Torquey5

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of getting my car slightly lowered via H&R Sports while shopping for some 19" rims. I've seen some pictures of factory sport suspension with 19" rims and they seem to slightly fill up the gap nicely. Then I wondered if I should even lower my car at all? I mean the sport setup is great, I don't want to jeapordize the ride quality by lowering it AND running on thinner tires. How is the ride quality with 19" rims compared to 20" rims? I'm afraid that getting 20"s will make the ride too harsh and obviously I didn't get this car to race or track, but more so enjoy cruises and occasional straight line blasts that's it. The car has enough power so I may as well as make it look a little nicer right? Thanks!

Dan

kchan

The ride quality is still pretty decent with my 19" rims lowered with Eibach springs, although I have the non-sport to begin with. It's definitely not as smooth but if the road surface is decent, I totally think it's not a problem. The only time I missed my original 17" is when I go over speed bumps or have these uneven pavement jumps on the freeway, you will feel like if the rims will be ok or not... There are quite a few members here running on 20" with the car lowered in the SF bay area (or better yet have coilovers), like EuroCarFan, Freedom, etc. I guess they can have better inputs for you =)
Last thought, no regret doing it for me, but then I don't know if I will do it if I have the SP to begin with...

Torquey5

*Thanks for moving the thread, sorry about that!*

HHmmmm the main reason why I'm having second thoughts about lowering is because I don't want to deal with the hassle (and time and $) of having to switch it all back to stock when I turn the car back in. But rims are easy to swap and I think make a bigger impact on the looks of the car. And since my car is factory lowered maybe I should just get larger rims. I guess I'll have to wait for the other guys to chime in.

Dan

Ricracing

Stay as you are!

You'll win nothing.

Torquey5

Haha I'm not trying to win anything here. Maybe score some points with the chicks tho

EuroCarFan

Hi Dan,
I have the sports package as well but when I put on my 20s, there was still about a 2" gap so I decided to lower it with coilovers. I chose coilovers because it gave me the flexibility of playing with my ride height as well as dialing in the stiffness of the shocks. Right now, my car has about a 3/4" gap with no rubbing issues even when the car is fully loaded.

I understand you may not want to go this route so I'm just giving you my experience. It seems to me though that there are a lot of members here who have put on 19" wheels and still lower their car despite having the sports package. If you're going to get wheels no matter what then put them on and then decide for yourself if you like the height.

Another thing I've noticed is that 19" wheels with spokes that spread to the lip, like the factory 166s, look "bigger" and seem to fill out the gap better. What wheels are you planning on getting?

Tony

Torquey5

Hi Tony

Thanks much for your input. After reading up on a few threads on this matter, I think I'll go with 20s. I like meshy type rims for our 5series bodies, I think it looks classier compared to sportier rims. Well since you have coilovers it's going to be hard trying to get a perspective on your ride quality since you can adjust them. Did you get the rims first before the suspension?

Dan

EuroCarFan

Yeah, I got the wheels first because I thought I didn't need to lower it with the sports package. Look at the pictures below, you can see the gap. It was also rubbing even with that gap so I knew the stock shocks were still a bit soft or the offsets on my wheels were too aggressive. That's when I decided to go with the coilovers.

Torquey5

Interesting........ At times the car does look low enough for a sedan, but then at the same time it can be just a tad lower. I think I'll go with lowering the car first, that way I won't have any issues when trying on rims, which probably will be 19s. The stock 18s look okay, but you know how the mod bug goes. Another thing that I try to keep in mind is the cost of tires, even though my lease is only 24 months with 12k/yr I shouldn't burn through that much rubber

allenman

I had/have the same dilemma. I went with the typ 32 20" (I have Sport), and at times, I think it's just about perfect. At other times, I think it could be just a shade lower. (You can find pictures of how it turned out a few places on this board look for posts by allenman). Yeah, I would like about 5-10 mm more in the front, but the aggravation outweighs the benefits for me. I guess I'm just getting old, but I don't enjoy taking the time and the money to do the install, realign at least once, find all the rattles that developed from the assembly/dis-assembly, replace the plastic trim parts that the shop broke in the trunk or back seat area, see if I hava ANY marks on my wheels, have them balanced on the car again, and then wonder if the next guy that buys it is gonna whine because his wife says its too low and looks like it's from the hood. Just too much aggravation in this case, for very little benefit. If my car was super high, I guess I'd take it on. With the factory sport springs, it's a pretty good compromise. And the aftermarket stuff definitely doesn't have the magic carpet ride of the OE. Just my .02....