Do you scrape a lot? Is it worth it?
 

Hello everyone. Recently got a 2015 BRZ Limited in white and I love it more with every mile I put on it. Couldn't ask for a better daily honestly. I plan to keep it mechanically stock for many reasons,(maybe an exhaust lol), but I do want to lower it a bit, put some aftermarket wheels and maybe a lip or something. A couple days ago, I scraped pretty bad for the first time. Nothing crazy but I did cringe pretty bad. I want a meaner stance and better handling but I don't want to be scraping everywhere. Do you guys have similar issues? Is it worth it or should I just keep it at stock height with aftermarket wheels and tires? Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse kinda new here :D Any opinions would be highly appreciated.

-Will

I'm stock height with a front lip and I can usually avoid scraping the lip if I'm careful, but it's always close - I feel like the length of the front overhang is more of a problem than just the height. As much as I like the appearance of the lip it definitely does take away from the ease of dailying the car - have to be careful with which driveways I go up and down, how I approach them, which way I'm turning when exiting a driveway to angle the exit properly etc. or I will scrape. Pretty sure if I was lowered even 3/4" or so I'd have torn off the front lip by now. It's working for me so far but just remember you're going to have to plan your approach every time you go up or down a driveway.

It's really up to you.
Can you live with scraping your lip?
Or will you freak out, cry and moan and ask how to repair road scraps.

My car is lowered 20mm, it scrapes the mid pipe (2.5") on the rare occasion.

Just lower the suspension but swap in 18" rims with tires the right height to bring it back to stock height. That'll give you the more aggressive look you want without actually making you more likely to scrape. If you use a light enough rim you won't increase your rotational mass to affect acceleration enough to notice.

I'm lowered 1.25 inch. I don't scrape... Much.

I used to have a few cars that were Slammed though. I can drive a lowered car with a kit.... An old school Fiberglass kit.

Yes and yes.

The "value" of being lower, is 100% up to you.

Coming from the minitruck scene, scraping is a badge of honor!! LOL My wife says I had a big grin on my face, the first time I scraped over a speed bump, after I lowered the car.

Lowering will reduce handling parameters.
Who told you it would make handling better.

You need to get new friends. Immediately.

I don't think it works that way unless you don't care if your speedometer is out of whack.

The car is low enough as it is, I dunno if I would want to lower it due to that factor. Theres curbs and speedbumps I wouldn't want to get stuck on.
But at the same time the wheel gap is pretty big at stock height. I just find that all the available springs and stuff drops it too much.

It's bad to give out misinformation. A lowered twin with the correct suspension mods will out handle a stock twin.



As for scraping; don't go up steep driveways, take things at an angle if possible. avoid speed bumps. Park on the street when you can. Avoid places where you know the roads/driveways/speed bumps will damage your car. There's a kind of art form to driving a low car and not scraping it.

I'm on 18s and don't scrape. I also drive around town slowly and take all driveways at an almost 90* angle. I can make it over most speed bumps fine, but it it looks to be high than I avoid it. I also don't have a front lip yet though so that helps with ground clearance. Anything less than 3" will give you trouble if you're not cautious.

Ditto.

Under specific track conditions, three times until the mis-aligned CV joints explode.
Lowering reduces suspension travel.

it depends how low you go. i think anyone who has driven a before/after on lowering springs will tell you the handling improves on a ~1 inch drop. most performance coilover kits have a max height that is still around .75" lower than stock. i would say if you have proper damping ~.75-1.25" below stock is probably the ideal from a pure handling standpoint, but but scraping is an issue and it costs $$$ to get good damping with that level of suspension travel.

Remember that turning the wheel all the way to the left and right will lift that side of the car in the air higher. When going down a driveway and making a right, you want to turn the wheels left toward the street at the last second to lift the left side of the car up to avoid scraping.

Thanks man. What lip do you have and would you recommend having one? I love the look of them especially on white, but I can imagine it being a pain having to be extra careful everywhere you go.

Yeah it is pretty low as it is. I might just get 18s first then go from there. It's the almost monster truck wheel gap that gets me haha.

