Just re-lowered my DBS. Amazing alternative to springs and coilovers.
Im never buying another set of springs or coilovers again 
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The way we did this really just mimics the factory set up and it's easy to Unclip the spring perch when you raise the vehicle and release pressure from the spring.
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After being completed disappointed with the HR springs on my DBS as they completely destroyed the ride quality of the car, I set out on a mission to solve this problem. Being a DBS owner, there is nothing out there as far as spring or coilover options besides HR so I had to do something custom. The first step I took was to contact Penske and talk to them about building me a custom coilover set with remote reservoirs which I ran on my previous viper with great results. The car was slammed 2" and the ride was like factory if not better. This set up was extreme, with different sprint rates, rebound and compression adjustments but we dialed it in perfectly and the car was very enjoyably. After speaking with a Penske rep and getting him all the needed measurements I stumbled across an old thread talking about custom coilover set ups on this forum. One comment talked about sleeving the factory shock with an adjustable spring perch that would allow you to utilize the factory spring and lower the car, in which would retain the factory ride and obtain the lowered look. I spoke with a local performance shop and we started our research. What we ended up finding out is that the DBS rear and front upper control arms wont allow the adjustable "Nut" run through as its to wide so this idea was scratched.
Now for the solution! As we had the suspension apart we noticed the factory DBS struts have a spring perch thats is "clipped" in place with a retaing clip. What we did is remove that clip, slid off the spring perch and noticed a machined groove which the clip sat in. Well the rest is very self exploratory. We machined 5 new groves below the stock one, all 1/4 inch apart and started playing around with the adjustments. Long story short we got the ride height exactly as it was with my HR springs and the car now rides like stock. Nice and smooth!!! I still have another .5 adjustment in the rear and .25 front if I wanted to go lower but there's no way. LOL
I didn't take very detailed pics through out the process but have made you guys a few images below that will hopefully explain what we did. I'm sure this will work on any Aston. This cost me $1600 all together and its worth every penny. Best of all its completely reversible.
We also spoke about having 1/8th shims made to allow for further adjustment. These shims would sit on top of the spring perch and below the spring to give the spring a bit more lift if you are trying to get an extra 1/8 out of the ride height. But with the new grooves we were able to set the ride height with out anything else and got the height identical to what the HR specs were.
Hope this helps another owner/s with the same frustrations as I had to deal with. Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Is its spelled purch or perch LOL sorry about that.
Now for the solution! As we had the suspension apart we noticed the factory DBS struts have a spring perch thats is "clipped" in place with a retaing clip. What we did is remove that clip, slid off the spring perch and noticed a machined groove which the clip sat in. Well the rest is very self exploratory. We machined 5 new groves below the stock one, all 1/4 inch apart and started playing around with the adjustments. Long story short we got the ride height exactly as it was with my HR springs and the car now rides like stock. Nice and smooth!!! I still have another .5 adjustment in the rear and .25 front if I wanted to go lower but there's no way. LOL
I didn't take very detailed pics through out the process but have made you guys a few images below that will hopefully explain what we did. I'm sure this will work on any Aston. This cost me $1600 all together and its worth every penny. Best of all its completely reversible.
We also spoke about having 1/8th shims made to allow for further adjustment. These shims would sit on top of the spring perch and below the spring to give the spring a bit more lift if you are trying to get an extra 1/8 out of the ride height. But with the new grooves we were able to set the ride height with out anything else and got the height identical to what the HR specs were.
Hope this helps another owner/s with the same frustrations as I had to deal with. Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Is its spelled purch or perch LOL sorry about that.
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VelocityAP sells ride height adjustable dampers from Nitron for the VH platform for a reasonable price (IMO). It's probably what I would buy for my vantage if I decided to lower the car (instead of springs) BUT I also don't have electronic dampers/suspension. If I did, doing what you did here looks like the best option to preserve that. I know a lot of p-car folks use sleeves so that's interesting to know about how sleeves may/may not work due to dual wishbone design on our cars.
