Hello. I have a 1953 Buick Super that I'd like to upgrade the suspension and front brakes. The car has springs all around, lever action shocks. I'd like to lower it a couple inches as well. I've spent a lot of time looking for the right answer but haven't found it yet. I'm not interested in cutting the coils at all. The springs are completely shot. Can I just buy lowering springs or do I NEED the dropped uprights? Will the lever shocks have limited travel issues by lowering the car? At the same time I want to convert the front brakes to disk. Lastly, the front hubs on this car look like they belong on a tank... they're huge, sticking out almost 3". Any wheel upgrade makes it impossible to cover the hubs. No spider caps will work. Thanks.
New stock springs with dropped uprights to raise the spindle will preserve the wheel travel and keep the shocks correctly in their normal range of travel. That should produce the best ride quality. As for the hubs, the stock Buick wheels have a rather concave shape which makes the spindle look longer than other cars.....not sure it actually is much longer. The spider caps depth, however, are fixed and they either fit or they don’t unless you find a deeper set or fabricate some kind of spacer. Alternate Plan A.... use very long lug studs in place of the Buick wheel bolts and use two sets of lug nuts. That would allow placing the spider cap on top of the first lug nut and hold it on the the second lug nut. Howevere, since you want to change to discs, the hubs may change, depending on the kit components. It is POSSIBLE that a disc brake conversion might move the mounting surface of the wheel outboard a bit in relation to the spindle itself, thereby reducing spindle protrusion enough that the spider caps might fit the new hub. Otherwise see Plan A above. Ray
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