Sierra 1500 Lowering Kits: Overview Guide

You may think lowering kits are reserved for old muscle cars and race-ready Mustangs, but they’re actually a pretty common aftermarket upgrade for many Sierras. Whether it’s for the track, showroom, or just your daily drivers, lowering springs offer better handling through corners and a smoother ride.

The idea behind lowering your Sierra is to give it better handling and steering by improving its center of gravity. Lowering springs are shorter than OEM springs.

They replace your stock springs to lower the ride height of your Sierra and fit within your existing suspension system. This creates greater tension between the body and frame, giving you responsiveness when making hard turns at high speeds.

By reducing the space between your vehicle and the road you achieve greater aerodynamics, improved stability across the RPM band, and make your Sierra better able to tackle corners.

Attaching lowering springs reduces the distance between your Sierra’s frame and the tires. You might worry about contact with the tires, but lowering springs compensate for this by having more coils, so your Sierra doesn't bounce too much.

Some riders choose to save money by cutting their original springs instead. Whie this is cost-effective this can result in numerous problems:

• Increased spring rate creating tough handling
• Offset camber arms
• Compressed shocks
• Uneven wear on tires

That’s why it's generally not recommended to cut your own spring. For one, your shocks could be prone to bursting when hitting a nasty pothole. Secondly, you can badly offset your alignment, which will be another cost, on top of others, in your next repair.

In theory, cutting springs should increase handling by increasing spring rate, but this also makes handling stiffer and more awkward. Cut springs are not nearly the same as engineered lowering springs.

Your springs are just one component of a larger suspension system. Adjustments to your ride height may require other aftermarket modifications, such tire sizes and fender flares. Adjustments will also affect dampening because the contact between your tires and the chassis will be altered.

Lowering kits can alter your alignment, so it’s suggested you get a professional alignment after installing a lowering kit. Be mindful of any wear around your suspension system as this could be the perfect time to replace any worn out shock absorbers or struts.

Do I Need New Struts and Shocks for a Lowering Kit?

Lowering your Sierra will not require new shock absorbers or struts, although many people recommend buying new shock absorbers anyway. The question is whether your stock shock absorbers and struts are in good enough integrity to handle a lowering kit.

Beyond this, you need to consider how well they’ll fare with any other suspension upgrades you make. With a pre-established ride height, a new set of shocks and struts can be the perfect compliment to your suspension system and improve its overall handling.

Buying the Right Lowering Springs for your Sierra 1500

With this said, it’s important to get the right lowering spring kit for your Sierra 1500. Springs that are too strong will cause your Sierra to sit too low and leave it susceptible to bottoming out. Too soft and your springs can leave your Sierra and shocks unable to compensate for the impact of potholes and other obstacles.

To find the perfect lowering springs you can measure the distance between the top of your tire and your wheel well. Of course, our lowering kits are designed to be custom made for your Sierra.

Spring Rate: This measurement refers to the amount of pressure or weight necessary to compress a spring by 1 inch. This will be rated in pounds per inch and generally refer to the strength of the spring itself. A stronger spring will create stiffer handling while a softer spring will provide a smoother ride.

Spring Load: This is a measurement of how much weight your springs are designed to handle at a certain height. More specifically, this measurement refers to how much weight your spring is designed to handle at a compressed height. You use your spring rate to determine spring load or spring load rate.

Spring Sag: Spring sag occurs over time as the weight of your vehicle and the wear on your springs begins to reduce its ride height. This causes obvious issues, such as bottoming out due to low ground clearance.