kinda a crazy idea

[92ss satinsvoice]

so i was thinkin, about how i would go about lowering my car more with out haveing to worry about not be able to turn the car because the wheels are tucked in the fenders.



how about shaving the fenders up around the front wheels?

i think spencer was telling me that someone did this.

[555BCTurbo]

Lowering your car anymore will make it handle like garbage...


In a nutshell...lowering a Subaru much more than 1.5" moves the roll center of the car below the plane of the lower control arms...therefore causing terrible weight transfer

[livestrong14]

However, a Whiteline Roll Center Adjustment (RCA) kit fixes that problem.

[93forestpearl]

^ To a certain extent. Their bump-steer/roll center adjustement kit isn't adjustable, it just changes your suspension geometry so it is more optimal at a certain rideheight. You can still go too low with your suspension.

Keep in mind, once your lower control arm becomes normal to the strut, you gain positive camber anywhere beyond that point in your suspension travel.

[92ss satinsvoice]

damn you guys! destroying my dreams!!


......kill..... j/k

[supra90turbo]

Mine is lowered about 3" on Tein Coilovers and when I had it aligned after the fact , I opted for a bit of negative camber, but otherwise it lined up right with factory specs.

Despite what everyone says, this car really handles amazingly. I just did a 350mi round trip up to Vermont where I spent the past few days camping. The car was fully loaded and I traveled all of the roads at a speed of about 10-20mph faster than the posted limit. That's 70mph in some areas, and the roads are most certainly not straight. My only suspension mods are the coilovers. I will be doing a swaybar and probably RCA's too.

Keep in mind that this was the original stance this spring. It's now between .5" and .75" lower all around now. I forget the original calculations, but it tucks the tread of all 4 tires sitting on flat ground. The front coilovers are almost at full low and the rears are not even close to full low, and I still have TONS of ground clearance....

[evolutionmovement]

But not suspension travel.

[93forestpearl]

Mine is lowered about 3" on Tein Coilovers and when I had it aligned after the fact , I opted for a bit of negative camber, but otherwise it lined up right with factory specs.

Despite what everyone says, this car really handles amazingly. I just did a 350mi round trip up to Vermont where I spent the past few days camping. The car was fully loaded and I traveled all of the roads at a speed of about 10-20mph faster than the posted limit. That's 70mph in some areas, and the roads are most certainly not straight. My only suspension mods are the coilovers. I will be doing a swaybar and probably RCA's too.

Keep in mind that this was the original stance this spring. It's now between .5" and .75" lower all around now. I forget the original calculations, but it tucks the tread of all 4 tires sitting on flat ground. The front coilovers are almost at full low and the rears are not even close to full low, and I still have TONS of ground clearance....

Define "amazing". Your opinion of what an "amazing" handling car is does not mean it matches that of others. A low stiff car does not necessarily equal better handling. Better handling can be boiled down to better track times, slalom speed, and skidpad.


I have the Mitchell software and can run simulations, if you want, of what over-lowering a strut car does to your camber gain, roll center , instant center, and bump steer, among a host of other things.

[supra90turbo]

EvolutionMovement: No, you're correct. That's the only issue I have with this chassis subaru... I do bottom out the front struts a little more than I'd like, but I don't want to go with stiffer springs.

ForestPearl: I agree 100% with you. My opinion of "amazing" is flat around corners, not overly stiff, able to take tight off-ramps at speeds close to my RC51.
Don't get me wrong, the only way I was willing to lower the car this far was on coilovers. There was no way I was going to get ground control or cut the springs to get the car low. I feel that with these coilovers (BG5 Tein Wagon) the ride quality is very good, and anyone who rides in my car is surprised that it rides this good despite how low it is. That includes the 40 year old guy I bought it from.

I've seen and used the Mitchell software quite a few times, and it's a real handy tool to have around (wouldn't mind having a copy on my home computer)

-kurt

[93forestpearl]

Fair enough. As long as you know that your ultimate grip is more with you rideheight set a bit higher, that's fine. I'm not going to dog you for dropping it a bunch. I just get a little perturbed when a ton of people associate a lowered car with better handling. Some cars' handling really suffers when more than .75" lower than stock, like old Sentras for example. Low does look good though, I can't deny that.



If you were to attend a track day or an autoX you would benefit from raising it up a bit.

[555BCTurbo]

How much do those roll center adjusters actually do?


I can't imagine that make that much of a difference...with regard to allowing a car to be significantly lower.

[skid542]

I can speak to having the RCA kit installed. I installed the whiteline setup on stock suspension and noticed a distinct change in handling. Turn in felt more defined, body roll was reduce a little, and it felt more settled overall. A very distinct upgrade.

In the next couple weeks I will finally get my 04' STi struts on which will lower it a little, I hear around .75" though I will measure, and we'll see how it works then - I will be going to an Auto-X the following weekend to get some more quantative results.