So I bought some bc coils a few weeks ago and no complaints or problems with the coils but the problem is under the car. When I lowered the the fronts initially to about probably about 25.25 (from ground to fender) inches and about the same in the rear. I looked under the car and the plastic guard under the engine was already on the ground. Anyways after a test drive, I was scraping like crazy and had a few hard hits that scared me.On smooth flat roads, there is no problems but on Chicago area roads its bad. So I raised it back up to what it is now at 26 inches fender to ground. This seems the lowest I can go in the front without issues. I am still on stock 18 inch wheels but I want to get new wheels/tires. My problem is what wheel size should I buy? 19? 20? I was thinking 19x9.5s. and what profile tires? I was thinking 40 profile? basically what setup can I go as low and still be able to DD the car? Is this mainly a problem because of the awd and the transfer case or whatever? I initially wanted low offset concave wheels with a low drop but it seems I can't. Does anyone else have an X that is low?? any help would be great.

 

I am also lowered on an 05 x and live in Chicago.. Not exactly sure how low I am but can measure if it would help, I basically have no gap, the tire meets the fender.. I have the M45 sport wheels, so they are 19's..

Definitely have to use caution when driving but Ive had my coils on for 2 years now, no problems per say... But yeah my plastic shield is tore up..

 

Thanks for your reply, but the issue is mostly because of the awd no? the front of the X is lower than the non X/sport? So if I go with 19s with 40 profile tires will it be the same height or lower than the stock 18s I have with 50 profile tire? Anyways I have had a very scary moment on the highway where I hit a dip at 70mph and it was so hard I thought I lost the bottom part of the engine..God the roads here are horrible and it sucks because I want to be low. I am just scared of fking up the bottom of the car..

 

I measured this morning I'm at 26 3/4 inches.. And have the dampening 7 clicks from the hardest setting... This will also help you out a little bit from bottoming out as much.

If you are putting on anything wider than an 8" wide tire I believe you will need spacers to clear the front or you will rub the brake assembly... I could be worng so be sure to search..

 

You can go up in wheel size but down in sidewall series, you want to keep the rolling diameter similar to your original tire diameter. If you want to run a wider wheel/tire setup you can run a 19x9 +40 all around on 245/40/19 tires or run 20x9 +40 all around on 245/35/20s
If you want to run a 9.5" go 19x9.5 +45 or 20x9.5 +45 w/ the same tires as posted above or a 255 width tire.

 

Regardless of what size tires and wheels you go with, your primary concern should be what the overall diameter is, such that it lifts the car up to a serviceable height. Allowing just 3/4 inch for clearance is simply not realistic.

 

So will the 19s with 245/40s give me a bit more room under the car? I wanted to have zero wheel gap and that low look but it seems that's not too possible with this car. Its not the occasional scraping of the plastic that bothers me, its that if there is a big enough dip or big bump in the road, it might not end well..

 

No, the 245/40s will match your OEM tire diameter, and this is really what you need to run to avoid other problems. I run zero gap w/ no scraping issues but I've got a RWD, it sounds like the transfer case clearance is the main problem, so not much I can say except raising about 1/2". You might check your plastic splash guard and make sure all the lock clips are intact, if a few of those pop loose then the whole pan droops down and will rub on everything.
Ask me how I know........

 

Also watch out for the little tabs on the edge of the painted fender that the black rubber liner clips into. I used spacers and too much drop and one of them got worn almost halfway down. It's not a big deal if it goes all the way through as there's one more of those and a bunch of the push-type pins, but it's good to keep your piece of mind.

 

Your biggest concern shouldn't be the underbody plash guard. It should be your transfer case. All wheel drive G's sit higher than their rear wheel drive brethren. Lowering your sedan too low will cause issues, especially when your running 18 inch rims. I'd go for a set of 20's and then lower it towards the fender and see how much clearance your transfer case has. If you damage the case riding over terrible roads you're in for a huge bill so be forewarned.

 

^The T case sits higher than the transmission and is $450 to replace with a used one.

Whatever rims/tires you go with just be sure that you get the same size (outer diameter) in front as you do in back. Sounds like you want to increase the outer diameter meaning go up one rim size and keep the same tire series that way you will have no wheel gap with more ground clearance.

My X's subframe is 1" from the ground on a level surface, I manage. Almost zero wheel gap with 18" rims on 40 series tires, static.

Look into replacing your bushings now, so when **** hits the fan, you won't hate life so much... Lowering an X has it's own world of problems.

https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-sed...ful-links.html

 

My biggest concern IS the t-case as I said in first post about hitting it a few times already. Wouldnt 20s be too much? As in looking bad cause it would raise it? I kinda wish I had gotten a rwd..

 

Also, can anyone post a pic of the rwd splash guard clearance for reference?

 

You may have to just accept the fact you can not be as low as you want due to the crappy roads.

Just a thought

 

20's should be perfect. Yes, it'll raise it a little but, the coilovers will lower it enough to make it look beautiful and, you shouldn't have to worry about the transfer case. It's a win win situation. I'd put 255 30R 20's all around.