Need help lowering my Z. Fenders are not rolled in the back. Will do when i get springs. Plz dont just say to get coilovers. If I had 1200 dollars I would. Im happy with just getting springs. Fronts are 18x9.5+30 Rears 18x10.5+22. I can upload pics tom if that helps. From what I can see i need to go an 1 1/2 in the front and 1inch in the back. The car definitely raised when i put on the new tires and rims. It is a Daily for me so I dont want to be so low that I scrape everything. Wanting that tuck look. Im looking at Tein but up to any recommendations. Plz leave some good information on how you guys lowered your Z
EX does lowering a Z on springs have excessive wear on parts? DO I need to know anything about toe? DO i need new dampers or control arms. Let me know what you guys have done.... Thanks

 

It's all about the tires...

First off, those size wheels shouldn't need rolled rear fenders unless you're running tires OVER 275/40.

Secondly, what do you mean by "the car definitely raised"? Do you mean you ran too tall of a tire or you ran too short of a tire and there's a big gap between the tire and fender lip now?

As you can see, need to know what size tires you're running.

S'far as lowering, you can use any performance spring and look at the advertised drop, e.g. "0.6" lower" or "1.2" lower" and you can pretty much count on the major mfgrs to be pretty close to advertised drop.

BUT..... caveat emptor. Go too low (or better stated, lower than about 1") and all the geometry (alignment specs) of your suspension will be off enough to require hardware to bring it back into proper range. Most likely requiring UCAs up front and at least adjustable camber arms and toe links out back.

Be ready to shell out for that (plus installation optional and alignment, NON-OPTIONAL).

Mic

 

wondering if he had 17's before or just rubber band tires

i say eibach pro kits, but you will require camber kits.... if you don't want to spend that much tein s-tech springs

 

2 things to add.

1) his rear will need to be rolled. im on 9.5+22 275/40 and i do scrape so with 10.5 im sure hell need to roll unless he get much smaller tires.

2) shocks, aftermarket springs will likely wear the shocks out faster, so add that to the cost of things to think about.

 

I got Nankang Rear 275/40 Front Front 255/40. Not at all rubber band tires fits the bead well.

 

pics too dang small to see anything

 

Really? I'm running 10.5 with effective offset of +14 and no roll on one car (but then, thinking about it, sorry, it's not lowered, just Nismo)

On the other car: 10s with effective offset of +15, lowered ~1" and still no roll.

275/35s on both. (And that might the difference.... there's a .08" difference in height between the 18" 40s and 19" 35s.

Not.)

Maybe you need to lose some weight T'bo.

But ya, the takeaway from this is with so many variables car to car that on one car a particular set won't scrape but on another, oops.

 

Well, definitely the proper sizes.

I'd go ahead and lower the car with Pro Kit springs (or Tein or..... something that lowers the car between 0.5 and 0.75") - a conservative drop but effective and for the most part, won't require camber/toe hardware.

For perspective:


Slightly less than 1" drop. Eibach ProKit

 

when i had 275/40/18 on a 9.5 +15 i had to roll.

 

So if I do 1.5 i will need to get new shocks also?? OR an 1inch is the lowest before having to buy anything else allong with springs??

 

lowering anything on factory shocks will wear them out quicker, and most likely put you out of camber specs

 

??///////////////////

 

yea i was slightly rubbing. 275/40 on sumitomo z3. noticeably wider than my hankook v12. i think that the tires manufacturers effect it too. he might, he might not rub. but itll be a close call.

personally, i rolled mined just to be sure and the fact that its not too difficult to do, just time consuming.

and yes i could stand to lose someweight, not because im fat, but because weight reduction!

 

i noticed in this one you have slightly more clearance than my silver does in the rear. explains why im rubbing....

 

OP, as it's been stated by Trav and others, the stock shocks will *likely* need to be replaced sooner than later. Simply due to the shocks having to work harder to keep the stiffer springs in check. More work = more heat = more wear.

That's why it's almost always suggested to do both shocks and springs at the same time due to the labor of having to remove the front struts AGAIN should you opt for shocks later. Rear is no issue since they're separate units.

On lowering, 1" drop requiring alignment correction is only a GUIDELINE. Generally speaking, less than 1" drop DOES affect alignment but not nearly as much as going more than 1". Again, it's a GUIDELINE only and I'm a good example of that....

My first suspension set-up had sway bars (irrelevant but...), Bilsteins (B6) and Eibach ProKit springs. Net lowering almost right on the advertised drop - a little higher actually due to the Bilsteins raising the car a bit - but close enough to the 15mm claimed lowering that my alignment settings were pretty much spot on.

When I re-did the shocks (long story why), the Konis allowed the springs to settle down some so that the net lowering "increased" to roughly 19mm. But my alignment settings went bonkers. Oh, I could live with the camber change, no problem but at the expense of tires. So, opted for adjustable alignment hardware and got the car back into "spec". I'm running a little camber over stock F&R but it works... good compromise between handling and tire wear.

So, net-net, it all depends.....

I'd venture to say that a 1.5" drop will DEFINITELY wreak havoc with alignment settings that you can't fix without the hardware.

============

T'bo, in that shot, just put the wheels on with spacers out front ONLY (had to use 'em due to the high offset of the Z34 wheels). I've since installed a pair of 15s on the normally +30 rears. Hella-toilet-flush.

But still no rubbing.

Sheesh, for a guy who hates spacers, sure do have a lot of 'em sittin' around my garage.

 

i did s-tech's with stock shocks, was in specs (barely) i went to pro-kit and tokico d-spec, and i was out of spec.... but i also had the spc kit so it was easily corrected....

with that said, you are looking at almost $1800 if you do the installs yourself, add sways..... bumps it ups to $2250 ish

 

Ahhh that explains it. I have no idea why im rubbing. Spec isnt as agressive as it can be, but then again 40 over 35 sidewall looks so big haha.

And yes on spacers... i too hate them, but am force to run 2mm in the front to clear brembos and 5mm on the rear for a better look. Such a hypocrite haha

 

I do not rub with the following configuration:

275/40 tires
9.5/18" wheels and 15mm offset
0.5" drop (approximately, with Bilstein shocks and Tein springs)

 

I8aCobra had that rear combo and slightly rubbed at stock height. I think camber is the reason, OEM specs are -1.1 to -2.1, that's about a 10 mm different in placement on the upper part of the tire to the fender lip.

My car started rubbing at 10.5 +25 on 275/40-18 , just slightly. With a roll performed I spaced it to +10 without rubbing.