Lowering a car is one of the most impactful upgrades you can make. Besides closing that annoying wheel-to-arch gap (the 'wheelgap') and achieving an aggressive, sporty stance around your exclusive alloy wheels, you also lower the vehicle's physical centre of gravity. This significantly reduces body roll in corners, nose dive under hard braking and rear squat during acceleration.

Yet every car enthusiast faces the same dilemma: "What is the difference between lowering springs and a coilover?", "Which is actually more comfortable on poor road surfaces?", "Is airride reliable for everyday commuting?" and "What does lowering do to my original factory dampers?" In this ultimate comparison guide the suspension specialists at Wheels 'N Customs compare the three most popular systems in detail regarding technology, cost, adjustability and daily usability.

When fitting lowering springs your original factory dampers (OEM) remain in place. Only the four steel coil springs are replaced by shorter, progressively wound units from manufacturers such as Eibach, H&R or AP Sportfahrwerke.

A coilover set (internationally coilover) replaces the entire strut: you fit specially matched sport dampers combined with corresponding springs. The strut housing is fitted with fine threads and an adjustable aluminium or composite locking ring.

• Stepless Millimetre Adjustability: You decide exactly how far the car drops (for example 35 to 75 mm within the TÜV-approved range). This lets you align your wheels and tyres to the millimetre with the edge of the wheel arch (the perfect 'flush' fit).
• Perfect Balance Between Damper and Spring: Because the damping characteristic is precisely matched at the factory to the spring rate, a quality coilover set (such as a KW V1, Eibach Pro-Street-S or Bilstein B14) paradoxically often rides more comfortably and more stably than a set of separate lowering springs on tired original dampers!
• Damping & Firmness Adjustable (KW V2\/V3, Bilstein B16, ST XA): With more advanced coilovers you adjust the compression (bump) and rebound damping independently using tactile click knobs. That way you can choose smooth comfort for weekdays and switch to a tight trackday setup in a few clicks.
• Material & Salt Protection: Choose stainless steel (such as the patented KW Inox-Line) or multilayer coated zinc (such as Bilstein Triple-C or ST Suspensions composite adjusting collars)? Then the threads remain freely operable even after several salt-rich winters.

Airride replaces traditional steel coil springs with durable, synthetic-fabric-reinforced rubber air bellows. This system is controlled by an advanced digital management system (such as Air Lift Performance), connected to an air tank, one or two compressors and solenoid valve blocks in the boot.

Whether you choose springs, a coilover kit or airride: every centimetre of lowering changes the suspension geometry of the wheel suspension. The control arms sit at a different angle, which alters two crucial wheel alignments:

• Increase in Negative Camber (Wheel Tilt): The top of the wheels automatically tilts slightly further into the wheel arch. While a mild negative camber gives extra grip in fast corners, a large deviation without adjustment leads to extreme wear on the inner shoulders of your tyres. Within 5,000 km a brand-new tyre can be worn diagonally down to the carcass!
• Deviation in Toe (Toe-in / Toe-out): Changing the tie rod angles causes either toe-out or excessive toe-in. The car constantly ‘twists’ over the road, pulls crooked in its track and continually searches on the motorway.
• Professional 3D Laser Alignment: At the Wheels 'N Customs workshop in Nijkerk we align every lowered vehicle on our state-of-the-art 3D laser rig. We correct the wheel angles to the optimal balance between ultra-sharp steering response, maximum tyre life and straight-line stability.