lowering the car worth it?
 

i've been wondering, are many of you guys lowering the z? or do you feel that the stock springs sit the car low enough. looking at some of your rides, i can't even tell if its lowered.

Get rid of the wheel gap. Lower springs also equal better handling.

I wasnt going to at first but after changing the rims out my wheel gap is a bit more then I can bear. I'm putting coilovers on and taking it down an inch or so.

Lowered cars are kind of a pain in the a#$ for driveways and such but you'll definitely pick up some corner speed. To me..thats more important then HP any day of the week!

do you live in nyc? if so....be careful

Not necessarily...

From what I know a lower center of mass always equals greater handling due to:

1) Lower center of mass
2) Less air going under the car = improved aerodynamics at high speed

Correct me if I'm wrong please :)

Well you cant just simply say "its better because its lower" due to all those things. Slapping lowering springs on with stock everything-else may, in the end, prove to be an unwise modification. Car may sway too much and cause rubbing issues w/ stock sways. Stock shocks may not be able to dampen enough and you may bottom out. May cause camber issues.

Lowering a car may be fine, as long as everything else is working in harmony, suspension wise. Ive seen so many people slap some springs on and wonder why it rides worse, or their shocks blew out. Granted, we're already FAIRLY low as it is so I doubt that'll happen, but I still wouldn't throw on "just springs" and expect everything to be kosher...

Yeah of course mate I meant all else equal, I mean lowering to the point where the chassis rubs against the ground wouldn't exactly make it handle better now would it? haha

No sir, not at all.

My photos in stock form from VIR tells me I'd definitely want a stiffer setup, because my front tires on high braking zones were definitely getting up in those wheel wells :)

i do live in new york, thats my problem. on my tc, i had enough problems with my front lip that only made it lower by about a half inch, on stock springs too. i'd only lower the z for looks, not performance.

Doesnt that contradict your board name?

If you drop, you will have less body roll and therefore handling will improve.

what, because i have a front lip? my car wasn't too quick but it certainly wasn't rice. it would be lovely if i had some more money to do a lot more engine work, but unlike your average teenager riding around in a G35 that mommy and daddy bought them, my parents pay for my college tuition only and not a dime towards anything car related. so, i do what i can, it was a clean car.

Uhmmm, no, just that "ricing" is generally a term reserved for people who are doing the LOOK of a fast car without actually doing any performance mods lol.

As for the name "rice eater", I would reserve for someone who was extremely OPPOSED to doing "looks" mods and actually doing some performance goodies in a tasteful manner.

Furthermore, nothing personal, but seeing as I paid for everything (INCLUDING my own insurance with a car under my own name...) since I started driving, and your rents seem to be covering not only your college but also are saving your arse on insurance...I'd say you have it pretty well off :). You definitely have it "better off" than many other 18 year olds. For reference, my first car was a 1989 Geo Spectrum. It was mad sic tyte.

Mine was a 1970 Maverick with no paint and no motor. Stepdad said pick any car you want at the junkyard and this one didnt even have a motor! Had to build my first V8 at 15...sucked!!

Cool your parents are helping, plan on doing the same for my kids in a couple years. I'm thrilled I have the ability to do so.

Anyway, back to point...Lowered cars are a bit of a hassle I'll admit, but they sure LOOK GREAT! I hear that's the beauty of coilovers, you can take it down a little, try it out and take it down a little more rather then just commit to one height.

Take your time, save up and get some Coilovers eventually. Heck, I'd have to think the snow would be a concern since this is your daily driver

Good luck :tiphat:

Nice moto, Im jealous. My dad HATES cars - I never learned anything about them until I was 19 or so. If that. I WISH I had a dad like that - growing up doing a resto would have been AMAZING!

And I completely agree on the coilovers, btw.

:iagree:
:iagree:

Yeah, he did that just before hitting my on the left side of my head with a 2x4, still only have 25% hearing on that side...oh well...sob sob..

Didnt teach me a thing, built it from a book but your right...if nothing else it started me on my way to cars which turned into a passion for bikes, now its both!

