Lowering... without the lowering kit!, think it'll work? Options

[CelicaBuddy]

Just thinking about a lowering kit yall...

Cuz Im wanting to get 17's and well Ive heard many many times that 17's would look really messed up if the car is not lowered. Problem is, Dad wont allow the lowering kit, cuz my sister had her civic lowered and it totally screwed up the way how the car rides.... And he doesnt want that hapening to my Celica, which is understadable....

Anyways.... There's a back up plan to this little situation and itd be like lowering the car, without messing with the suspension.

Plan is.... To get 16's... With skinnier/thinner/low profile/you catch my drift Tires.... He's sayin it'd drop the car bout 2 inches (which is about how much I wanna drop it) and I wont havta mess with the suspension what so ever... He said he did it to a car he had in the past (250 Z if Im not mistaken) and he said it worked.

Sounds like itd work to me.... Whatcha think?

But back to the lowering kit.... For those of you who got em... How do your car's ride? What kit ya got? All the basics of a lowering kit... Maybe, My car will be lowered, and I'll be ridin my 17's.... But the 16's plan is looking pretty bright... Any suggestions people? Thanks

*Sabrina

This post has been edited by CelicaBuddy: Dec 25, 2004 - 8:31 PM

[turboinduction]

hey, alright, here we go

The size of the tire/rim combo and the drop will affect the ride. You cant except to be on 35 series on a 2" drop and ride like a Lexus. When dropping, go the whole sha-bang. If you do a little bit and not all, then yes, you will have a messed up ride.

Keys to a drop:
1. Springs. Obvious one here. If you go with 18's with a 40 series tire, you are safe with both TEIN and Eibach drops (both do a 1.5" drop, TEIN's only do a 1" in back) Now understand drops. A 1.5" drop is more like 2" with the body. If you want 17's go with a 45 series tire and again, either of the two are safe.

2. Struts. If you car has lots of miles or doesn't seem to ride brand spankin new anymore, it might be time to get some new struts. KYB makes OEM replacements for our car. This includes new struts (full assembly) for the rear and strut inserts for the front. Its very nice and work great.

3. Mounts. If you are upgrading struts, get new mounts. KYB will sell mounts for the back, but PLEASE get OEM ball mounts for the front from Toyota. This will help the new spring sit better and adjust properly.

4. Heres the biggie. This will define you as a ricer or a tuner. Are you ready.... I think you are. Alignment and Camber. PLEASE OH GOD PLEASE make sure you do a camber after the drop. This will aid the drop so much along with straighten those nicely tilted tires. Drive around for about a day or so, so those new springs adjust to the mounts and then drive your girl to the nearly shop.

Back to your 'idea' of dropping. I'm not knockin your dads idea, but it'll look real bad. It'll look oddly unbalanced and no it wont drop your car 2". It'll make you look like your running on fancy donuts. Not good. Go with the 17's or 18's and just make sure you do it right. Theres many people on this site that are more than willing to aid you through the purchasing and installing process (myself included) so go have fun now.

EDIT: The higher the tire, the better the ride. 17's with a 45 will ride better than 18's with a 40, but lose style points on Need for Speed. You'll be fine with either, unless you want 19's like me - oh boy, then I need to write a whole new post!

-Ti

This post has been edited by turboinduction: Dec 25, 2004 - 8:45 PM

[CelicaBuddy]

Hmm... OK

Sweet! I now have a better idea of the lowering process
Too bad my dad wont allow it.

But one thing i dont get.... This goes with my dad's idea... How would it make the car look unbalenced? The way how I see it is that itd just lower the car onto different tires.... Im not too sure on the whole lowering part, but thats what Ive been told.

Then again.... I cant explain things if my life depended on it So somewhere a long the line i prolly missed something. Need to talk to dad again

But yea! I really really wanna go for the kit now! We'll see!

[Exile04]

it will leave abig gp between tire and car and make it look like ur car is raised. the nwit hsmaller tires ur get a bad ride u feel everything and it suxs
i have 18's with 40 tires and it suxs

[NYCelica]

tell your dad that you want to cut your stock springs!

[creis]

If you get real low profile tires and dont drop the car, you will have a bigger gap between the tire and the wheel well, making it look, well not good, just odd. if you wana lower it I would not recomend just getting low pro's, If you wana make it look lowered get 18-19" wheels that will fill up the wheel well enough that the gap is like 1-2 inches then it will look lowered but ride the same, however you wana make sure you have full clearence for the tire to go up and down with big bumps.

I understand what your dad is saying and yeah you can really mess up the ride if you do a half-ass job however its not hard to do a good job if you take the time and put the money into alignment/camber witch if you dont do will result in a bad shacking of the car and you'll go though tires like no other.

