Lower or not?

[Fireball27]

Ok, so i've now ordered myself a CAI and Whisper Lid, so i'm gonna turn my attention to my next mods. Now back in January i had a spot of trouble with my tires and had to replace all four of them. I got these very nice Firestone Firehawk Wideovals, they grip amazingly well. Problem is they were a little smaller in profile than my old tires and as a result i have a rather large mustangesc fender gap. So my next move is going to be get rid of it. I figure there are pretty much two ways to do that, lower the car or get bigger wheels.

Now my dilemma is thus: I just spent $700 on these new tires and i don't like the idea of spending another $1500 getting another set of tires and wheels when the ones i have are still good. At the same time, i'm a bit weary of lowering the car, cuz i have a body kit on it and i tend to scrape the front part of that quite regularly as it is. I dont want to lower the car and then spend another few hundred dollars replacing my front body kit or something to that extent. So now you see my problem, i'd appreciate any advice on the matter.

[97burnout]

I have the Eibach pro kit... the only thing that scrapes is the plastic air "flang" under the car not the nose. But with a body kit you might... pro kit is 1.5 inches, no need for chamber kit and no need to worry about uneven tire wear...sportline is 2.5 and you would need a chamber kit or you will wear the tires uneven... My old civic had a 2.5 inch drop with no chamber and my tires wore only on the inside... very expensive... so go with a 1-1.5 in. drop

[Fireball27]

Now when you lowered your car did you get new shocks as well? I read that it was a good idea to do the shocks and springs at the same time.

[97burnout]

it is a good idea because it is hard on your new springs. I didn't but I think I am this week... You can do it yourself it is pretty easy. I can tell you how.

[Fireball27]

Really? I read somewhere that installing springs yourself wasn't to good of an idea. I don't really have any real mechanical talent, either. How much would it cost me to have them professionally installed?

[BobbyZ72]

You can install them your self, its just a *****. If you have it done its about 100 each, if you take the old ones off and have them do it that way its like 20 each. I would not lower your car, back when mine was stock i would bottom out and drag my nose all the time. I am one of these strage people that instead of going down, i lifted my car up about 2 inches using z28 front springs, and air shocks in the rear, i would never go back to stock or lower. Now when ever going over rail road crossings and some one next to me is in a sporty car and really slowing down, i make it a point to speed up. ;)

[97burnout]

whatever man. I only scrape on the bad steep parking lot entrances and most the time it is just the air scoop under the car. who cares if that scrapes. Besides who cares if even your nose scrapes once in a while... I can go around corners 2 times faster, maybe even more due to my newest install, see my "shocking" thread.. hahaha

[Nikos95]

Depends on where you live lol, I scrape mine factory on some driveways around here... SUCKS! But I'm saying screw it, just take stuff at an angle.

Actually the pro-kit drops our cars 1.3" so its not too bad at all. Also yes new shocks and struts for sure! You really wont get much of a handleing gain and will probably lose a bit of ride comfort until you do. Once you do, it's like driving a whole new car, finish it off with new control arms, panhard bar, and sway bars, bushings, mmm sweet sweet turns..

[Fireball27]

... I thought so... i think that i'll def. lower her once i get the money. May take a month or so, i've got debts to pay (like my parents for those tires...)

[Nikos95]

Originally posted by Fireball27:
... I thought so... i think that i'll def. lower her once i get the money. May take a month or so, i've got debts to pay (like my parents for those tires...)

Well good luck, but if you are going to drop it, do it all the way the right way first, you wont regret it then. Don't want to buy that stuff twice, and the work SUCKS! Have fun and good luck

[97burnout]

its like a dream... with my eibach and now kyb shocks... oh yeah... "hey look a maro, we can beat him in the corners"... think again suckers

[Crashtest]

Try this. Take a tape measure or ruler. Check the top of fender above each tire, measure to top of tire. Then minus 1-1.5inches (depending on spring).That will be your drop. Also tape the lowest parts of the car, like front end. If your nose is like 6 inches, it would drop to 5.

[97burnout]

subtraction...

[kristen]

buddy i had the bad gap too. hehhe. i didn't want to lower her cause of my gfx also since i bottomed out on everything already.

i sucked it up and did it. and omg she looks great.

for drive ways and everything else i go very very slow and on an angle. and haven had a problem yet. except that air damn.

DO IT

[97burnout]

yes that damn air damn... lol... I scrape that alot but I know it isn't hurting much.... angle it