So I'm new to lowering...
 

I've decided I want to lower my car, but I don't know how much or with what.

My first thought is to just drop in a set of S-Techs (1.2/.9) for a small drop, but I have a few Q's before I make any rushed decisions:

1. At what point would a camber kit become a necessity/good idea?

2. What are the limitations of my shocks and should I replace them when lowering, ideally?

3. What about coils ...
- How easy are they to adjust? Could I use coils and have a winter height, and then just adjust and scrap the ground for the summer? (obviously I'd want a camber kit here ... how difficult are those to adjust with the coils?) Is this kind of idea a good solution? How do shocks come into play here?

4. Any other suggestions or anything I've missed taking into account regarding dropping/springs/coils please feel free to interject.

Thanks guys

For "1," people on here typically agree that if you drop your car 1"+ you should get a camber kit. However, some people say that you can get away with just rear camber arms and an alignment with S-techs (some are able to get back in spec or really close while others aren't, from what I've read). Personally, I'm about to put my S-techs on and am going to buy both the rear camber arms and front kit.

my friend put s-techs on with no camber kit and it ate his rear tires up bad. deff need rear camber kit.

Alright, thanks guys. I'll definitely do the camber kit.

Anyone have input on shocks with springs or on the whole coils idea?

Thanks again

You need one definitely. My tires are eaten up pretty badly and i loss my job right after installing my z stechs so make sure you have the money to get a rear camber kit when you buy the springs at the same time. That way you can install the springs and camber kit at the same time then go get an allignment all in the same day.

but with a 1-2inch drop camber kit is all thats necessary?
what about toe and shocks?

the company where i bought my coilovers told me i just need a rear camber kit, not the front. I believe them though because I was looking for the front and rear kit and the sales advisor i talked to owns a g35. toe is a must to bring it back to specs.

Quick question going along with the original one:

If I want the MILDEST drop possible, should I go with S techs or Eibach Springs? I would love to only drop the car approximately 1" all the way around, if possible. If not, as close to that as I can get...

FYI, I have an 08 G35X sedan and plan to be putting 19 x 8.5's with 245/40's on all four corners....sound like a good setup? Again, I want a mild drop, not aggressive, because I live in the northeast (snow, sort of crappy roads)...Thanks for any help!

Any aftermarket lowering spring WILL blow out your stock shocks faster than normal.

My 2 cents is to just go with coilovers from the get go. Trust me, if you wanna be scraping during the summer, your gonna need coils to go that low. And during winter time, you can bring her back up. They're not hard to adjust at all, if your mechanically inclined in the slightest. All it takes is a few turns of the adjusting wrench.

Thanks for the input. That's kinda where I've been leaning, but I have no idea where to start when it comes to a good setup (coils, camber kit(s), struts ... am i missing anything?) that doesn't absolutely break the bank but is quality at the same time. Do you or anyone else have input from that perspective?


I'm really skeptical of the idea that you wont need a front kit with any substantial drop, but what do I know.

When you buy coilovers, you get everything you need. It's a full bolt in replacement for your stock shocks/springs. You dont need extra struts or anything like that, like when buying just springs.

Megan and BC are good budget coilovers. From what I've read, they ride really nice, and the price on them isnt too steep. You can get yourself a good rear camber kit for around 150 bucks, if a deal shows up on the marketplace.

https://g35driver.com/forums/suspens...coilovers.html <-- Here's a nice deal on BC's and a camber kit. Stay away from Ichiba suspension stuff, they've been known to crap out.

So do I need a front camber kit? And if not, why not? What's the downside to buying ~$1000 coils vs. $2000 coils?

Thanks :)

Honestly, I would say no to the front camber kit. Personally, I've never run an aftermarket A-arm and I've never had a problem with it. I just cant justify the cost of it when the natural camber you get from dropping the car is good enough.

There's really no downside to buying ~1000$ coils. Most of the more expensive coils are made by companies that have been around for a long time and are well known, so you kinna just pay for the brand name. There are alot of good ones for that price range, BC, Megan like before, Tien Basics and Stance's too. There are alot of people who will say "NO GET THE MORE EXPENSIVE ONES BLAH BLAH" just bc they're brand whores, but honestly unless you track your car all the time or are a professional driver, you wont be able to tell the difference.

Hope all this helps in your decision.

I just wanted to add that I dropped my 06 Coupe w/ Sport, 19" wheels, etc on OEM 350Z springs. This provided a slight 3/4" drop all around. At alignment, the rear was able to get back into spec, but the fronts were at -1.5 deg. Nominal spec for the coupe front is -0.5 deg. What difference is 1 degree? Well the car had fairly new tires in May, by Nov the inside edges were toast while the rest of the tire had good tread. I got the SPC front arms with new tires and haven't noticed abnormal wear yet.

So if a measly 3/4" chewed up front tires, I'd imagine a 1-2" drop would be worse.

I bought SPC F&R and ARK coilovers last week and cant wait to put them on. An old man once told me if you cant afford to do it right don't do it tell you can. If you buy everything at one time and get an alignment all at the same time you cant go wrong.