[Rjb23]

If you get real low profile tires and dont drop the car, you will have a bigger gap between the tire and the wheel well, making it look, well not good, just odd. if you wana lower it I would not recomend just getting low pro's, If you wana make it look lowered get 18-19" wheels that will fill up the wheel well enough that the gap is like 1-2 inches then it will look lowered but ride the same, however you wana make sure you have full clearence for the tire to go up and down with big bumps.

I understand what your dad is saying and yeah you can really mess up the ride if you do a half-ass job however its not hard to do a good job if you take the time and put the money into alignment/camber witch if you dont do will result in a bad shacking of the car and you'll go though tires like no other.
[right][snapback]226509[/snapback][/right]

If you get 18 or 19's with low prof tires it is not going to ride the same. If you get 16's with low profile tires you will look like a retard. The car is going to look like you have it raised 2 or 3 inches and you will have a gigantic wheel well. Like a 5" gap or more.

This is what you do, get eibach sportlines, Kyb GR2's, and 17's with good tires. You are still going to feel bumps and stuff but hey it will handle like a go-kart and will get rid of a lot of the body roll. Just avoid potholes and drive carefully and you will be ok.

Edit: I forgot get an alignment done after its lowered.

This post has been edited by Rjb23: Dec 25, 2004 - 10:11 PM

[creis]

you will have a gigantic wheel well. Like a 5" gap or more.

Not true

if you have a wheel/tire that is 2 inches larger radious then stock you will lose 2 inches from your wheel well gap and add 2 inches to the ground. over all you will have lifted it 2 inches but lost 2 inches in the gap, making it look somewhat lowerd. It will ride the same as in the springs/struts will all act the same however you will feel more because there is less rubber to sophen the bumps.

If you want to lower your car then you have to alter the suspention, anything else will not give you the desired results.

[Rjb23]

Re-read my post. You misunderstood.

[boosted_K2]

not to mention changing the overall size of the wheel/tire package will uncalibrate your speedometer.

[CelicaBuddy]

tell your dad that you want to cut your stock springs!
[right][snapback]226508[/snapback][/right]

Does doing that actually lower it and not affect the way the car handles? I really wouldn't know! Im smart like that....

[creis]

Cutting the springs is just about the cheapest thing you can do to lower the car, it makes the ride very bad not to mention you will no longer have the original springs to fall back on if you dont like it.

all you have to remember is:

Cut Springs = Rice = bad

edit: and yeah it will lower the car, depending on how much you cut off i guess you could really dip it low, pick it up slow, roll it all around...... (sorry broke into song again )

This post has been edited by creis: Dec 26, 2004 - 2:36 AM

[Newbie]

Not to mention your car will bounce everywhere..

[Rjb23]

Not to mention its the dumbest thing you can do because its very unsafe.

[CelicaBuddy]

OK thats a no... LOL

I dunno.. Been thinking just on baggin all my ideas.... and just stayin with good ol' stock... : /

Itd be easier on me and my celica... Cuz I can never make up my mind... I dont wanna end up gettin somethin and later on hating it. So Im thinking about just getting a few more things and thats it... But, I dunno... just havta see later on I guess...

Its so friggen hard! cuz nuthin ever works for a convertible! Im not just sayin that for the lowering stuff, but in general it seems like... And then Im always hearin from the family.... "If you put that on yur car it'll be stolen!" "Dont get that in yur car! Someone will stab throught the top and steal that!" or... "Putting that on yur car will mess it up! Leave it alone!".... LOL I dont get the support my sister got for when she did up her civic... No one tried to stop her, she got buncha support. Hmm.... Damn Convertile.... It messes eveything up.... I give up

LOL Sorry... Venting... Feels good .... Watch next week I'll be wanting to do something to my car and my ideas will be back... Geeze... Im so friggen retarded.

This post has been edited by CelicaBuddy: Dec 26, 2004 - 3:09 AM

[creis]

I get that too, my mom always askes when i'll be done with my car (fixing it up and all) or when am I gana have it painted. I just dont listen any more. I'll probibly never get "done" with it, and my plans change every day.

Its kinda cool if you think about it, its like a mistary, who knows what my car will end up like by this time next year, or if i'll even still have it, gives life a little extra excitment. Plus I like thinking up new things to do with it.

[CelicaBuddy]

yea i totally agree with ya....

Its great getting new ideas and the suspense of wondering what your car will look like later on down the line...

[jwells]

I got the 16" wheels from the 7th gen GTS, and I believe Kumho Ecsta 711's (they're in storage for the winter...so I can't check) but it made the gap look a lot better on my car, over the 15" stock wheels. I think I got the wheels and tires for about 500.00, so it's not THAT expensive to do, and it keeps the car having a stock clean feel, but still looks nicer than what was on there before.