The Kia EV6 is taking the BEV market by storm. Marketed as an SUV along with its platform sibling, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, its real life proportions are more akin to a tall station wagon. Emadifications has already shown that aftermarket wheels and a drop make the EV6 a great looking street machine.
📸: Mark Chan. Kia EV6
This is a buyer's guide to Lowering Springs for the Kia EV6 and Ioniq 5. It includes the benefits of installing lowering springs as well as a comprehensive list of lowering springs available on the market. While in theory these springs will also fit the Genesis GV60, fitment has not yet been confirmed by the individual spring manufacturers. For what it's worth, there are shared manufactured part numbers between the two platforms. Please note this is a new platform so your choices at time of this writing are pretty sparse and this is meant to be an ongoing guide that is updated on a regular basis. If you have a product you think should be included or a new offering to add to this guide please email me!
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Benefits of Lowering a Car
Most car enthusiasts know that "wheels and a drop" can make even the most pedestrian of vehicles look great. The EV6 and Ioniq 5's aggressive good looks already stand out, but there's opportunity to make it look meaner and leaner. As OEMs have continued to make better looking stock wheels, this aesthetic change can be made even simpler with wheel spacers and a drop. However, if we are only looking at the better looks of lowering a car we have missed the primary benefits of installing lowering springs.
Better Handling
It may seem unobvious when thinking about suspension modifications, but the ultimate goal of what we consider a "better handling" car is to increase the traction of the vehicle. The traction of your tires increases as the vertical load on them increases. To think about this in another light, try to move a piece of paper over a tabletop while pressing your palm down on it. The harder you push downward, the more difficult it is to move that piece of paper. The increased downward forces and friction provide more "traction" from the paper to the surface. In a moving car you have 4 traction surfaces at each tire contact patch. The vehicle's weight and the aerodynamic downforce serve as the downward force, or vertical load, to the surface underneath.
In a turn, centrifugal force acts on the vehicle to increase load on the outside tires and reduces load on the inside tires. While that force increases the outside tires see increased traction while the inside tires experience decreased traction. A practical way of gaining traction is by decreasing the load transfer so that more load stays on the inside tires. As a gross over-simplification, lowering your car lowers its center of gravity and reduces the amount of load being transferred to the outside tires. This is especially true in a car designed with SUV or CUV ride heights like the EV6. Furthermore, aftermarket springs will typically feature higher spring rates than the factory (OEM) springs which will also further reduce body roll and limit the anount of load transfer. All of this serves to increase overall traction.
Increased Road Feel
While lowering springs can objectively improve the handling of the car, the improvements in vehicle dynamics serve to subjectively improve the handling of a car. When people say a car "drives like a boat", this is often because of vague steering feedback and a soft ride. As described above, when lowering the center of gravity of the vehicle there are actual improvements to the traction of the car which leads to a more connected driving experience. Steering feels more precise and the ride is usually "tighter".
Decreased Drag
Lowering your car decreases the overall aerodynamic drag of the vehicle and increases range. Yes, you read that right. Lowering the car makes the vehicle more streamlined. A pseudo-scientific study by German Tesla rental company nextmove showed a 7% increase in range on the German Autobahn. Tesla tuning company Unplugged Performance also did a thorough Computational Fluid Dymanics (CFD) study which showed an 8.1% reduction in drag.
Drawbacks of Lowering Springs
It would be unfair to paint a picture that is all roses and potpourri. There are a few drawbacks of installing lowering springs you should be aware of.
Decreased Suspension Travel
Installing shorter springs on your existing front OEM struts and swapping out the rears necessarily means you are decreasing the amount of travel in the factory suspension. Ioniq 5 owners have reported that they have repeatedly hit the rear bump stops on hard drives on the stock suspension. The increase in spring rate on your new lowering springs should counteract against some of these forces, however, the amount of weight compressing the rear springs can create extreme compression.
Practical mechanics says you should change your shocks at the same time as installing lowering springs, but given the relatively recent release of the platform, there aren't any aftermarket options at this time. Most lowering spring installation instructions will tell you to modify your factory bump rubbers to increase the range of motion before the bump stops are engaged and also to increase the effective spring rate of the bump stops.
