When I changed the wheels, I decided that the car should be lowered a fraction to remove some of the enormous gaps between the tyres and wheel arch.
However, in Spain, this is a huge deal and requires homologation of the project, which basically I have to get a lab involved and they produce a 65- page report which has to be approved by the Spanish Driving agency/department.
The springs I went for are VMAXX
Front: 35 VW 708 Front
Rear: 35 VW 708 Rear
We lowered the car appx 4.0cm.
Pros of Lowering
– Car looks cool.
– Car is very stable around corners, no roll.
– Stability at higher speeds
Cons of Lowering
– Suspension much harder.
– Going over road bumps you really feel them.
– Less clearance if you do off roading
Homologations in Spain
In Spain, for customisations like this, you have to get the changes checked by a lab specialising in car homologations. You can’t just take the springs from a tractor and install them on your car.
Click the links below to see the paperwork.
LAB Report (36 pages)
Final Cert (4 pages)
CIMA Lab Report (2 pages)
Engineers Declaration (2 pages)
Installer Cert (1 page)
Before and After
On the front and rear, even with the 4.5cm lowering there is a big difference in the gap in between the tyre and wheel arch.
The Michelin tyres are “slim” so on the rear we would put fatter tyres, but on the front if we put bigger tyres there will be some rubbing on the front wheel arch.
