Vehicles with a Lowered Suspension

1.  When looking to purchase a shock or strut for a lowered vehicle, it is important to take into consideration a few things: What the shock or strut manufacturer says about using their units for that modification, and what the lowering-kit / spring manufacturer recommends for use with their product.

2.  Any REPUTABLE spring company or lowering kit manufacturer can tell you exactly what brand / type shock or strut to use with their products. Their Engineers would have spent a great many hours designing lowering parts and kits to function and work together with a specific shock design and valving in mind. Some companies who make lowering parts build their own shocks or units specifically for use with their own kits. In cases like that, because they are custom and specific, you may be forced to use their parts.

3.  Some of our shock companies make units specifically for a lowered vehicle. If you use a unit that is NOT designed for a lowered vehicle, chances are that unit will fail prematurely or you may have a problem in the future. It is critical you use a shock with the correct lengths and valving for a lowered suspension. If you do not know the amount of lowering you have in your suspension modification, you must check with the manufacturer of the lowering kit or the vehicle. Not every manufacturer of a lowering kit makes their kits or products the same way. Only they can give you the correct information and specs.

4.  On cars, there are a few ways of lowering the vehicle: Some cars are lowered using simply springs, or a kit that includes springs and units together. This usually drops a car around a 1/2 an inch, up to a 1 1/2. Another way is to use a coil-over setup, which includes height adjustable coil-overs with springs. A Coil-Over setup can lower a car as much as 3 to 4 inches. Airlift also offers Air Suspensions kits, which can raise and lower a car at any time, and are controlled by the driver.

5.  Note that just because a vehicle is sometimes lowered, especially from the factory (such as a Ford Lightning, and many others), that does not mean the units are always shorter. Some of the modern lowering kits are designed to reuse stock shock / struts, and the stock length. Many times this is done simply by modifying the spindles, while retaining the stock geometry somewhat. Again, if you are not sure about your own vehicle, always check with the lowering kit manufacturer or the vehicle manufacturer. The end result is to choose the right shock / strut.

A.  Cars - Koni STR.T Orange

B.  Cars - Bilstein Sports (or Bilstein Heavy Dutys when specified by Bilstein).

C.  Cars - KYB AGX (KYB specifies up to 1 1/2, and not for use with any coil-overs).

D.  Cars - Bilstein PSS Coil Overs. (Height adjustable Coil-Over kits, with 4 units, collars, and springs. The PSS9 units are als adjustable at the valving level.).

E.  Cars - Eibach.

F.  Cars - KYB Gas-a-Just.

G.  Cars - Airlift Easystreet Air Kits.

A.  Trucks - KYB Monomax (when specified by KYB. They will be listed in our 

B.  Trucks - Bilsteins (when specified by Bilstein). They will be listed in our 

C.  Cars - Airlift Easystreet Air Kits.

Shocks and struts are not available for every lowered car or truck, so sometimes your fabricator or mechanic may need to custom fit a unit to the vehicle's modifications. The shock companies we have do not always publish the size of their shocks and mounts configuration. However, from the companies we do have, some size and mounting chart specs are available.