size really matters? ...advice please

[alimcfly]

Hi Guys,

thanks for the great advice ive had from mr2-roc
found myself a 55 plate blue 2 with toyota bodykit
in hartlepool
i then drove to sheffield exhausts uk and had a cobra quad fitted (very loud perhaps too loud)
bought a style bar off  a member and going to collect
a hard top and fitting kit off another member cant wait!

so much fun to drive - even on the bumpy roads in the highlands
which brings me to my question!          lowered and larger alloys? (a great look!)

i know that if i change the wheels for 17" all round i could end up
in trouble on the bumpy corners up here as the cars handleing will change.
is the size really important for the wheels or could i have different sizes on tyres to compensate?

Now If i lower the car i will get the look im looking for but at the expense
of road holding, stiffer great on motorways but not on the roads up here
i could buy lowering springs like tte which would look great but would the car bounce round bumpy corners more?
if i bought coilovers could i adjust the car to a height of compromise till i get it right
or is this a dangerous game?

any advice would be really great as i dont have any performance centres here i can ask any advice to.

thanks Ali

[dj2k21]

The beauty of coilovers is that they are adjustable as much as you like, you can go from more or less standard ride height down to as much as 100mm lowering.

now I know I go totally agains the grain with members on here and most of them will scream and shout at me and tell me how much ive ruined my car etc etc but I am tein coilovers lowered to their maximum of 80mm I believe, but I have 18" wheels all round, not my first choice but the main reason is that due to me having the veilside bodykit, smaller wheels would just look terrible, and in all fairness, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I have the correct stagger on the front and rear wheels, probably much more stagger than most other members, and due to me having all the suspension mods etc, I recently went for a blast in my 2 with a friend of mine who also has a roadster, and he just could not get anywhere near me on the twisty turns, IMHO i dont think for everyday driving having my 18's has made all that much difference, (awaits absuse and angry faces) lol. but I do agree that on a track and what not I am sure standard sized wheels would come into their own, afterall toyota spend million researching this kind of thing, I am just one man so what do I know compared to them lol

[alimcfly]

80mm
Jesus that's low!
When you were out with your mate
I take it they were perfect roads?
Do you have a pic of your car
I would like to see how low that sits

[dj2k21]

no no not perfect roads by any means, the beauty of the tein coilovers I have is that they are adjustable from inside the car with the use of the optional EDFC. we have lots of bumpy roads round here, if you bought your car from hartlepool you may have seen how bad our roads can be, I live just a few minutes from hartlepool,
my car completely outhandled, out cornered, out braked and out performed my mates roadster in every way, and I think I owe the majority to good tyres, good stagger, and decent suspension mods.

here are a few pics of my car from some older posts

please ignore my ugly mug driving it haha






you can probably see from the last picture how low it sits in comparison with the tyres, but it doesnt scrape, there are some harsh bumps round here and I have yet to hear it scrape the arches, also with the fact its got 18"s I actually get better ground clearance than a standard car lowered by about 40mm I would guess, dont get me wrong, it does scrape on massive speed bumps etc, but its good for everyday  s:) s:)

[Roadwarrior]

Lowered 80mm   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   Remember mine lowered 30mm with bodykit and 17s and i crashed into speed ramps
Ive done away with the springs and although it doen't look as good i can now drive wherever i like.
The condition of the roads in this country is a joke and not lowered car freindly i'm afraid.
Coilovers are the best option of course being that they are adjustable but then the price puts a lot of people off.

[dj2k21]

yeh 80mm, lol but remember my wheels are 3 inches bigger than most other members so I can offerd to lower it 3 inches without it actually being lower than standard if you get me?

agreed the roads are disgusting, it begs the question of "what are we paying road tax for exactly" I actually recently wrote a letter to my local council about the speedbump thats directly outside my house, now bearing in mind I live approx 50 foot from a T junction, so why the feel the need to have a speedbump that close to a junction I have no clue! but basically my 307 that I park on the front kept getting flat tyres from it being parked half on the path and half on a speedbump, to the point its actually ruined 2 tyres, along with countless drop links and bottom arm bushes, so far they havnt even had the courtesy to respond to me!

[loadswine]

Keep the stock wheels, they just feel better for most situations. I've tried others and the car just feels more communicative that way. Maybe Rotas in 16" sizes would be good as well, but depends on budget.
 Yes lower it if you don't have masses of speed humps to rip bits off underneath. Any half decent spring set should do a decent job in conjunction with the stock dampers.
For the record, the car actually has coilovers as standard by definition and while some of the systems out there allow ride height adjustments independent of spring rate, some don't. If you just want something a bit sportier that looks and feels okay, then a 30mm drop is just the job.
Maybe spend any money that you don't spend on a suspension kit on underbody bracing which give more bang for the buck in my opinion at least.

