Haha! Thanks for the shout-out, homeboy.
I've never really heard of any other way to lower it than the way it was. Mine was lowered the same way; mono-leaf, flipped rear and coils heated in the front. You could always just drop 3" blocks on it to keep a better ride quality.
As far as the wheels go, I agree with Rob. The previous wheels rocked for that car. The Panasports are nice as hail, but (and this only my opinion, 15" is too big, lolol). Those 5 stars are perfect period wheels for the car. Later, QD.