I have an 03 Cavalier and the car is fun to drive, except the thing rolls like a bowling ball. I want to know what I can do withing a tight budget to get better handling. I dont want to lower the car, I just want to stiffen up the suspension or at least stop the body roll. Where do I start. I'm most likely going to get 16" rims. I dont want anything larger for mileage purposes/ expenses. If I'm right our cars only weigh 2600 lbs, so good handling shouldn't be a problem. I just dont know the first thing about cavaliers and their aftermarket parts, hence the reason I joined this forum. BTW hello everyone, this is my first post here.
Thanks
a tight budget may hurt you.
But a place to start is Shocks, a rear Swaybar and strutbars.
Shocks
AGX: $400.00 on e-bay up to $500.00 from an online store or e-tailer
Koni's: $500.00-600.00 from most online e-tailers
Addco Rear Swaybar (1'') $150.00
Strut bars vary from around $50.00 up to $100.00 per bar.
gravanatuning.com has a deal going on currently for front and rear bars but requires that you relocate you cruise control for the front bar to fit.
I'm currently running:
AGX Shocks: $380.00 shipped from e-bay
Addco Swaybar: $150.00+shipping from gravanatuning.com
DC Sports C-1 Carbon steel strut bar: $109.00 shipped from e-bay.
Car handle very nice, but I will be lowering it next year in prep for autocross season in STS
I can turn up the stiffness on the shocks when I wanna have fun, and turn it down for the daily commute.
Welcome to JBO!
-Chris
thanks for the welcome! yeah those shocks are a little spendy right now.
and actually the pricing on the swaybar and things arent too bad.
what is the first suspension mod i should do for the best results.
did you mod your cars suspension all at once or one piece at a time. can i put a sway bar on and have a noticable handling gain without the shocks?
i dont need adjustable shocks, but....am open to more opinions. although adjustable ones would be nice to have.
how do you like the difference in the strut bar? does it get in the way of the engine much or ? id you have a picture or a link i would appreciate it.
thanks for the feedback
the strut bar is kind of icing on the cake
first mod was the shocks because that is the limit of modifications other than tires allowed in stock autocross.
then I did the swaybar
and finally the strutbar
best handling for cheap I'd say get the swaybar and a strutbar.
that'll get it handling decent, but it won't really be a corner carver till you get some stiffer shocks.
-Chris
jeremy lakenes wrote:thanks for the welcome! yeah those shocks are a little spendy right now.
and actually the pricing on the swaybar and things arent too bad.
what is the first suspension mod i should do for the best results.
did you mod your cars suspension all at once or one piece at a time. can i put a sway bar on and have a noticable handling gain without the shocks?
i dont need adjustable shocks, but....am open to more opinions. although adjustable ones would be nice to have.
how do you like the difference in the strut bar? does it get in the way of the engine much or ? id you have a picture or a link i would appreciate it.
thanks for the feedback
If the lowering/struts part is too much, best improvement would be the sway-bars most likely. Try sway bars, strut tower braces, and subframe braces, should stiffen it up decently.
I started out first with the sway bars, strut tower bars, and all the other bracing.
I think you are much better off to put a set of AGX's on the car first. Sway bars should be used more for tuning purposes. Bracing the car wouldn't hurt either.
If you are willing to do it, a set of lowering springs will help A LOT. Tein makes a spring that drops the car 1" all the way around. It is a very minor drop and about the only difference you would really notice would be the stiffness of the spring. If you put those on with a set of AGX's you will have a very good handling car for about $500.
If you do all the bracing (front and rear sway bars, subframe brace, strut tower bars) you can easily spend $400 or so on all that equipment.
If you chose to go with the bracing and sway bar route first you will still have a better handling car. I feel that it is best to start out with the springs and shocks first though.
Save your money up and do it right. Don't buy any of that ebay crap(like dropzone, ractive, megan, etc).