That said, the only thing I don't like about adjusting ride height this way is you are also changing the preload on the spring. Typically most good coilovers have spring perches to set the proper preload on the spring independent to the ride height adjustment, which is typically done done by raising/lowering the body of the damper in relation to the mounting mounts. It shouldnt be a huge deal, especially with non-linear springs in non-race applications. The only negative here might be a spring that is not under any tension (potentially loose) when the car is lifted/unloaded.
link to nitron:
https://www.velocityap.com/product/n...2016-set-of-4/
That said, the only thing I don't like about adjusting ride height this way is you are also changing the preload on the spring. Typically most good coilovers have spring perches to set the proper preload on the spring independent to the ride height adjustment, which is typically done done by raising/lowering the body of the damper in relation to the mounting mounts. It shouldnt be a huge deal, especially with non-linear springs in non-race applications. The only negative here might be a spring that is not under any tension (potentially loose) when the car is lifted/unloaded.
link to nitron:
https://www.velocityap.com/product/n...2016-set-of-4/
Last edited by momo stallion; Dec 2, 2021 at 07:41 AM.
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One thing to note guys, is that this mod was done before velocity AP had a lowering spring for the older DBS. The only option we had back then was H&R, but those ride horribly, hence why I did this mode. I have velocity springs in my 2014 Vanquish now, and let me tell you, the car ride is phenomenal lowered. I want to get back into a 2009 DBS in the near future, and when I do, I will be using Velocity springs to lower it.
What is still cool about this way of lowering the car is that you can truly control the drop.
What is still cool about this way of lowering the car is that you can truly control the drop.
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One thing to note guys, is that this mod was done before velocity AP had a lowering spring for the older DBS. The only option we had back then was H&R, but those ride horribly, hence why I did this mode. I have velocity springs in my 2014 Vanquish now, and let me tell you, the car ride is phenomenal lowered. I want to get back into a 2009 DBS in the near future, and when I do, I will be using Velocity springs to lower it.
What is still cool about this way of lowering the car is that you can truly control the drop.
What is still cool about this way of lowering the car is that you can truly control the drop.
Any advice?
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This is stellar, and pretty much the only way I've seen to keep factory adaptive dampening, while getting adjustable lowering. Not as 'easy' as coilovers, but also 5% of the cost.
When you did this, did you have to disassemble the struts? Or did you just remove all four and bring them to a machine shop and ask them to slot them? When the car is lifted off the ground, is the strut still under compression?
When you did this, did you have to disassemble the struts? Or did you just remove all four and bring them to a machine shop and ask them to slot them? When the car is lifted off the ground, is the strut still under compression?
After being completed disappointed with the HR springs on my DBS as they completely destroyed the ride quality of the car, I set out on a mission to solve this problem. Being a DBS owner, there is nothing out there as far as spring or coilover options besides HR so I had to do something custom. The first step I took was to contact Penske and talk to them about building me a custom coilover set with remote reservoirs which I ran on my previous viper with great results. The car was slammed 2" and the ride was like factory if not better. This set up was extreme, with different sprint rates, rebound and compression adjustments but we dialed it in perfectly and the car was very enjoyably. After speaking with a Penske rep and getting him all the needed measurements I stumbled across an old thread talking about custom coilover set ups on this forum. One comment talked about sleeving the factory shock with an adjustable spring perch that would allow you to utilize the factory spring and lower the car, in which would retain the factory ride and obtain the lowered look. I spoke with a local performance shop and we started our research. What we ended up finding out is that the DBS rear and front upper control arms wont allow the adjustable "Nut" run through as its to wide so this idea was scratched.
Now for the solution! As we had the suspension apart we noticed the factory DBS struts have a spring perch thats is "clipped" in place with a retaing clip. What we did is remove that clip, slid off the spring perch and noticed a machined groove which the clip sat in. Well the rest is very self exploratory. We machined 5 new groves below the stock one, all 1/4 inch apart and started playing around with the adjustments. Long story short we got the ride height exactly as it was with my HR springs and the car now rides like stock. Nice and smooth!!! I still have another .5 adjustment in the rear and .25 front if I wanted to go lower but there's no way. LOL
I didn't take very detailed pics through out the process but have made you guys a few images below that will hopefully explain what we did. I'm sure this will work on any Aston. This cost me $1600 all together and its worth every penny. Best of all its completely reversible.