Potential Decrease in Ride Comfort
Because of the reduced travel and lower ride heights, lowering springs will feature higher (read: stiffer) spring rates than factory. Furthermore, if you cut the factory bump rubbers to improve damper travel when lowered, you will have changed the progressive nature of the bump stops. This may lead to more instances of the bump rubbers engaging much more aggressively and abruptly. All of this can lead to a firmer ride which some may prefer and others may hate.
Decreased Ground Clearance
This may be obvious, but still needs to be said. While this is typically not a worry for SUVs, the Ioniq 5 and EV6 factory ride heights mean you may not want to veer too far off the pavement in your lowered EV.
Lowering Springs vs Coilovers
Now that you have a high-level knowledge of the pros and cons of lowering springs, I will make the gross generalization that lowering springs are for aesthetics and coilovers are for performance. Lowering springs have a much lower cost of entry and if you know you will not be making many changes to the ride height of the car, they are a great upgrade to get to "wheels and a drop". A properly designed coilover system will not only allow you to adjust and dial in the exact ride height you want, they will typically come with new dampers to adjust for the decrease in relative suspension travel. Many coilovers will also offer adjustable dampers to dial in cornering performance and ride quality.
That being said, there do not appear to be any coilover offerings from major reputable manufacturers at this time. A message to KW Suspensions has revealed they do not have plans to support either the Ioniq 5 or EV6. This may change over time if the Hyundai E-GMP Platform becomes more popular. Let's hope it does!
The following is what is believed to be a complete list of all aftermarket lowering springs available for the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5. If you know of a product that I missed or are a manufacturer looking to add something to the list, please email hello@emotive.engineering.
Kia EV6 GT Lowering Springs
None are confirmed to fit at this time as the vehicle is not widely available. Please check back soon!
Kia EV6 e-AWD Lowering Springs
| Product | Front Lowering | Rear Lowering | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eibach Pro-Kit | 40mm / 1.6"†| 30mm / 1.2"†| $258* |
| H&R Sport | 33mm†/ 1.3" | 30mm†/ 1.2" | $399 |
* Base cost. Ships from UK. Emotive is working on US stock.
†Converted from manufacturer quoted lowering.
Kia EV6 RWD Lowering Springs
| Product | Front Lowering | Rear Lowering | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eibach Pro-Kit | 35mm / 1.4"†| 30mm-35mm / 1.2"-1.4"†| $442* |
| H&R Sport | 33mm†/ 1.3" | 33mm†/ 1.3" | $399 |
* Converted from GBP. Ships from UK. Emotive is working on US stock.
†Converted from manufacturer quoted lowering.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 HTRAC AWD Lowering Springs
| Product | Front Lowering | Rear Lowering | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eibach Pro-Kit | 30mm-35mm / 1.2"-1.4"†| 30mm / 1.2"†| $258* |
| H&R Sport | 30mm†/ 1.2" | 25mm†/ 1.0" | $399 |
* Converted from GBP. Ships from UK. Emotive is working on US stock.
†Converted from manufacturer quoted lowering.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 RWD Lowering Springs
| Product | Front Lowering | Rear Lowering | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eibach Pro-Kit | 32mm^ / 1.3"†| 27mm-32mm^ / 1.1"-1.3"†| $442* |
| H&R Sport | 30mm†/ 1.2" | 30mm†/ 1.2" | $399 |
^ Lowering is estimate based on chassis differences between the Ioniq 5 and EV6. Part number is shared between the two vehicles.
†Converted from manufacturer quoted lowering.
* Converted from GBP. Ships from UK. Emotive is working on US stock.
An Ongoing Guide
I hope this guide has given you a high-level overview of the benefits of Lowering Springs and the offerings available for your Hyundai E-GMP Platform. With a low center of gravity and electric torque, the EV6, Ioniq 5, and GV60 all make for an amazing backroad stormer. If you know of a product that I missed or are a manufacturer looking to add something to the list, please email hello@emotive.engineering. I hope to keep this guide as current as possible. Happy motoring!
