Lowering springs, I thought they'd be shorter??!!

I'm hoping this is a silly question but I've taken off one of my front springs to replace it with what I thought was an Eibach 30mm lowering spring but comparing them together they are the same size? I bought them second hand from here, though new and boxed, but now I'm worried they are standard replacements and not lowering ones as described? There's no original invoice and the code on them 996 VA 50/16 doesn't come up on google. ??

The code on the box is e7213-140 which checks out as the Lowering Pro Kit but just wanted to make sure before I fit them. Ta

The spring rate will determine the ride height.

Hi mate - you bought them off me, I have the original invoice here if it helps. As said, I don't imagine the springs would be shorter as the shock length & extension doesn't change (meaning a shorter spring wouldn't work), its the (progressive) spring rates that means the car sits lower. shoot me a PM if you're after the original invoice.

It may take up to a few days for the suspension to settle at the new level, don't be surprised directly after fitting it does not look much lower.

The uncompressed length may need to be the same as original spring to fit the damper and give the assembly some pre-load. The spring rate and ride height depend on number of coils, tensile strength of the steel and thickness of steel. You should be fine.

yep they need to be the same length or they would keep hitting the stops over bumps as others have said its the tension and spring rate that make it sit lower . you will need to drive it a bit after fitting to get the springs to settle fully . :thumb:

Mine on Eibach springs :thumb:

Thanks all, yes panic over, I've not fitted lowered springs before but they're fine 😊 I've got the fronts done as it turned into a bit of a mare, surprise surprise, I couldn't get the shocks out so had to remove the whole hub assembly then there was a bit of surface rust I had to tend to. Anyway it's sitting lowwww, I'll tackle the rears tomorrow. Thanks again.

Hope your happy with the end result :mechanic: :thumbs:

All done and it looks great. Just to confuse things even more the new rear springs were shorter than the originals 🤔

I realise it's a bit late to be of any help, but you don't need to completely remove the front shocks to change the springs, there's just enough space to wiggle them out once the top mount is removed. I did mine a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks, yes I did look at that method but I wanted to take the wheel arch liners out and give everything a good check and clean. The shocks were totally rusted into the carrier though, I couldn't even get the bolts out, not sure what I'm going to do when it's new shocks time.

Pay someone else to do it Mine needed new drop links a few years ago, I briefly tried removing them myself but quickly realised it was going to be a massive PITA. Part of getting older is getting wiser, and choosing your battles...

Categorically this. The other week I swapped some springs over on coilovers for the first time (on my 3 series daily - had one break and after having it sit on the drive for rather a while finally got around to doing it {as the definitive first world problem I had to drive my GT3 around until I got around to it and that isn't exactly something that motivates getting on with a job aperbag:}. On the drive with hand tools only). To cut a long story short, after the experience I am not convinced that it isn't worth paying someone else with all of the easy tools to do it for you.