The factory wheel opening...
The factory wheel opening on the Dodge Magnum leaves a lot of barren space showing--definitely not conductive to cool cruising. Want to make your Magnum a weed eater? Well, Hotchkis Performance can help you with that. Follow along and see what it takes, as we drop Steve Strope's wagon in da weeds.
There is a new era in hot rodding--the appearance of your ride. In the '50s, the nose was up and the rear was down. The thought was it aided in traction. In the '70s, the nose was down and the rear was up. The thought was... apparently, we all thought it looked cool because it definitely didn't aid in traction. Now, the trend seems to be keeping your ride as low to the ground as possible. More and more cars are cruising around on suspensions that are "dropped," making the car's rocker panels now a skid plate. But dropping your ride does not mean you have to sacrifice ride quality.
We went looking for a reputable company that could handle the process of lowering an '05 Dodge Magnum. We found Hotchkis performance offers what they call a Stage 1 TV S system. This system consists of coil springs, which drop the car approximately 11/4-inches, and their Sport tubular sway bar kit. According to Hotchkis, the sway bar kit improves cornering by reducing body roll, and the bars feature lightweight hollow construction and include greasable polyurethane bushings. What's more, the bars are powder-coated for durability.
But, how hard is the kit to install? Because the rear cradle has to be lowered for spring removal, Hotchkis recommends a trained professional handle the job. But if you're like us, you'd would rather tackle it yourselve. So get out the jackstands and let's get busy.
 Before you do anything, jack...  Before you do anything, jack up the car and place on jackstands, then remove the wheels. |  Loosen the upper control-arm...  Loosen the upper control-arm ball-joint bolt (do not remove yet). Use a hammer to smack the control-arm flat spot in order to break the ball-joint stud loose. Once loose, you can then remove the ball-joint nut. Don't let the steering knuckle hang by the brake line; use a wire or string to hold the knuckle up. Keep the bolts and such, as you will need the hardware for reinstallation. |  Loosen and remove the lower...  Loosen and remove the lower shock bolt. Also remove the bolt holding the sway-bar end link to the shock. Again, keep all hardware for reinstallation. |
 you will find the plastic...  you will find the plastic shock caps under the hood. Once exposed, remove the three remaining bolts that hold the shocks to the vehicle. |  Once the shock is out of the...  Once the shock is out of the car, mark the shock top hat and lower perch with a grease pencil or other marking tool to make reassembly easier; |  ...you will be able to replace...  ...you will be able to replace the strut assembly the way it came out. |
 Taking the assembly apart...  Taking the assembly apart will require a strut tool. Auto Zone has a loan-a-tool program: go into any Auto Zone, pay a deposit, and borrow the tool. This is handy if you're only going to use the tool once--like a strut tool. After you disassemble the strut, you'll need to remove the hat and the factory bumpstop. |  Here, you can see why you...  Here, you can see why you need to remove the factory bumpstop. The Hotchkis stop is smaller, giving the needed room for the suspension travel with the lowering spring. |  Place the new Hotchkis coil...  Place the new Hotchkis coil spring onto the shock, making sure the smaller pigtail end is at the bottom. |