Misaligned Wheels - A Source of Endless Problems
Let’s answer the main question right away - yes, lowered car suspension affects wheel alignment. It's a popular modification often done by complete beginners with no prior experience with car tuning. In such cases, this often results in misalignment.
Misalignment causes uneven tire wear, and reduced handling, which compromises the safety of both you and other drivers. This is why it's important to modify your car with tested components and to consider all possible implications. Another issue is the increased maintenance costs resulting from the misaligned wheels - not just because of the faster and uneven wear of tires but also the increased strain on all suspension components, which can lead to their premature failure.
How Lowering Your Car Affects Wheel Alignment
Camber, toe, and caster are the three main alignment settings, and all of them are affected by lowering. Here’s how:
Camber
Camber is the tilt of a car's wheels when viewed from the front or back, where the tops of the wheels can lean outward (like a "V", which is positive camber) or inward (like an "A", which is negative camber). From the factory, most cars come with a camber set close to 0 degrees. As you lower the car, the camber becomes negative.
This will give you more grip in the corners but at the same time increase tire wear and make the car more “nervous”, causing it to follow the contours of the road more closely, thus making it harder to drive straight and requiring more frequent steering corrections. Up to a certain point, adding negative camber does improve the driving characteristics but with excessively negative camber, you won’t get any of the benefits and only make your car difficult to control and maintain.
Toe
Toe is the angle at which wheels point relative to each other when viewed from above, either toward (toe-in) or away (toe-out) from the vehicle's centerline. This depends on the setup and when misaligned, you’ll encounter faster wear and decreased fuel efficiency through increased rolling resistance. The effect of lowering on the toe setting is greater with independent rear suspensions and multilink setups with several control arms.
Caster
Caster is the least affected of the three settings and you only have to worry about it in extreme cases. However, keep in mind that when the caster is too negative, the car loses its stability at high speeds. A positive camber can then result in heavy steering and - once again - uneven tire wear. In most cases, caster adjustments are not necessary unless the suspension has been significantly altered, but it's still worth monitoring during alignment checks.
How to Maintain Proper Alignment With Lowered Suspension
If you lower the suspension on your own, the first drive should always be to a car shop, where you’ll get professional alignment. Especially if your car has a complicated multilink suspension, make sure to go to a skilled shop, which will be able to better optimize the alignment settings. Also, remember that alignment needs to be checked regularly.
If you’re looking to significantly lower your car, it might also be worth it to invest in adjustable toe links and adjustable control arms. This way, you get more flexibility and can ensure that all suspension settings remain within the acceptable range. These components improve alignment options and allow you to precisely fine-tune the suspension settings to match your driving style, which is especially useful if you plan to do any track days or even just spirited drives on the backroads.
The main component needed to decrease the height of your suspension are lowering springs. In order to maintain correct alignment, don’t pair them with stock shocks. There are many shocks specifically designed for lowering springs available on the aftermarket, and they are a must for your lowered suspension to work properly. Investing in coilovers can be another excellent option, as they combine springs and shocks in one package, ensuring their compatibility. Additionally, coilovers are highly adjustable, so you’re able to further dial in your ride height or spring preload.
Lower Your American Muscle with a High-Quality Lowering Kit
If you want to make your ride extra stylish and lower it, we have what you need. We can offer you high-quality suspension components from renowned manufacturers and are happy to help you answer any questions you might have and make the right purchase. With our lowering suspension kits, lowering springs, coilovers, and more, your muscle car will look better than ever, while maintaining excellent driving characteristics.