My Lowering Experience

[Blazed]

I'm making this thread to help people who want to lower their SUV moderately and keep a nice smooth ride. Because it has taken me a little over a year and three different kits and a significant amount of money thrown down the drain. I don't want people to have to go through that and by posting this thread I don't want to make any enemies on this site as I realize everyone has their own taste and experience with each part. This has been my experience lowering my 2011 Tahoe(non auto-ride).

I started with this kit manufactured by SpringTech
http://www.matixms.com/suspension-lowering-kits/2007-2011-gm-suv-2-4-lowering-kit/
The rear springs are non-progressive and they don't ride good.
The spindles had alignment problems until the day I took them off.
Would not recommend this kit!

Then I moved on to this kit made by Belltech and DJM sold by Tony a vendor here and I will note there are many people here that love the Belltech lowering parts for these trucks but I have noticed most have auto-ride and most who don't have auto-ride are only lowered 2"
http://www.tbssowners.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=181
The bell tech SP struts ride descent unless your roads have many repetitive bumps in which case they do not respond fast enough to keep the wheels on the ground.
The rear coils ride pretty good IMO.
The rear Belltech SP shocks ride is most definitely NOT for me.

SO finally I moved on to this mix and match setup I put together with the help of a few members on the forum. Mostly Modded who has tried every combination I could think of.
The mix and match kit includes:
Front:
-Bilstein HD/4600 front struts/shocks (F4-BE5-E374-H1)
-McGaughy's 2" drop spindles(654-34037)

Rear:
-Bilstein HD/4600 rear shocks (F4-BE5-E375-H0)
-Belltech shock extenders (6651)
-Pedders rear coils (2425)

Extras
-DJM front and rear sway bars (http://www.tbssowners.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=105)

And since installing these items I couldn't be more pleased with the ride quality. The sway bars are not needed to get the ride quality I've achieved with this setup but are a great way to improve the handling of your SUV and I highly recommend them to anyone. My Tahoe handles like it is on rails with these sway bars.

Thanks to Modded for the help and knowledge along the way.
Tony is the owner of the tbssowners.com/store, an avid member of this site, and a vendor for those of you who don't know him. Tony will answer any and all questions regarding suspensions and is a huge help in many situations.



Thus concludes my suspension thread.

 

[NathanJax]

Nice! It's good to here/see/read others opinions on suspension setups. I don't think any one way works the best, so I'm glad to see you got everything worked out!

 

[jdpber]

you are going the wrong direction.. up is the direction you need to be

 

[YuCanada]

So basically, you decided to sell on TYF the old kit that sucks on bad roads and doesn't lower properly if you don't have perfect roads. Correct? I don't have auto ride, or perfect roads. Wish you would have mentioned these 'small' details previously. Lol.

 

[07Burb]

So basically, you decided to sell on TYF the old kit that sucks on bad roads and doesn't lower properly if you don't have perfect roads. Correct? I don't have auto ride, or perfect roads. Wish you would have mentioned these 'small' details previously. Lol.

For what it's worth. I do NOT have autoride but have Belltech on all four corners for my 2/4 drop (5323 rear springs and belltech adjustable struts for the front) and it rides smooth and our roads are not perfect. Obviously, on BAD roads nothing is like glass but I'm 100% happy with my set up with the Belltech product so you may be happy too.

 

[Goodinblack]

David...... lot s of people here have BellTech.....and love their's....

Like Nathan (though I do not know what he has now since the air), Jacob, Jmat, .... list goes on.

I even the run the stuff out back without problems.

I just hated the cali lean.... so I added spacers and and put the stock shocks back in with 5301 BelTech springs.

Every one likes a different ride.

I have driven LTZ Tahoe, LS Suburbans, and Z-71 Suburbans......

Out of All these I LOVE the way a Z-71 rides....(over a LTZ) which is the Z-71 stiffest of all.

My only problem is that I LOVE how the z-71 rides, but hate how high they sit..........no fault of theirs as they are meant for more of a off road setup.

So my solution was to get Z-71 shocks all around. Which I am in the process of doing right now.

 

[Blazed]

So basically, you decided to sell on TYF the old kit that sucks on bad roads and doesn't lower properly if you don't have perfect roads. Correct? I don't have auto ride, or perfect roads. Wish you would have mentioned these 'small' details previously. Lol.

I don't know where I said it doesn't lower properly because it does but the only thing I really had a huge problem with is the rear shocks. I would use the springs again. The struts weren't bad I just had money to get some things I would like better so I did.

 

[Red_Raider]

I couldn't agree more with everyone. We all like our ride quality different. Just some good old fashion information to help others out when making the decision on which route to go.

 

[Blazed]

Also many people do not have a problem with the belltech kit but I am obsessed with ride quality and for me the belltech shocks didn't cut it.
The springs are honestly good springs I would run them again the one thing I didn't like was the design but that doesn't really matter.
I have pedders coils now and just to show how obsessed I am I will be trying Tony's new 3-4 inch coil he is making and hopefully a coil over set up one day or maybe air if I so desire to waste money on it.
David if it was honestly a horrible kit I would not have sold it here I would of put it on Craigslist but people here do not have a problem with that kit and people resell them all the time here.

 

[Neil Layne]

you are going the wrong direction.. up is the direction you need to be

Well said my friend. well said.