Baby safe wagon?

wag-oh-vandrewwag-oh-vandrew New Wagonist
in Suspension, Braking & Wheels
Here's the deal, me and my girlfriend are having a kid (super pumped about it) and I feel I have the perfect car for a daddy-mobile (the wagon).
My only problem is the suspension is jank as hell, the guy I got it from put Megan racing coil overs on it, slammed the front end, and barely lowered the rear. For my personal taste I don't like the way it rides and it's way too bumpy for a newborn.

So I'm looking at lowering springs and these are the questions I have,


Can I use aftermarket springs with stock struts?
The car will be daily driven 100 or more miles daily and I'm wanting to drop it no more than 2 inches (probably 1.5-1.75 to be safe)

What else can I buy to beef up the suspension do that it rides smooth?

Any feedback is welcome and I'd really like to hear from
Guys and/or ladies who have kids and drive a wagon, what else besides suspension did you do to make the car safer for a kid.

Comments

  • ragenasianragenasian Moderator
    For the suspension questions you can read through a lot of the threads to see what people are running, and I have started a reviews section for more information. As for aftermarket springs on stock struts you can run them but it is better to buy the appropriate shocks to accommodate the lowering springs.

    As for the newborn stuff, if you have a nice baby seat then don't worry about it. My wife drove our slammed wagon around on some very nice TEIN Type HA's during most of my daughters first year and they were rock bottom, on some pretty stiff settings. My daughter spoke both English and German fluently by the age of 2.5 so I don't think the slammed wagon affected her at all :mrgreen: . My wife is very protective and we did nothing to make our car "BABY SAFE." I did however go through all the parts on the car and make sure everything was in good working order. Checked all the bushings, bearings, steering, anything that could fail was checked, and replaced if needed. Remember, there were people driving these things when they were new with kids in them, and they were considered safe back then, so why would it be any different now, just parts could be worn at this point. For us it was more about the baby seat then the car, so we didn't skimp on cash when it came to the safest baby seat we could buy. Bought a nice system that mounted to the car, with a brace that mounted to the floor of the car, and the baby seat then latched into the baby seat mount. Any forward movement was negated by the brace to the floor. Was expensive but well worth it, and to me this is the best thing you can do.

    Hope this helps a bit.
  • skitsoskitso Wagonist
    ^My kid sister is 3 and can hardly speak English fluently lol.

    As for suspension, I'd definitely agree on aftermarket shocks to go with your lowering springs. The good news is, if those Megan racing are in decent shape, you can still sell them used and recoup most of the money you spent on a spring/shock combo.
  • wag-oh-vandrewwag-oh-vandrew New Wagonist
    So my next question would if i go with high end springs should I go with high end struts
    Or can I go with high end springs and standard struts?
  • ragenasianragenasian Moderator
    I would highly suggest something you can adjust. I spoke to the wife right after the post and she would have liked to have had them adjusted softer. She never told me so she just dealt with it. She did add some extra padding around the baby, but she did that for the other cars as well. You get something non adjustable and end up not liking it due to the baby then you will end up buying them twice. Don't skimp on the suspension, if you can't do it right the first time wait till you can.

    Also, just in case, my daughter was always in the front seat of the car because the seat belt in the back wouldn't fit around the mounting points. My wife also said she never felt unsafe in the car with our daughter in the front seat, or ever felt that the car was unsafe itself. Figured I would give you feedback straight from MOM herself.
  • wag-oh-vandrewwag-oh-vandrew New Wagonist
    Thanks I really appreciate the feedback, and it's nice getting a mothers view because normally they're more attentive to the finer details.
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