Need Advice on Lowering

dallasms3gt

I just mounted the wheels in the pictures below. They are 18x8, with stock rubber. Seems like a lot of people are of the opinion that I need to lower the car, I think it looks great, but I still have that new wheel proud feeling going, so I am sure when the shiny new feeling wears off, I will se the same thing..

I have posted a few pic's below of the car to get an idea of what thee gap looks like, and would like to get advice on what your thoughts are on lowering the car.

My ultimate objective is to find a combination of lowering that is aesthically pleasing in combination with the wheels, and at the same time avoid any type of rubbing, or clearance issues. I also would like to move to a fatter tire when the stock rubber is replaced..

Any advice would be great....

subparpunk03

I would recommend Cobb or H&R springs. Both are performance oriented with a mild drop thats "just right"

You won't have rubbing issues with either because they only drop about an inch to an inch and a half once settled. The stiffer springs will give a big improvement in the overall feel of the car, and aesthetically, very good results. I'll try and get you some pictures of mine, its fully settled now on the cobb springs.

aaronc7

HR look the best. A few guys blew shocks though with them. It is purely coincidence? who knows. The cobb drop looks nice and has a slight front rake to it

Haltech

Do it right and go with coilovers.

NYpest

Originally Posted by Haltech

Do it right and go with coilovers.

+1

aaronc7

and if you buy coilovers make sure you actually install them, unlike some others around here

Haltech

Originally Posted by aaronc7

and if you buy coilovers make sure you actually install them, unlike some others around here

Dont hate because i got a bitchen set staring at me in the garage!

Crossbow

Coilovers. As far as I'm aware, there is no spring for the MS3 which drops the car less then an inch. Optimally you'd want a 0.5 to 0.75 drop, to allow for enough suspension travel to prevent hitting the jounce bumpers.

At a 1 inch drop, there is roughly 0.25 inches of travel before you hit the jounce bumpers, and because it's difficult to measure the front strut's with them on the car (and the car on the ground, with weight on the wheels), it might be even less then that.

This of course means you'll hit the bump stop's, which are progressive (soft at first, then progressively harder), which will ramp up the spring rate unpredictably, and mess with handling, and cause premature front strut wear. I suspect we will see a large number of members with strut problems around the 25-35k mark, depending on when and how much they lowered their cars.

Coilovers on the other hand, can lower their height without effecting suspension travel. You can slam that baby right to the streets and still be fine.

I'm hoping that someone steps up soon and provides the community with a 0.5 to 0.75 drop spring with proper rates, like they did the MS6. That'll be the spring replacement I'll recommend. Until then, its 100% coilovers or swaybar upgrades.

If you absolutely must have a spring replacement (and don't want to fork out money for coilovers), you'll want to pick a spring that is linear, (evenly spaced coils), has stiffens the rear more then the front, and has a minimal drop (hopefully an inch or less).

Many companies make springs, very few of them actually make them to upgrade suspensions.

NYpest

coilovers and sway are one of my fav mods for this car...

aaronc7

Cobb says theirs is 1" drop but I don't think its quite that much to be honest. Everyone who sees my car does not even realize it's dropped (fellow speed owners)