Hey all, Just want to get a thread going to pick brains about what to look for in a decent suspension setup.

For the starting point, a 97 EL Fairmont, recently purchased with a few little bugs to iron out, as one would expect.
Previous owner had chopped all the springs, stock shocks up front and Monroe GT Gas shocks in the back.
OK So it looked nice and low, but obviously, dodgy... so, off to a reputable suspension shop, where I ask them to fit certain products, and for the princely sum of 2000 hard earned smackers, here's the result.

Now, I asked for the car to be "Roughly the same height, maybe an inch lower, and not too firm on the shocks" and when I went to pick it up I was greeted by this BOAT that looked strikingly similar to the car I dropped off in the morning...
It actually RAISED OFF THE GROUND...
Now, The guys there assure me that I should "Give it 3 months or so and it should sag some... Why the VE commodores sag about 20mm"
But, suffice to say, I am NOT pleased with the result, and I think I have been ripped off...
(Opinions?)

What I asked for was:
Koni adjustable shocks all 'round
Lovell *SUPERLOW* springs... (I definately asked for superlow, and told the guy I had king superlows previously which were great, and I heard lovells sat maybe 10mm lower which would be PERFECT)
Adjustable camber kit - House brand (whatever..)
Whiteline 30mm front swaybar

What I recieved was (From the Reciept):
Shocks - Koni Front, Koni Rear
Camber/Castor kit
30mm Front S/Bar (NON-WHITELINE -- POSS. IN HOUSE PRODUCT)
(Part No.) FFL-27 Lovell Spring Ford
(Part No.) FRL-42XSL Lovell Spring

Now having done some after research on the springs, seeing as how unhappy I was with the way they look I have discovered that FFL-27 is listed in lovell's catalog as "FORD XD-EB FRONT LOWERED SPRINGS" and FRL-42XSL is "FORD EB-EL XR8 SUPER LOW REAR SPRNGS"

The mechanic muttered something about they were "Extra Super Lows" but to be honest, it sits the height of a standard LOW spring, and that could be because its for an XR8 which would have a different spring rate?

Either way, It appears that I was not delivered the parts that I requested, and possibly, since i'm not sure of the differences between the springs, I think I was also gipped on springs...
(But why would Lovell have part numbers for EL model cars if you could slap an XD or EB part in there instead...)

Open discussion, what do you think I should do about it?

Last edited by Ace on Thu Apr 29, 2010 3:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Oh, as an afterthought...
The suspension otherwise, apart from looking more stock now then when I bought it, handles like a DREAM...
I would think most of the improvement came from the addition of the swaybar, the front end is much stiffer and I find the car entering corners just a little faster then I would normally be comfortable with, but its now very smooth/comfortable around the bends, It hugs the road nicely...
The shocks probably don't make a HUGE difference, but honestly for anyone wondering what they should do, for the love of GOD steer clear of Monroe's brain shatteringly hard GT gas shock, I know its not the best setup to judge by (The original chopped spring set) but that's one shock you probably would be better off without if your lowering.
The Koni's do make for a nice smooth ride, But i'm guessing that I probably would have been just as happy with the cheaper shocks, the only advantage on the Koni's is that they are adjustable if the ride is too soft or too hard.
(If I was doing a suspension on a budget, I'd give the koni's a miss, and my stance on lovell springs atm is they can shove them... King springs for the win, and the swaybar is best bang for buck change in the whole suspension setup)

Oh yes, also as another afterthought...
The guy at the suspension place quoted me ALL NEW BUSHES... it was $440 of the price... I asked him if they were nolathane and he said yes, I thought it was AWFULLY CHEAP for a full set of nolathane bushes, front AND back he said...
And when I picked the car up I asked him if he changed all the bushes, and he said, "Oh no, we didn't need to they were fine"
and now, not even 12 hours out of the shop, there's a damn squeek coming from the front right when I hit a little bump, like those cat-eye's on the highway...
I always assumed the noise was the bushes, and before I had the suspension done it was on the left side at the front... and now its on the right...
Im hoping he didn't just swap the bushes to opposite sides of the car and hope I wouldn't notice...

