Hello all! Well i'm new to this forum as well as I am new to AutoX so I have a few questions!

1] Having my cavalier for quite awhile I have noticed there is an extreme amount of body roll for such a small coupé, I have ordered a Eibach pro-series rear sway bar, should I go further and go with a smaller front sway bar or just add new bushings to the stock front sway bar?

2) My shocks are fairly new and my Eiback pro-series springs have just came in the mail, should I wait till my OEM spec. shocks die to buy new shocks or do shocks really make a big difference in your cars handling.. if so any recommendations on shocks I should save up for?

3) does anyone run cavaliers at there local AutoX would love to hear your take on the car and how you drive it !

-Ray

Koni yellows, tokico dspecs, kyb agx. All would be a nice upgrade with new strut mounts. Control arm bushings and new sway bar bushings will make a world of a difference too.




On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.

Thanks Rob!

The kyb AGX seem to be the best bang for you $$$

I saw strut mounts with camber adjustment in the classified section, do you know if that's worth getting or just get new OEM spec ones?

For the control arm and sway bar bushing just get OEM spec. ones or are there stiffer bushings I can buy? ( sorry if this is noob question)

1. Preference on this one. Some people run either eibach or addco rears with a stock front, some go with matched fronts. I went from running a stock front/eibach rear up to running front and rear Eibachs...in all honesty, didn't notice a ground breaking difference (though there are 3 different size factory sway bars thorough out different years and trims, and I had the larger of the 3).
But all in all, the sway bars will make a nice difference for you.

2. You need NEED NEED struts design for lowering when doing so, can't stress that enough. Not only are stock struts not going to perform well with lowering springs, its a safety risk.
Like Rob said, AGX's, D-specs, and Koni yellows will all work well with eibach springs.

I also agree control arm bushings will be a good investment, if you keep the stock sway bar up front, definitely grab new bushings for the shackles and end links. Solid strut mounts are also a good idea when lowering, stock mounts loose a lot of lifespan the lower you go.
If you really get into auto-x and keep with it (and you will, its instantly addicting), would may want to consider coilovers as the added height adjustability let's you really fine tune your handling. A little camber also goes a long way when running twisties.

Matt hit the nail on the head

You could also grab a set of strut tower bars as well. They don't do a ton on their own but when paired with everything above it helps complete the "stiffening package". When my car was totally stock and they were the first stiffening upgrade. I noticed they helped with that initial snap body roll.

Personally would recommend coilovers over a strut/spring combo.. But you'll still be in good shape with them. As Matt said, you just won't have that idea, adjustability to fine tune the handling... But anything is worlds better than the factory boat-like suspension.

X2 on don't install your springs until you get the struts to go with them.

As well as control arm bushings, you could also get a set of grand am gt aluminum control arms, without camber adjustment they need to be shortened a bit... But they are also a big upgrade.

You have a 2005? So I believe you have the bigger front sway bar? I think its 24mm, you probably wouldn't notice a difference with a new front sway bar but upgrading bushings might help.
I agree with everyone about the struts, I wouldn't even think of putting them in until you get proper struts. D specs and Konis have been known to be better than the AGX's for lower drops but AGXs are go for up to 1.5" lowering, The pro kit is 1.4" so you should be good with the AGXs. You may notice better results with the D specs or konis but I've never ran AGXs before so I can't compare them, just going off reviews/opinions on here.

Another thing you may want to look into is upgrading the front brakes, Hawk/Powerslots are a good combo. Looks like you got pretty good tires.


2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires - **SOLD**
2014 Kia Forte Koup SX 6spd - 1.6L Turbo - My new car
2015 Kia Sorento EX V6 AWD - Wifes Car

EVILution (KGMs FrankenCav) wrote:Solid strut mounts are also a good idea when lowering, stock mounts loose a lot of lifespan the lower you go.

All of the advice give here has been good, but I'll stress this. I go through stock mounts at least once a year in the front.



"In Oldskool we trust"

Thank you all for you impute, cant stress that enough!! there are almost no J-body guys locally and its hard getting car advice in Vancouver if ur not running a jdm car.

today im picking up new bushings and the rear bar today! ill let you guys know how that improves the handling! Thanks again !!

You'll be very happy with the rear bar.



"In Oldskool we trust"

I have a set of AGX's and intrax springs for sale

If you are just getting in to autox, do not mod. I would recommend getting a set of aftermarket struts to match the springs you already have on the car. More mods = higher classes

After that, go out and run some events. The best mod you can do is tighten the bit behind the wheel. Talk to people that have run the events before. If possible, have an experienced autoxer ride along with you to give pointers on driving technique and driving lines.

After you've run some events, you'll have a better idea what areas of the car need improving and you can build from there. Throwing parts at the car will not make you faster and can often mask bad driving technique.

strat81 wrote:If you are just getting in to autox, do not mod. I would recommend getting a set of aftermarket struts to match the springs you already have on the car. More mods = higher classes

After that, go out and run some events. The best mod you can do is tighten the bit behind the wheel. Talk to people that have run the events before. If possible, have an experienced autoxer ride along with you to give pointers on driving technique and driving lines.

After you've run some events, you'll have a better idea what areas of the car need improving and you can build from there. Throwing parts at the car will not make you faster and can often mask bad driving technique.

This is the best response to this thread.

Don't even consider mods until you've done it for at least one season.

Bah. No edit on mobile.

After you've got the "how to drive" bit down, then you have to decide if you want to build the car for a specific class or just build it and then class it. If you go throwing all sorts of parts at it, you will probably end up in a class where you are totally uncompetitive. The J platform will shine in certain classes and fall on it's face in others.

There's still some of us left in Vancouver! Me and Robby Smith are active members here. What AutoX are you going to be doing? The UBC/PortCoquitlam one? Starting in spring, we hang around the Scott Road Station one.