I just put 18x40x245 tires on 18x18.5 rims. I'm considering putting the Eibach lowering springs on to lessen the wheel well gap. Do these make the ride more stiff? Can the wheels still be balanced to the proper camber? Do you need to upgrade the stock shocks/struts? Will there be any rubbing in the wells? Thanks for your input.

I just put 18x40x245 tires on 18x18.5 rims. I'm considering putting the Eibach lowering springs on to lessen the wheel well gap. Do these make the ride more stiff? Can the wheels still be balanced to the proper camber? Do you need to upgrade the stock shocks/struts? Will there be any rubbing in the wells? Thanks for your input.

I have 18's but not lowered yet.... :(

If you have the stock shocks I don't think you have to do anything, but if you do have the sports shocks (fe3 shocks) then you best upgrade to fe4 cts-v shocks with the WW mod and then can lower your car no problem from threads I have read here..... if you do a search you should find all needed info for the mod.... :thumbsup:

Yes, lower springs will make the ride stiffer. They have to. If you start with 4" of travel at 300 lbs/inch spring rate (stock), it results in a total of 1200 lbs to compress until they bottom out. If you lower the car 1" to 3" of total travel, you need 400 lbs/inch spring rate to keep them from bottoming out.

The Eibachs for the CTS are very close to the stock CTS-V spring rates. The rear springs are identical to those used in their CTS-V spring kits. You can either stick with CTS non-load leveling shocks, or upgrade to the FE4's from a CTS-V, which have a spacer that can be removed to lower the shocks. The CTS FE3 nivomats have the spacer bonded and integral to the top mount. This will stiffen your ride up to a very firm sporty feel, though.

As for tire rubbing, it all depends on what offset you have on your wheels. The stock V is 42mm, although 40mm is more of an aftermarket standard increment. I run 40mm with 245's on Eibachs with zero rubbing problems.

Regarding alignment issues, most of us have no problems with camber adjustments after lowering. My opinion is that -1.2" is the max you can lower without running into the limit on adjustability, and a few members have run into camber issues even there. I shimmed my fronts up 6mm with spacers to keep it even with the rear, since I did the WildWhl spacer mod on a set of FE4's, which will only drop 1", rather than 1.2" if one used non-load leveling CTS shocks. The result is a car that has even gaps around the tires without looking 'slammed', although most folks who go through the trouble to lower their cars want it to look obvious.