Quick coilover question

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by smg1138

I can't even imagine being able to pull that off. Even at only a 1" drop with no body kit I still scrape sometimes. It's usually just the front lip or resonator on my exhaust, but it still bugs me every time it happens.

Wow scraping at 1", maybe I'm just lucky there's no huge speed bumps etc. where I live. Probably the biggest factor, how is it where you drive. You know, my reference points might be off, so I may be full of crap - I might not be all the way to 2" but I'm close, definitely lower than my old Eibach Sportline springs (around 1.4") I had back in the day. I'll measure if someone gives me reference for stock height (haven't been stock height in ages).

[churchx]

I had scraped at stock height. . OK, maybe in not too common situations, like having to park over road kerb, when parking spots are designated there, or having to hear for few hundred meters in row for scraping of underside of bumper with ice on rarely plown in winters road in yard near my house with too deep tracks/grooves in that snow/ice on road. I also find fun in some quick drifting drives on gravel roads (and some winter tracks) aswell. Didn't scrape there, but if lowered?
In some situations maneuvering in reverse (due rear being higher then front) or going at angle can help, but not always.
And those "normal speed bumps that are fine" .. riight. I recall long queue of cars gathered behind one overlowered car that waited for opposite traffic lane to clear to be able to go over that "normal bump" at angle. I'm rather certain that owner did that for looks only, not for lowering CG, and probably never been to track either.
One also has to pay lot more if going for lowering >1", like diff risers, roll center adjustment kits and so on. It's somewhat hard to me imagine, why pay own money to worsen DD car's primary function for arguable looks improvement, when doing it at sane extent will net more pros then cons.

[smg1138]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

Wow scraping at 1", maybe I'm just lucky there's no huge speed bumps etc. where I live. Probably the biggest factor, how is it where you drive. You know, my reference points might be off, so I may be full of crap - I might not be all the way to 2" but I'm close, definitely lower than my old Eibach Sportline springs (around 1.4") I had back in the day. I'll measure if someone gives me reference for stock height (haven't been stock height in ages).

I have to deal with some crazy driveways and parking garage entrances.

Stock height is 26.25" Front & 26.5" Rear

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by smg1138

I have to deal with some crazy driveways and parking garage entrances.

Stock height is 26.25" Front & 26.5" Rear

I'm going to have to take some pics of my local speed bumps. maybe measure them if they don't haul me off in the paddy wagon. what are those measurements from/to? Center of wheel opening?

Originally Posted by churchx

I had scraped at stock height. . OK, maybe in not too common situations, like having to park over road kerb, when parking spots are designated there, or having to hear for few hundred meters in row for scraping of underside of bumper with ice on rarely plown in winters road in yard near my house with too deep tracks/grooves in that snow/ice on road. I also find fun in some quick drifting drives on gravel roads (and some winter tracks) aswell. Didn't scrape there, but if lowered?
In some situations maneuvering in reverse (due rear being higher then front) or going at angle can help, but not always.
And those "normal speed bumps that are fine" .. riight. I recall long queue of cars gathered behind one overlowered car that waited for opposite traffic lane to clear to be able to go over that "normal bump" at angle. I'm rather certain that owner did that for looks only, not for lowering CG, and probably never been to track either.
One also has to pay lot more if going for lowering >1", like diff risers, roll center adjustment kits and so on. It's somewhat hard to me imagine, why pay own money to worsen DD car's primary function for arguable looks improvement, when doing it at sane extent will net more pros then cons.

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[smg1138]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

I'm going to have to take some pics of my local speed bumps. maybe measure them if they don't haul me off in the paddy wagon. what are those measurements from/to? Center of wheel opening?

Ground to top of wheel well with stock wheels and tires at 35psi. That's just one way to measure though. Some people prefer using ground to pinch welds. Others like center of hub to top of wheel well. The most important thing is to measure on a very level surface. Even slight bumps in the ground can throw off your measurements.

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by smg1138

Ground to top of wheel well with stock wheels and tires at 35psi. That's just one way to measure though. Some people prefer using ground to pinch welds. Others like center of hub to top of wheel well. The most important thing is to measure on a very level surface. Even slight bumps in the ground can throw off your measurements.

ok ok, so I'm full of it, just measured and I'm at a 1.6" drop. So now I can't imagine being at a 2" drop, not just ground clearance, but wheel well clearance! regarding lowering beyond 1" making it handle worse tham stock - my car handled nicely stock, even better with good tires, and now lowered 1.6" on rce tarmac 2's i assure you it handles quite noticably better than a stock car. and looks a whole lot better



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[zc06_kisstherain]

quite same here. i dropped about 1.1 - 1.2 and almost hit front lip lol cant imagine dropping 2"

[churchx]

bfrank1972: let's compare apples to apples, not to oranges. I'm rather shure, that handling improvements in your car mostly stem from wastly superrior coilovers vs stock, not from lowering per se. I doubt you'll see much improvements (if any) versus if very same coilovers on non-lowered or only slightly lowered car.

[bfrank1972]

Originally Posted by churchx

bfrank1972: let's compare apples to apples, not to oranges. I'm rather shure, that handling improvements in your car mostly stem from wastly superrior coilovers vs stock, not from lowering per se. I doubt you'll see much improvements (if any) versus if very same coilovers on non-lowered or only slightly lowered car.

Hey churchx, no doubt, that wasn't my point really - actually my point was to compare apples to oranges

The car would likely handle slightly better if I raised it a bit, as the suspension geometry (as you mentioned) isn't optimized for my current ride height, I do realize that. But it's not like buying coilovers and lowering to my ride height is going to destroy my handling. Tons of other factors come into play, and the negative effects are progressive and not a light switch.

The car handles phenomenally well, that I can tell you - if I were a track junkie looking to optimize that last degree of handling I'd probably drop a bunch of money on new suspension bits and "go down the rabbit hole". But for my street driving/autoX/occasional track day this setup handles good enough for me and looks nice in the process.