UPDATE:
Have contacted Lovell to let them know im unhappy with their product through no fault of theirs, the guy there assures me that ALL springs will sag over time, including theirs, which is contrary to what their website says, that their springs are pre-set to avoid sagging...
But he assured me that they will not sag down to the previous level the car sat (about 50mm lower on the older springs) at most maybe they will sag 10mm over the next 10 years...

He also questioned me as to why the suspension place used the XD-EB front spring, to which my reply would have to be, you tell me ... it was the next question on my list...

End result, he agrees with me that I should take it back and demand the correct springs fitted and lowered to my spec... which would mean at this stage drop it another 50mm for free... or i'll have to go to consumer affairs/fair trading.

I think you have got tour spring part numbers a*** about because the quoted front is a kingspring XE-EL rear and I think the rear i think is a fairlane/ltd front.

Nah the part numbers are correct for Lovell springs using their code convention,
(L - Low = Suit lowered vehicle with shortened suspension travel)
FFL-27 = Ford Front Low #27 (Lovells say this is an EB2 Falcon spring, wrong spring fitted...)
FRL-42XSL = Ford Rear Low #42 Xtra Super Low (Lovells say this is an XR8 spring, should work fine in the car but is rated for more weight, which he has accounted for the weight of my subs that are not in the car yet, good work But still not low enough...)

The part that should have been fitted to the front is an FFL-46 or FFL-47 (straight from the lovells rep's mouth...) 47 for Low and 46 for Superlow

Damn squeeky bushes..

Well, rear springs should be the same as all the extra weight of a v8 is in the front, i know theyre the same part for king springs. New springs do take a little while to settle so i wouldn't be surprised if it dropped a bit more, as in a few days not a few months. Also curious what settings you have the Koni's on front and back and what settings are available? Just trying to gauge how soft/hard the range is on the shocks

Is the shop that done the work called eastcoast suspension by any chance???

Sure was, Lol... you work there?
Worked out OK in the end, just stressing whether it would sag or not because originally it sat too high, that and the steering rack bouncing around thing... and the squeeking...

But all in all Dave is a good bloke, knows what he is talking about, which is why at the end of the day as I said to him, do what you think is best I trust that.
Also alot of the mechanics from Audi centre recommended ECS (After I'd already had the suspension done mind you)

Just goes to show, its such a small world..
If you don't work @ ECS, then you're likely Dave's other young bloke
(I bought an amp off one of his young blokes at cronulla car sound on the way home from dropping the car at ECS, had no idea they were related lol...)

Oh, and if you are the young guy who works at ECS, was it really neccesary to change an exhaust mount rubber on a mount that has NO hanger onto the exhaust...
Way to charge me $10 for something I have numerous spares of at home, without my consent to change it... Hell, I probably paid for your morning tea that you got from across the street...

Either way,
No hard feelings, you guys probably don't like me because I expect a job done right for 2 grand, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm happy with the workmanship on the car overall (Few scratches appeared here and there but what do I care, the car will be black soon enough anyway)
Sure it'd be nice for the tires to just tuck up inside the guards like they do on my older king spring setup, but from a practical point of view, the car is about where you'd want it to sit.
Guess now I play the waiting game, it'll probably sag down to where I want it in the next 10 years or so..

Im not the young bloke ur talking about, ive had dealings with them before and yes they know there stuff but man there expensive and went to Wholesale suspension and saved alot.

I had a guess as i saw ur location details and there the only shop out there that do performance suspension.

Ah lol, fair enough...
Yeah I'd go back to them again, their new location much easier to get into then the old auto plaza at kirrawee, car nearly got stuck on a hump trying to get in before I realised they had moved to taren point.