All good in the end and that's all that matters! Its Xmas, need to think happy thoughts:tup::tup::tup:

Yeesh - 2x4 huh? Better than a belt I guess...oh, wait, no it isnt...

I dont even know what got me into cars in the end. I wouldnt be surprised if Fast and the Furious sparked the original flame, and it just went from there.

I'm 38 so it was before that for me but as CRAP as Acting is, I love the concept. Bunch of people hanging out fixing up their cars. The scene from Tokyo drift where their all hanging in the parking structure as staged and BS as it seemed, still looked like a blast.

It was a lot like that for me a while back. Taking our crotch rockets to Ontario or meeting on beach Blvd and going out street racing. Running from helicopters with my wife on the back. Dumping $6K from a new Credit Card that I didnt have into motor mods on my bike only to have some guy smoke me in a Turbo'd out sleeper bug (yes, it happened, damn car was a 9 second car on a slow day)

We had a group of about 30-40 of us that met 4-5 times a week in Huntington on our bikes. Myself and a guy named Bryce pretty much led the pack and one day I met my wife down there on my 1990 GSXR750 because Muzzy was building my 1994 bright green ZX7 at the time. What a great time that was..other then the cops of course :)

Sorry, boring story but I'm doing it again with my Z and having a blast!

Acting was horrible, but the mere idea that people hung out and talked about cars like that was so interesting to me.

We had a crew kinda like that in Omaha. Although they were horrible at organizing the street racing. Good locations, bad concepts (they'd go into the middle of nowhere, but not post anyone at both ends of the street with 2-ways to yell in a cop). I got an "exhibition of speed" ticket doing that. Good thing he was so far back he didnt get my speed - I was doing 120 easy lol.

Yeah...that's the sh$%tty part. I had more then my share of EOS tickets. 2 points and 800 bucks at the time per pop made it tough. Still fun trying to get away though :driving::tup::driving: :eekdance::eekdance::eekdance:

$200 to a good lawyer and I didnt pay a cent, nor lose any points :)

alright boys back on topic!

Sorry....killing the thread... my fault.

I can't imagine wanting to lower the car any more than it is given the scraping it does now on slightly inclined surfaces.

i see your point, but i dont identify rice as simply being modded for style rather than performance. its on the right track, but far too general. as for the name, i just made it for fun, and i hope to soon have a 370 that will eat rice for breakfast lunch and dinner.

anyway, as long as the z won't look too bad on stock springs i don't think i'm going to lower it. there are other ways i can improve suspension. like i said, i'd only do it for the looks, and being that i drive on roads that arent in the greatest condition, maybe it wouldnt be such a good idea.

and i DO pay for the majority of the insurance, especially now that i raised it. i guess we know totally different people, because out of most of the people i know, im one of the few that has to work for mine. kinda sucks :/

Z looks fine on stock springs until you get some aftermarket wheels. Then it starts to look silly.

even if they are the same size? i plan on getting the sports package with the 19s (i'll regret it in the snow) but i was hoping to put some nice Volks on for the summer, also 19s

If they're the same size, probably fine. I think it just depends on the wheel - Ive seen SOME aftermarket 19's look silly...

Definitely look into some winter tires like AK370 did...

thats another one of my concerns, how the hell i'm going to drive this thing during the winter. they aren't terrible where i live, but i do see snow. sorry to stray off topic

Psh, its your thread lol - do what you want.

Just get the cheap setup like AK did. Others have tried driving in snow w/ the stockers with epic fail, so....

I'm all rep'd out, otherwise....:icon18:

If I had a dime for every lowered car I've seen with damaged bits...

Its true though lol.

well, who's AK and what did he do?

Lowering a car is fun, but at some point your are going to run into issues, and throwing money at it.
Caster Adjuster
Camber Arms
Alignment time (hours)
Not to even mention the cost of the coil, or springs to lower it and labor.

Then worry about your exhaust, and front end hitting.

No, lowering the car makes it handle better.

Fin.

Just kidding :)