Need advice on my lowering options
 

So first off I apologize for another lame post. I have been doing days of research and I still cannot come to a conclusion.

I have a frs with 17x9 +42 wheels, and I have some contential tires that are 245/40.

My goal is to just get rid of the fender gap. I have a small budget, therefor I want springs. Note, I do not want to mess with the handling. I’ve read on this forum of people claiming these springs will increase understeer.

1) RCE - 7/8 drop. I like these because theyre supposedly the best with oem struts.

2) RSR 1 1/4 drop.

3) Eibach sportline 1 1/2 drop. Most skeptical of these, I trust eibach, but I think if a spring would blow my dampers then it would be these cause of so much drop.

Note: I do know I will need front camber bolts and alignment. And also I am aware that these are springs and they do compromise the dampers so a shorter lifetime of those is expected. I would like to not buy struts for maybe 100k miles. I currently have 60k on my frs.

What do you guys suggest? Obviously I would like the most drop, but I am skeptical of the struts situation.

I don’t really mind sacrificing a little bit of ride comfort.

Don't worry too much about premature wear on the struts. A lot of this preconception comes from guys that throw random cheap springs on that are not the proper rates for the struts. That beats the crap outta them and causes them to fail. Using any decent brand of spring that is properly set up with a rate appropriate for the car does not blow struts under normal street use. Struts are simply a sealed hydraulic unit and as long as they are not abused they don't care if they are compressed a bit more than normal. My RSS Super Down springs have over 100K on them and my struts are still going strong.

Have you considered TRD springs? (If you are worried about dampers)

You can also look into TRD springs or Eibach Pro-Kit springs. Those springs drop the car 1" and have worked for members on here. Also, RSR makes 2 different springs for our car the "Down" and "Superdown" if you dont want to go too low i believe the "Down" springs lower 15mm. If you are going to lower more than a 1" drop then look into Rear Lower Control Arms. As the camber will be off once you lower your car its not a bad idea to get them anyway.

Thank you this is helpful, are you running front camber bolts and/or rear control arms?

Also how is the ride?

My suspension is all stock other than the springs. I would recommend them though since I have just a tad more camber than I should (haven't had unusual tire wear or issues though so I left things as they were).
The ride is marginally rougher than stock but not even close to being bad (my subjective opinion of course). You very quickly learn the right speed and angle to approach driveways and inclines. Speed bumps will become your greatest enemy.

You mean, just a tad less than you should. ;) Factory is a joke of not remotely enough. :happyanim:

True.

What does less camber than supposed to have cause? Incorrect tire wear, anything else?

0 degrees +/- 0.5 won't do much of anything for daily driving.

If you track the car, the outside-edge of the tire takes a beating in turns when you have too-little camber. (Particularly the fronts) For autocross, about -3.5 degrees of negative camber up front seems to work but stock is something like -0.5

Unless it is extreme you will not notice the difference.

Of your list, would suggest RCE.

As mentioned in thread, TRD springs are also a nice option. The drop they provide is supposed to be the same as the Eibach Pro-Kits (many folks swear they are the same springs). You can find them for a cheaper price than many alternative springs online.

Any lower than that, would suggest just saving longer to go with a setup that has dampers as well. Bilstein, RCE, ST have some nice offerings on the lower end of the price spectrum. Non adjustable dampers-- but you don't need adjustability for daily driving and it's one less variable to worry about.

Whichever setup you end up getting + camber bolts, have your alignment shop zero out the toe front and rear and dial in a little more negative camber up front. Enjoy :)

Don't forget the swift springs either, they're a great option and not as front (understeeer) biased as the RCE's. I have the swift sport FRS springs, they also have a sport BRZ model that is more front biased and the spec R's. I wouldn't get the spec R's unless you're after the best track performance. I would've bought the spec R's, but they weren't out yet when I bought mine.

I tried H&R super sport lowering springs on stock struts in the past and they were by far the worst riding suspension I've ever had. I feel like it would be the case with any lowering spring that lowers more than 1 inch. Sure it was "stiffer" but it's because you're riding the bump stops. If anything it was super bouncy.