Lowering and performance go together like a hand in a glove. Beyond the style points earned when lowering your truck there are practical benefits as well. The first and most obvious is the lowered center of gravity. This manifests itself in many ways and we will cover a few. A big way is so important we covered separately, click here to learn about swaybars. The rest below
Handling
This is a very broad catch all phrase which can describe every characteristic of a vehicles performance. everything can effect handling. The weather for example, so we will confine this discussion to things that directly relate to lowering.
Center of gravity
It is obvious when you lower your truck you also lower the center of gravity. This takes a load off your anti-sway bars, or looked at another way makes your anti-sway bars more effective! So the amount of chassis roll that occurs in cornering is reduced, which allows you to better manage your turns.
Aerodynamics
Air flow over your lowered truck is improved, drag reduced and if you have installed any ground effects (front air dam etc.) you may have a down force applied to your truck when in motion. There is a reason Formula, Nascar, Sports Car racing cars are very low to the ground.
Improved Gas Mileage
Gas mileage can be improved by lowering the truck and even further improved by aerodynamics. The reduced drag mentioned above besides improving the control you have, will increase your gas mileage. So why doesn’t everybody lower their truck? Very good question. GM is introducing a new line of pick ups in 2009 called XFE (eXtra Fuel Economy). Guess how they are being described “ON XFE models, GM improved the aerodynamics by extending the front air dam, lowering the suspension, and revising the chassis tuning”. AP, August 12, 2008 Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Auto Writer.
Chassis Tuning
Dee-Ann mentions chassis tuning in her description of the GM XFE trucks. Just what is chassis tuning? Well lowering your truck could be considered chassis tuning, aligning your suspension different than the factory specs is also chassis tuning. Alignment can have profound effects on performance, you can create more alignment adjustment by adding DJM CALMAX upper control arms. In some cases. even when you have used brand-X to lower your truck this can help you solve alignment or performance issues. Check out the alignment page and tis episode of Garage X for more specific information on alignment.
A quick and easy way to improve performance is to simply replace your shocks. Having the proper compression and especially rebound valving will cause your truck to perform better than new. Even if your truck is stock height, a set of CALMAX SuperShocks can transform the ride, handling, and performance.
A great resource for learning about performance handling/tuning is a book called “Race Car Handling” by Don Alexander available at amazon.com
