habusake

Hey Guys,
I went with 225/50's on a stock 97 with the intention of dropping the front a inch or two. After driving the car with just the tires replaced I notice the front suspension is now extremely stiff. Before I take it back to the shop, I was looking for advice on a possible cause or natural phenomenon. The car has 67k miles.

Thanks!

motegineon

maybe ur tires before were underinflated? what was the previous tire size u were using?

jspaeth

The stock aluminum rims come with 205/55/16, so you now have a slightly narrower sidewall, which will may make them feel stiffer.

habusake

Yea, the previous were 205's but the difference is noticable to a point of were I dodge dips in the road to maitain. I just went out and tried sitting (hard) on the fender and front barely depresses. Does a strut ever get stiffer when it fails? I can't think of anything plausible the shop could have done that wouldn't be real noticable.

bleachcola

what shape are your struts in?

motegineon

when i strut blows usually the car will be bouncier, not stiffer...maybe they threw in a free set of coilovers lol

re037

a blown strut will be bouncier but also bottom out a lot easier as well

pourinitup

mine does that too i just got 18's on 215 tires and i think its just because the size change and i went to 18's instead of the 17's i had...they say the bigger the rim the rougher the ride...plus i got tein racing suspension which makes it stiff as hell

motegineon

what exactly does ur race suspensoin consist of?

re037

lesson of the day: side wall is your extra cushioning

KAMAKAZI 13

larger contact patch = more understeer.

motegineon

what the hell are you talking about?

barcode

wouldnt a larger contact patch make it handle better....mm, and that dosnt have anything to do with his stiffer suspension.....

motegineon

exactly, to a certain extent, of course you can go to wide but i know thats not the case...

KAMAKAZI 13

my bad. i read over the suspension part.