Cavalier GSi coilover kit help/advice

[Calibre500]

Hi. I am looking to change my old knackered suspension that’s been stood for about 15 years. I thought it would be easy to ring around and get a fairly decent set but it’s proving difficult as no one stocks cavalier GSi suspension as the car is too old. Larkspeed in Leeds have a KW setup for around £1k! There are a few TA coilover kits from Germany at around £300 but that’s about it. Can anyone suggest a place that might still stock a kit at a decent price? My budget would be around £300-£400. Thanks.

[Calibre500]

Hi. Can anyone help??

[James McGrath]

You can still get Eibach spring kits from a few different places. Eibach are excellent quality and give a very sporty ride/handling if that's what you're after.

https://www.venommotorsport.com/product ... n/SU13117/

[Calibre500]

Thanks James. I was hoping to get a coil over kit. I’ll enquire to see if they do one. Thanks.

[James McGrath]

You're probably going to have to look on eBay or Facebook marketplace to find coilovers in budget.

The best place to start would be to ask yourself exactly what's wrong with it now.

If it's just a bit tired feeling then you could probably get a complete set of standard shocks, springs and bushes within your budget. It's surprising how good they feel on new standard kit with good tyres and correct tracking.

I've lowered my cars a few times and ended up regretting it but if you really want better handling, a good set of lowering springs and shocks will give you 90% of the improvement of coilovers for a fraction of the cost. Just remember all the downsides to lowering like poor ride, increased wear on tyres, increased wear on steering racks.

Coilovers are great if you need the adjustability for track days but are wasted on normal road use.

[Robsey]

Not quite coil-overs, but a search of Calibra and Vectra-A 4x4 came up with these...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201949742259 ... media=COPY

[Calibre500]

Thanks for your replies. I’ll check the links sent. I understand and appreciate where you’re coming from James but it suits the car to be lowered just a little bit (30mm-40mm) so maybe I’ll go half way and forget the coilovers for normal gas shocks and lowered springs because it will be for road use only but I’ll look at the other options Robert. Thanks again.

[Robsey]

Standard 'lowered' suspension is 30 / 40mm.

I got Bilstein dampers and Spax lowered springs from Demon Tweaks in 2016.
The car felt quite firm and a lot less wolly than the original 22 year old springs.

My car was a boggo-standard 1.8 LSi hatch, so a million miles from your IRS set-up.

I presume anything will feel more in-touch with the road than the tired original factory springs and dampers.

[Calibre500]

Because the GSi has been stood for 15/16 years, all the powder coating on the springs has flaked off leaving rusty springs. The shock absorbers look tired too. Instead of waiting till it’s on the road and it have to go back in the garage to change them, due to the age, I thought it would be wise to change springs and shockers, as well as all the bushes to poly ones. The hoses look tired with slight cracking so wanted to go for silicone all round. Then I’ve no more worries. The rest I can replace as it’s on the road. No doubt things will crop up after 15 years of it stood. Just hope there’s not too many issues.

[Robsey]

You could bead blast the springs to see if the corrosion is just superficial surface rust or something more sinister and deep.

My 43 year old van springs had surface rust from standing 30 years, but bead blasting found the surface to be solid and free from cracks and pitting etc.
So back on they went.