We also spoke about having 1/8th shims made to allow for further adjustment. These shims would sit on top of the spring perch and below the spring to give the spring a bit more lift if you are trying to get an extra 1/8 out of the ride height. But with the new grooves we were able to set the ride height with out anything else and got the height identical to what the HR specs were.
Hope this helps another owner/s with the same frustrations as I had to deal with. Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Is its spelled purch or perch LOL sorry about that.
Now for the solution! As we had the suspension apart we noticed the factory DBS struts have a spring perch thats is "clipped" in place with a retaing clip. What we did is remove that clip, slid off the spring perch and noticed a machined groove which the clip sat in. Well the rest is very self exploratory. We machined 5 new groves below the stock one, all 1/4 inch apart and started playing around with the adjustments. Long story short we got the ride height exactly as it was with my HR springs and the car now rides like stock. Nice and smooth!!! I still have another .5 adjustment in the rear and .25 front if I wanted to go lower but there's no way. LOL
I didn't take very detailed pics through out the process but have made you guys a few images below that will hopefully explain what we did. I'm sure this will work on any Aston. This cost me $1600 all together and its worth every penny. Best of all its completely reversible.
We also spoke about having 1/8th shims made to allow for further adjustment. These shims would sit on top of the spring perch and below the spring to give the spring a bit more lift if you are trying to get an extra 1/8 out of the ride height. But with the new grooves we were able to set the ride height with out anything else and got the height identical to what the HR specs were.
Hope this helps another owner/s with the same frustrations as I had to deal with. Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Is its spelled purch or perch LOL sorry about that.
Last edited by andratch; Sep 22, 2025 at 10:14 AM.
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Side-question for you @anton28 about the VAP springs you put on your Vanquish. Do they keep the factory "rake?" The OEM springs have the rear end of the car about 1.5 cm higher than the front, and the H&R springs maintain this delta when they lower the car. This means the front looks super low, and the rear looks a little too high.
I'm deciding between switching to VAP springs or having a local machine shop machine new perches to raise the front 1 cm and lower the rear 1 cm so that the car sits level front-to-back. If the VAP springs achieve this, then I'll go that route because it's a little easier for me.
I'm deciding between switching to VAP springs or having a local machine shop machine new perches to raise the front 1 cm and lower the rear 1 cm so that the car sits level front-to-back. If the VAP springs achieve this, then I'll go that route because it's a little easier for me.
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Side-question for you @anton28 about the VAP springs you put on your Vanquish. Do they keep the factory "rake?" The OEM springs have the rear end of the car about 1.5 cm higher than the front, and the H&R springs maintain this delta when they lower the car. This means the front looks super low, and the rear looks a little too high.
I'm deciding between switching to VAP springs or having a local machine shop machine new perches to raise the front 1 cm and lower the rear 1 cm so that the car sits level front-to-back. If the VAP springs achieve this, then I'll go that route because it's a little easier for me.
I'm deciding between switching to VAP springs or having a local machine shop machine new perches to raise the front 1 cm and lower the rear 1 cm so that the car sits level front-to-back. If the VAP springs achieve this, then I'll go that route because it's a little easier for me.
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so, I think I’m going to be mimicking your machining and cutting in a new perch for the clip!
@anton28 Do you have any pictures of your DBS with this setup?
Last edited by andratch; Feb 15, 2026 at 12:01 AM.
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it looks like the rake *would* be there, but your 355 rear tires have a 1” larger diameter that makes up for it.
so, I think I’m going to be mimicking your machining and cutting in a new perch for the clip!
@anton28 Do you have any pictures of your DBS with this setup?
so, I think I’m going to be mimicking your machining and cutting in a new perch for the clip!
@anton28 Do you have any pictures of your DBS with this setup?
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