Want to lower my stock bugeye
 

I've got an 02 bugeye WRX on stock suspension. 18"x9" rota force wheels, 235/45 tyres.
Im looking to lower it to improve handling and close up the arch gaps.
I cant spend a fortune and don't want it too harsh as only using on the road.
There is so much info on this it boggles my mind.
Can someone tell me what they think I need?

Pedders kit would be my choice, will lower it but be a good compromise between looks and comfort, your shocks will be ancient so just fitting lowering springs onto old shocks will shorten the life of the shocks will it did at least on mine and another owner who fitted prodrive springs

PCA (Prodrive) Blue Springs + shocks of your choice.

Well, what are your budget?
Fast road usage mean there are lots of option.
So having a budget will help us narrow down your choices.

Jerrick

Maybe £400-500

At that budget, it is difficult to recommend.
You can get lowering springs, but your damper is pretty old and that mean the lowering springs may just kill them faster.
If your damper fail, then all the money you spend on installation will have to be spend again... so that is just wasting money.

New lowering springs and dampers would be minimum, but it won't fit into that £500 budget.
Coilovers that are decent will probably be out of reach at that budget also.

If anyone else have any other suggestion, please feel free to chime in.
But I'll have a think because what you don't want to do is spend the money, and end up wasting it.

Jerrick

If you want handling, look at a stiffer front arb, solid droplinks etc first.

Lowering the car lowers the roll centre, which makes the car roll MORE, hence handling is worse. That's unless you do some very expensive suspension changes to get th3e roll centre right again..

I suggest you need to throw another £200-300 at the budget at least, that's presuming you do all the work yourself. Plus another £100+ for a full geo afterwards.

The key is not to lower the car too much. Certainly on the WRX there is a benefit to lowering but if you go too far, you run into the issues you've described.

Prodrive's gc wr97/98 lowering kit had a front ride height of 335mm - that's 35mm lower than stock.

Whiteline kca313, or the Superpro equivalent, roll centre kits aren't too expensive - £150/160

The Prodrive rb320 had a front ride height of 350mm and 360mm rear. Lowering the front in relation to the rear (as per the Prodrive P1 as well) intentionally generates more front roll:
Moving the roll centre rearward, increases rear roll resistance.
That, in turn, makes the front end roll more - helping turn-in response and reducing understeer, without the use of stiffer bars.