[dj2k21]

agree with loadswine there, undebody bracing does make a huge difference, I think an underbody brace, front and rear strut brace and a set of tein springs or tte etc and you would be a happy man indeed! I do think that the standard wheels look really good when kept nice and clean and when the car is lowered, mine lowered 80mm on standard wheels looked absolutly awesome I thought! but the veilside kit just wont allow it now.

as for the rota's im not too sure what the take is on them in your area, but certainly where I live people actually get mocked for owning rota's especially in the jap scene, I think its because they are basically ripped off versions of much more expensive wheels, they are actually seen round here as something like buying alloys from halfords really lol. having said that I actually do like some of the rota's you can buy, its just a kind of thing thats mocked round here, a bit like when you were a kid in school and people used to mock aldi and netto lol. rota grids are among my favourite for a drift car  s:) s:)

[alimcfly]

Ok this is helping me guys
Thanks
Found some wheels I like might go
For 17s back 16s front with some
Lowering springs at the moment
But might buy some coilovers that I saw
Around £480 a set later if I'm not happy with
Lowering springs

[alimcfly]

I think prolux uk have strut braces
I might try them for prices
Are they the best supplier?

[dj2k21]

for your bracing and what not I dont think it really matters all that much, I used monkey wrench for mine but it seems the front strut brace they used to do from CHE is no longer available, apparently they are waiting for more stock at the end of april.

but they do aftermarket anti roll bars, camber arms etc etc,

[alimcfly]

Ok cool
I will check them out
Thanks

[woodman]

i want some rotas  s:( s:(  ... pennies to be spent on other things tho. anyway, back to the point of lowering, ive got the tein superstreets on stock wheels, as low as possible lol (cue steve and others commenting on the "far to low" lol) which imo looks good. as im not the type to boy race it around much ive found it ok with speedbumps etc, as for handling it has been improved drastically compared to standard. the beauty of coilovers for me is the damper adjustment, im happy at my ride height (even tho i know its not the recommended height!) and constantly playing around with the dampening.
As you have the kit and a few extras on there, i´d lower it before looking at getting wheels first, wont take you long to adjust to a slightly harsher ride  s:) s:)

[vinp182]

Im pretty sure Wabbitkilla has 17's rear and 16's up front so might be worth asking him for his opinion

Set of lowering springs on and you'll prob stick with them dude..... I'm not a fan of coilovers to be honest... I had Tein's on my old mk2 turbo and found that once I'd set the height I just left it so seemed like a pointless thing to be able to adjust to me... With my roadster I went with Koni adjustable dampers with Koni 40mm lowering springs... The damping adjustability is great, I have it nice and soft for everyday driving then a little stiffer for spirited driving   s:) s:)  

Quite a few of us will be in the Scotish Highlands from 20th April to 23rd..... I'm sure we'd all be willing to take you for a spin in our different setups

[Wabbitkilla]

Indeed I have 16 up front and 17 at the rear, I run BC Coilo0vers though and can't swear exactly how far I've lowered the car. I did have it lower like Woodmans, but that just got painful. Steve-M-UK has 16's and 17's too with TTE lowering springs and seems very happy thundering around the Highlands when we're up there. Though he does reckon the car handles better with the standard size wheels.

Lowering the car does actually improve the handling, and it's not bouncy at all.
There's no need to go for the expense of TTE or Tein springs when Prolex are selling lowering springs that seem great value and have good responses  l viewtopic.php?f=48&t=29238 l

All I will say about wheel choice is make sure you can get matched but staggered tyres front and back (same make & model with 20 - 30mm width difference) ... see the endless tyre discussions and you'll see what I mean. Tyre choices are becoming difficult with rumours some are discontinued and sizes are proving tricky at times. There are -people out there running Silverstone Performance 17" wheels all-round perfectly happily lowered, but they are generally turbocharged cars which can cope with the extra wheel diameter.

[alimcfly]

great advice guys
this really helps
RST - i live on the isle of skye (see what i mean about uneven roads!)
i have the chance of buying some 2nd hand coilovers which i might try
if thats not better i will buy some fk lowering springs from prolex - thanks wabbitkilla
also think that a (GB)tte style body plate that mattperformance was selling might help from what
members have been saying - thats if i can still find one!

[alimcfly]

Quite a few of us will be in the Scotish Highlands from 20th April to 23rd..... I'm sure we'd all be willing to take you for a spin in our different setups

were abouts are you going in the highlands?

[vinp182]

Quite a few of us will be in the Scotish Highlands from 20th April to 23rd..... I'm sure we'd all be willing to take you for a spin in our different setups

were abouts are you going in the highlands?

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