Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

Hello all can anyone comment on the ride quality and handling on lowering springs with stock A arms, new tubular trailing arms etc, coilovers (ride tech, pbfab etc) and air bags, and lastly a PBFab coilover setup front and rear? I don't plan or need to go too low, maybe drop 4-6" so I am trying to figure out which way to go. On the low end I could just use lowering springs or air bags on the stock suspension, or move up to tubular A arms and trailing arms with sway bars front and rear, or go all out with a PBFab front and rear coilover setup. Also which setups center the wheel in the wheelwell opening? Getting that looking good is worth a fair amount of extra money and I don't know why they didn't get it right from the factory, not to get off on a tangent but most manufacturers still don't get that right, the trucks look great but every time I see a new Corvette I can't get past it and it ruins the look!

Anyway, just looking for input on return vs investment, I hate that big old front crossmember but it's paid for, I would rather put the money into big brakes and wheels. This pic is about the exact drop I am looking for.

Also as long as I am here, any good guesses what size wheels those are? I compared the pics to others and comparing the brake rotors, they seem to be 20's front and rear.

Thanks!

Re: Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

Talk to pbfab his control arms center the font wheels and narrow the track width a tiny bit.As far as bags vs coilovers ride to me if both are set up right they both can ride amazing.They both have a lot of adjustment made in them but bags are easier to do on the fly.If i wanted a fun toy kinda truck that can handle amazing id bag it.If i wanted more a autocross type truck then coilovers would be it for me.

Re: Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

Ride will be a combination of spring rates, shock valving and tire sidewall construction. A stiff sidewall short profile tire is going to kill the ride. No limit has a good setup also to ad to your list.
Jimmy

Re: Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

Yeeouch! Thanks for the No Limit, it seems outrageous when you see it as a total but it's not that far off from piecing together by the time you add striping all the stuff off the stock frame, adding the front and rear suspension, rear end, lines, gas tank it's probably within $4000+. Actually I have a 64 cab and front end that I should use for the high end build and just buy all new bed parts and use the 66 to just make more into a driver and put air bags, drop spindles and sway bars. A nice, decent, restorable 64-66 truck is $6-$10k easy and all I will use is the cab shell and front body so put that in to the equation for the 64 build with the No Limit chassis it's not so bad.

Re: Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

Another one to look at is http://roadstershop.com/

Re: Ride quality, coilovers vs bags vs lowering springs?
 

A big thing that isn't discussed in threads like this (concerning ride quality when comparing the choices) is that ride quality is very subjective.

Since it was mentioned above, short sidewall tires are a common hot-spot when discussing the impact they have on ride quality. That being said, I've ridden in a late model Vette, BMW M3, Trans Am, Mustang GT500, @ least 2 bagged/Porterbuilt Dropmember equipped C10's as well as my 1 ton bagged dually..... Other than my dually, they all had 35-40 series sidewalls yet all rode just fine. My dually rides pretty good considering it has uber-stiff load rated tires too.

It's not the short sidewall that kills the ride quality, it's the combination of parts, the vehicles clearance, & engineering.

Short (or stiff) sidewalls can kill the quality if things aren't thought out but many times it's other items (shocks/suspension bottoming or binding) that are the culprit.

If a sport tuned ride quality is acceptable, tires w/a sidewall height similar to mass produced OE specs (~4.00" tall) can ride good as long as everything else works properly. That being said, the taller the sidewall, the more impact it can absorb before transferring the forces through everything they're hold up.

In the pic of the short stepper posted, I would guess 20x8 w/a around a 255-40/20 (approx. 28" tall) on the front.