Will there be any problem if I just lower car about 1 inch?
 

Hi Guys!

First of all, thanks for the comments that you made in my previous post. They helped me a lot.

I'm looking to drop my car about an inch just for the look.

I have googled a little bit, and most of the people are lowering about 1-1.5 inch.

1. I was wondering if I just lower my car about 1 inch, will there any side effect in my car?

2. If I drop my car an inch, and upgrade wheels to 18inch , what other things i have to consider to maintain the perfect balance of BRZ like now?

Could you guys please recommend parts to drop this newbie's car an inch?

Any 1" drop spring will work fine with everything else. Yes, there are "side effects". You will get somewhere arround -2 natural rear camber from lowering. And most likely it wont be even from side to side. I had -1.8 left and -2.2 right after installing Eibach 1" drop springs. LCA will "fix" the rear camber, if its uneven and it bothers you. I drove 65K miles with mine uneven side to side. Toe in or out will cause weird tire wear, not mild camber difference.

Good luck!

If your shocks are in good condition and you just want an inch lower then I recommend a good spring setup like the TRD ones.

Watch the wheel width of your 18s. You don't want the wheel to be too close to the spring perch.

Speed bumps and angled driveways will become your worst nightmare. Just get used to the horrible noises as you bottom out and you will be fine.

Your car will explode.

Yeap, I'm lowered 15mm (19/32 hogsheads) from stock.

I scrape the front on driveways.

I scrape my exhaust on big speed bumps.

With the OEM LCA 15mm gave me LH -2.22° with -0.1mm toe and RH -2.20° with +0.1mm at the rear.

I am a bit over 40mm. The bottom of my front bumper is paper thin now. Don’t even want to know what my exhaust must look like.

Would do the same all over again. It is how the car should have come from the factory.

I'm 1.25" lower on coils now. I never really scrape. My exhaust looks perfect. My front bumper is scraped from 7 years of driving.

Low and busted is what should have come from the factory? :bellyroll:

My state has a limit for ground clearance, must have 100mm everywhere.

My car just passes by a few mm.

Where I live in Sydney I couldn't really envision lowering the car anymore as it would be so much more of an issue.

I do remember from my youth hitting speedhumps and driveways at 45° angles to avoid scrapping, it was annoying to do, and I was an annoying prick holding up the people behind me whilst I "negotiated the obstacles".

Opinions may vary

Yes. I also winter drive it through snow far greater than my limited clearance. Looks like a whole different car when not at monster truck height.

I’m lowered on the optional STI pink springs, which are 15mm lower than stock and I’m pretty happy with the look and how it drives, I’ve also got 18x8 +45 rims fitted. I think the optional TRD springs are also 15mm lower. It looks like Toyota and Subaru don’t go lower than 15mm on their OEM+ parts, an inch being about 25mm is another 10mm past the OEM recommendation. I guess it’s whether you want to take that risk or not. Looking at earlier posts it looks like other members have gone lower and have driven around like that for several years, but you don’t have the guarantee on wear and tear. A lot of R & D goes into ride height, drive shaft orientation, steering etc. I guess it’s an unknown how much wear and tear it is on the car. Also I’m not sure of the model year of your car so the warranty is something to consider. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

1" drop on TRD's and Sachs dampers. Worked out well. SPC camber bolts up front and SPC Lower Control Arms in the rear - then an alignment.

I did scrape the bottom of the front lip last night pulling into a parking spot with a curb one side. Kinds pissed since I'm usually so careful about that. Just missed judged it. I was hungry and just wanted to park and get food. Oh, well, just some paint peeled off on the bottom of the front lip that you can't see. Still pissed at myself.

1. Looks like #1 was answered above already! :lol:

2. If you decide to upgrade to 18's, I would recommend that you stick to a square setup. Preferably something lightweight to keep the fun stock feel. Depending on the 18" wheel size and offset that you plan to run, you might need to upgrade to coilovers.

Eibach's pro kit will drop you an inch.

-Sam

If you mess with any piece of the geometry, you mess with ALL the geometries. Not saying it can't be done, it can, but it's more complicated than just one little adjustment.

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The TRDs give a 1in drop. At 1in you cant pull up over curbs or parking blocks anymore (should be in the habit of not doing that anyways). Driveways require a slight angle unless you go really slow. My wife backed straight out of our driveway the other day and it didn’t touch. I had a very low Integra where the doors wouldn’t clear curbs so I’m already used to all these things. I don’t even pull over curbs in our Suburban.

Long story short, drivability at 1in lower is really no big deal at all.

Agreed. Eiback Pro for me as well, same as the older "TRD" springs. I can pull in to our shop parking lot without the ricer boy slant and it doesn't scrape. Stock height Mercedes cars scrape there all the time.

The end of my driveway has a little dip that drives my Tacoma's traction control crazy, no scraping or drama from the BRZ.

Many years ago a friend opened my 240 door hard over a curb, now I always hop out and open the door for my wife. To be a gentleman of course, not to save the paint :D

My tS is lowered 1" on Tein Flex A coilovers. The alignment done is showing an increase of rear negative camber by only .01 degrees. With a kouki model with LED headlights, you'll want to get the adjustable Cusco headlight leveler link, otherwise the car will think the rear is under load and will automatically lower the headlight light pattern cutoff.

Effects of lowering by 1 inch:

(1) Ride quality deteriorates noticeably. Unless the road surface is perfect, you spend much of the driving time with your eyes focusing on bump and pot hole avoidance. That actually takes away a lot of the driving pleasure.

(2) Shorter life for the shocks, from about 30k miles to no more than 20k miles.

(3) More cracking and rattling sooner. The car feels like every bolt has come loose.

(4) Need to slow down to a snail pace every time you come to your driveway or speed bump. And you still keep scraping the front end.

(5) Much more prone to bottoming out.

(6) When driving at night, headlight of other vehicles is blinding your sight, because you are sitting so low. SUV's and trucks are particularly horrible, because their headlight sit high.

I dodge potholes whichever car I drive, including the Corolla. To some, driving at elevated level awareness is pleasure. When you're aware, you notice potholes. Not a big deal. I paid for the TRD springs when I bought the car but they pushed it out the door without the springs. So I was at stock height for a few week. Wouldn't be a bad idea to keep dodging the potholes even at stock height if you ask me...

Slowing for driveway and cutting speed bumps at angle can also be second nature to some. Once again, I do it regardless of which car I drive. And I've had one slight scrape up front after a little more than a year. It's way at the bottom so you need to crawl around to see it.

Corolla is like 7" higher then a lowered 86 and I still have problems at night all the time. I somehow doubt stock height on a twin would make much difference. SUVs and trucks would always be horrible unless you're one of them. Seriously.

He sees what he wants to see. You cannot stop him from what becomes.

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