Hotchkis Lowering Springs

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $186.00 from classic industrys

Year / Model Reviewed:
1985 1976 firebird

Strengths:
better than nothing

Weaknesses:
wrong tech info soft spring

Summary:
well id call hotchkis before you buy anything from them. the spring for my 76 firebird that has a big block didnt lower the car even a half a inch so i but the small blocks in and it lowered the car 1 inch but now i have a bouncy ride not happy for the money i spent ill never buy hotchkis stuff again

Price Paid:  $295.00 from P-S-T

Year / Model Reviewed:
 Buick Skylark

Strengths:
Good Ride with Gas shocks, Handling Improvement, Good Quality and Durability

Weaknesses:
Front Springs slightly too stiff for some engine weights (Buick)

Summary:
Great Ride, Good Handling, Quality Product.

I ran them in my '70 Skylark the two years before I sold it (only drove it one of the two years). I used KYB Gas-A-Just shocks.

The only "problem" I had was that the Small block springs are designed for all makes, and Buick small blocks are lighter than any of the others... the front sat slightly higher than I would've liked but still looked great. I hadn't even rebuilt the suspension or added bigger sway bars and the car could easily keep up with more modern sedan's in the corners (a big leap from what it was before). Absolutely would buy again (although I kept the springs out of my Skylark when I sold it, to put in my GS350!)

Not sure what the others are talking about, but dont have any experience with the big block springs. Even the big block Buick guys run the small block springs very happily.

Similar Products Used:
Stock Springs, Moog Replacements.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $150.00 from SummitRacing

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1977 Trans Am

Strengths:
Very firm, but with the addition of the koni shocks, they are not stiff. They give the car a very level stance when going around corners and instead of hitting speed bumps hard like the worn out originals did, my TA now rides over them (slowly, and with headers scraping).

Weaknesses:
Slighty bouncy (but at 600lbs it is to be expected) and no more going over speed bumps. I now have to find alternate routes. The strengths far out weigh the weaknesses and I would gladly use the hotchkis springs again.

Summary:
Contrary to the other two posts, I'm more than happy with the Hotchkis springs on my car. They are the 600lb, two inch, big block springs. They lowered the car further than the 27 year old original springs had and they made the ride much much better (along with a full front end rebuild and Koni shocks). There is about 1 1/2 inches in between the tires and the fender lips. I actually wish I would had ordered the small block springs which would have dropped the front about another 1/3 of an inch. Moving up another inch in tire diameter and using solid frame bushings which are shorter than the originals, should put me pretty close to having no fender gap what-so-ever. FireAm look.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1970 Chevelle

Strengths:
Pretty gray powder coating (that's all)

Weaknesses:
Everything, they suck!

Summary:
I don't recommend Hotchkis springs! Every time that I have used their springs, I've had a problem! However, I'm very limited for what is available for GM A-Body, so I thought I would try them again, I wanted about 1-1.5" lowering for the rear of my Chevelle, and found a pair of new Hotchkis rear springs on Ebay, checked the part number with Hotchkis, and found that they were the correct ones. Once again they've let me down! The new Hotchkis rear springs were actually longer and thinner coils than the stock replacement Moog springs that I took out, and to make matters worse, the ride height was only lowered 1/8"....and the ones that I replaced weren't sagging, I had replaced the originals with Moog's, and it raised the car about 1", so I wanted to lower back to where it had been with the worn originals, that's why I bought the Hotchkis in the first place. I used to have a 69' Camaro, that I bought their springs for, and it was so low in the front that I could not get my floor jack out from under the car without picking up on the fender...and then couldn't drive it b/c the tires were hitting the tops of the inner fenders! Overall, don't listen to the "paid" advertisers (magazines)...Hotchkis products are JUNK! I think they simply take a wild guess on what your ride height will be!

Similar Products Used:
Eibach, Moog, Motorsport, Jamex.

Price Paid:  $250.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1971 Pontiac GTO

Strengths:
Look Nice

Weaknesses:
None

Summary:
Hotchkis pulled a fast one on big block A body owners. They listed one spring for all applications. I have a 455 with AC and when I put these spings on the front end it was so low and the ride was so harsh it could loosen every nut and bolt on the car as well as all your teeth. In the later part of March Hotchkis responded with a new part number and spring for big block cars. I spoke with Summit racing and a 3 way conversation arose with Hotchkis. They stated they where sorry and would send me new springs. It has been a over a week and still no new springs. I'm upset that I have to spend good money to have these springs replaced and feel that Hotchkis should pay the install price as it was there fault in the application listings.

Similar Products Used:
factory height Moog springs