. You want to place the end that attaches to the roof at some point so that when suspended the car is level. That is, it does not tip to the front or rear, or to the left or right. Now imagine that there is a line from the roof straight through to the bottom of the car.

Now let's image that we turn the car on its side, and suspend it again with a cable attached to some place on one of the doors. Again we move the cable around until the car is level on its side. That is it does not tip towards the front or rear, and does not tip to the roof or floor. Again pretend that there is a line through the car that comes out the opposite door.

The last step is to picture where the two lines, from the roof through the floor, and the line through the doors. Where the two lines intersect is the "center of gravity". This is the point where the mass of the car is balanced in all directions.

Ok, after that long explanation, let's see why the center of gravity or CG point is important. If you could lower the center of gravity on a car you would find that the car is steadier and you have a smoother ride. The car would also tend to roll less when you went around a curve. In one respect it is less "tippy".

Let's imagine one more time. Picture a stack of books. The more books you pile on, the more apt the entire stack is to fall over. This can be compared to a car's roll. The lower the center of gravity is like a shorter stack of books, which has fewer tendencies to tip over.

If you take a look at race cars, they are low to the ground for several reasons, chief among them being lowering the center of gravity, improves the cornering ability.

A suspension lowering kit then lowers your center of gravity, which can improve handling. It also makes the car look lower and resemble a race car instead of a stock car.

However, like other car modifications, too much of what seemed a good think can cause problems. You really don't want to lower a stock car more than an inch or inch and a half. If you do, the body can contact the tires and lead to other problems.

Dennis Dater has been involved with cars for over 50 years. His first love was sports cars when he drove a 1952 MG to high school.
He has produced over 50 articles for EzineArticles on cars, and almost a hundred on his web sites.
His two web sites are designed for Honda Accord aftermarket accessories.

Please visit him at:
Honda Accord Lowering Kit
or
http://www.accordtopia.com