Thanks everyone. Don't really mind scraping every now and then, but I don't want to be the guy dragging his bumper everywhere. Not going to slam it of course but I think maybe a 1 inch drop will do the trick. Just gotta start getting used to angling the car and going even slower on speed bumps haha

Speedo is based on overall wheel/tire diameter. 18s with the correct specs can maintain correct speedo accuracy (or at least very close)

cheap car who cares...just find a good bumper off a totaled 86 to be your showcar bumper

I have the APR air dam plus their side skirts and spats. I like the look on the white car, especially with the TRD fender garnish also carbon fiber to match. As for whether or not I'd recommend it, I think it's too situational to give a universal recommendation. I'd say it depends on the area you live in, where you do most of your driving, if dealing with the clearance issues is going to be too problematic to be worth it. Especially if you're lowering too. There aren't a lot of speed bumps around here and all the speed bumps on roads are low enough that I can take at ~20 mph. The ones in parking lots are higher so I either crawl over them at 4 mph or find a way around them, but everything so far I've been able to clear straight on. Don't know how true that would be if I were lowered at all. Most driveways are manageable and there's generally street parking most places if I don't want to deal with it. Only found one driveway so far that is near impossible to get down without scraping and it's so bad ordinary sedans will scrape if they're not careful.



So it's not too much trouble so far and for now I think it's worth it to be able to make the car look the way I want it to, but if I were just tearing up the lip constantly with my daily driving I wouldn't keep it on.


Also depending which lip you're looking at might be easier to deal with than the APR. I think APR's is longer and lower than some.

This is true,

I just meant that you cant' just drop the car and get 18"s to raise it back up and cancel the drop while filling the wheel gap. If you did that the tires are likely the wrong size and the speedo would be off.

If you got the correct specs for speedo accuracy then the wheel/tire diameter on the 18's aren't going to be that much different than the 17's so you're not going to gain much height back.

I am dropped just over 2" all around and rarely scrape. If it does happen its on the midpipe. I have scrapped on a few speed bumps, in parking garages and on a few unexpected inclines. Its a cringe moment.

As said driving a lowered car is something of an art form, you have to have proper technique and be aware of everything. You just have to learn what you can and cannot go over, and be able to recognize them even if its the first time you come up on it. There is quiet a bit of planning your route through certain areas, especially parking lots. If I do go over a speed bump I go super slow, sorry guy in the back.

You mentioned wanting a 'meaner stance', if this means the below then you can't do that without scraping all the time. Go with a modest/clean/mature drop, such as the Eibach Pro-kit, and you will avoid scaping all the time. Pair these springs with 18" wheels and you should get closer to the look you want.

Don't do this to your BRZ:
https://3bntxw295kc031i6zl2nl2wh-wpe...ed-subaru.jpeg

My FRS is lowered 2 inches (bad driver much?) with an Aeroflow front splitter. I scrape on steep driveways all the time and you can't tell. The splitter is solid and will take a lot of abuse, the best part is, you can't see the damage! :iono:

-Sam

Yes you can. You can just do that.

And then the world would end because people are too stupid to make the mental adjustment.

Yeah I guess it would depend on where I live and where I take my car. I'm most likely going to do everything else (18 inch wheels, lip, side skirts etc.) and then look into lowering just to feel everything out. I was actually looking into the APR lip. Do you have any pictures of yours? Thanks

Here's what I have at the moment, without going out to take pictures specifically of the lip.

It really depends on your area. Where I live the rain gutters and crowns on the road are so bad my sister scrapes her Chrysler Pacifica backing out of her driveway unless she does it absolutely perfect.

It is the lip though, I have a series.blue and even being as careful as I can the front lip broke in six months. Others in the area have done the same. But that lip is total garbage, if you get a strong enough one it should be able to deal with minor scrapes.

Give this thread a read. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67345 The guy knows of what he speaks. It may give you some insight into the compromises that you must make when you make changes to your car (and every mod is a compromise of some kind).

Remember that every scrape does some damage to a part of your car. If it is a plastic lip then it is not that big a deal. That is just aesthetics. If it is a pinch seam then it is removing paint and exposing bare metal which will eventually begin to rust. If it is the exhaust then it will eventually lead to a hole which will leak. If you care about the longevity of your car then you want to avoid scraping.

I installed RCE yellows on my son's FR-S which gave a .75 inch drop. I run coilovers and a 1.25 inch drop on my MR2 Spyder. Both cars looks a little better IMO. The FR-S never seems to scrape. The Spyder almost never scrapes anything unless going into or out of a steep drive where the front lip may touch. Both drops are modest enough to not mess up the suspension geometry and both cars were properly aligned after lowering.

But did it handle better, prior to the failure? lower Cg is rarely, if ever, a bad thing, in regards to handling.

Reduced suspension travel needs to be compensated for in the spring rates, dampers, and/or the bump stops, depending on your goals.

lower it and buy a solid splitter mines like a black sexy sheet of metal

https://www.aeroflowdynamics.com/col...nt=15917573251

super thin sheet of metal

I've hit shit and this splitter was bent 90 degrees

took it off and beat it with a mallet and its back to normal lol