So How Low Is Too Low?

[stykthyn]

so I've been prowling through pro-touring.com looking for advice on a solution to a buddies car and I couldnt help but notice all the cars are slammed impossibly low. Almost every car was laid so low that unless they are on airbags I am not sure how they function in the real world, especially one where the car was supposedly built for a short distance high speed race. They had a few foxes but they seemed to be your typical 17" wheel and eibach spring combo.

 

[NIKwoaC]

I do love the look they get with bagged cars. Foxes don't lend well to being super slammed because so much of the drive train/suspension/exhaust hangs below the body line.

 

[84Ttop]

^^ Exactly

And for the record I don't consider my car low at all but damnit if I have to buy mufflers one more time or fix smashed collectors I'm going to flip my lid!

 

[Mustang5L5]

I've always used keeping the front A-arms parrallel with the ground as a rule. If you look at a Fox/SN95 with stock suspension, that doesn't give you a whole lot of room to drop the car since they are near parrallel to begin with.

The suspension just wasn't designed to be dropped. It's bad enough we are stuck with 1970's tech for a suspension, but then to drop it down, changing all the geometry, and reducing strut travel, and expect to handle well is a stretch.

Actually...correction. handle well on a real-world street, and not a magical, freshly paved road with no potholes and such. That's the key there is picking up all the road imperfections that your average US highway has. Down south, you might have great roads and can get away with a lowered, stiffly sprung Mustang, but up north, those potholes really kill your handling.

 

[revhead347]

When I first put my tubular k-member in, it lowered the front an extra inch over the inch and a half it was already lowered. It was impossible. I was hitting everything. I dented my oil pan within a week of driving it. I had to put spring spacers in to bring it back up an inch.

Kurt