Holden Sports Suspension Upgrade

Installing some stiffer, lower springs in my vk holden commodore is something i had wanted to do for a while. Not only does it make it look better, but it also makes commodores handle better, as the original springs give the commodore a lot of body roll when cornering. Stiffer springs help it sit flat, and go sideways better, which is always more fun. I bought a set of cheap stiffer lower springs from supercheap. They were a brand i hadnt heard of, but they were progressive rate and supposedly very similar to kings springs.

Putting the front ones in was not an easy task. We jacked her up, removed the wheels and brake hubs, then tried to remove the ball joints. These were stiff as all hell and we bought two ball types joint tools, a fork that you bash with a hammer and a bolt winding one. Neither of these could get the balljoints out. In the end we undid half the front end, dropped the whole suspension unit down, and pulled it out to the side. This allowed us to slide the old springs off the top. Make sure you compress the springs with spring compressors before you start. Then compress the new springs, whack them in and put it all back together.

Changing the back springs to to lower springs in a holden commodore is very easy. You raise the back end, place the jack under the suspension arm under the spring, remove the bolts from the suspension arm, then slowly lower the jack. Out comes the old spring. Then whack in the new spring, making sure it sits nicely in the insulators. Do the same for both sides and you are away.

If your new springs are a lot lower than the originals, you may need to put in shortened shock absorbers, otherwise the spring could fall out when the suspension is fully extended. I didnt do this, coz i dont get airbourne too often and the springs arent excessively low, but i have noticed when i jack the car up, the rear springs almost fall out. If my springs were any lower i would definantly get the shorter shock absorbers, however i want to get them one day anyway. Queensland transports roadworthy type act states that it is legal for a vehicle to be lowered, however not by cutting the springs. The springs must not be forcibly removed when the suspension is fully extended, or something like that. Both of these make sense safety wise, and other states probably have similar laws.

After installing my new stiff springs, the car cornered a lot better. There was lots less body-roll, corners could be taken faster, and the vehicle went sideways better. The back was noticably lower, the front a little lower. One side of the back is slightly lower than the other. Probably coz of the cheap springs. After a few months, i needed to replace my steering rack, tie rod ends and front bearings coz they were worn out. Since the front had been such a pain to deal with before, i paid a suspension place to do this, while they were doing it, i got them to throw in super low king springs and kyb shock absorbers in the front. The result of all this was a nice low looking, well handling holden commodore, which handled like new. The suspension specialist said he thought the springs i had installed were king springs until he looked at the tag on them, so they can't have been too bad, they were just a bit higher than the back.