Sacrifices to the aesthetic gods.

"sony1492" (sony1492) 08/03/2017 at 09:14 • Filed to: Ridiculous

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In my dreams, except for that exhaust.

A list of damages over the past 1.5 years that would’ve been avoided by just keeping the car stock. Oooooor not lowering it so much.

1 Cracked subframe.

1 Clobbered skid plate for the subframe.

3 Cracked, Bent, Flattened, or otherwise heavily damaged exhaust systems. (Gave up and am running with -some- exhaust)

2 Partially pinched fuel lines.

1 Fuel pump (See what I did there)

1 Partially pinched brake line.

2 Rear wheel wells. (Fitment Yo)

1 Front Bumper Cover. (Contact with the ground had led to deep cracks along the bottom)

4 Tires Every 4000-7000 miles. (Too low to align, and ruined suspension geometry leads to fast tire wear anyways)

2 Dangerously dented oil pans.

1 Transmission,”Resurfacing”.

Disclaimer, Most of the damage was due to driving a lowered car up a rutted dirt road 2 miles per day. Nevertheless these damages were the price to pay for,”fitment”. Though it was not about making the car fit into that culture, I just thought it looked miles better and didn’t find it reasonable to tailor my car to the 1% of bad road it would encounter daily. Also the undercarriage of SC’s are around 2 inches lower than the car appears (lower than the body panels) and they come from the factory with an atrocious ride height, apparently for a reason.

It’s worse in person

ALL Bad

Anyways once you’ve lowered the car to the point that the wheel fills the fender you’ve got maybe 2-3 inches between that subframe/undercarriage and the road.

Many moons ago

Worth it.

Got any similar experiences?

Echo51 > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 09:17

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Mine’s not even as low as i want it in the front, and already i’m dragging the middle muffler on stuff. Tbf fitment of that stainless kit is bad and that muffler hangs way lower then the bottom, but still... Also nice lexus, 10/10 would daily

pip bip - choose Corrour > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 09:26

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never lowered my cars, doing too many kms to worry about that sort of thing.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 09:37

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My car is lowered by old age. Oil pan is on its last legs.

MonkeePuzzle > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 09:59

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scraped through my front tow point, apparently it was the lowest point on the civic.

and tore the whole exhaust out going through construction.

low is worth it! LOOOOOOKS good

10mmSocket > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 10:07

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So, a one or two finger wheel gap with no front lip and +35 wheels is fitment now? Did you happen to relocate your harness above the wheel well? That’s the first thing that rubs through on these cars when the geometry is altered.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 10:10

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The pictures shown is the ‘low’ height you are talking about? Its not even hellaflush or slammed or something, I’m surprised you have literally run into this many issues. I think my Miata sits at about this height as well. I definitely have trouble on terribly rutted roads (like in Vermont) and those reverse spike strip things at parking garages always slam into my car as I go over them. But I did mine for the same reason, stock NB Miatas look like donked grandpa cars, I couldnt stand that look or how it rode.

sony1492 > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/03/2017 at 10:35

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That’s the worst because once you hit a bump the car really embraces the ground...

sony1492 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/03/2017 at 10:37

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That’s why I explained, the chassis is actually a couple inches lower than the car looks. So It appears just lowered but really it’s scraping on rocks or highsiding on low speed bumps(even attacking them from an angle). Plus I have fiddled with the ride height over time and ran different tires sizes.

Also your Miata looks awesome

Milky > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 10:43

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What wheels are you running? I did 16s, 17s and just got 18s before I rekt it. 18s filled the wheel wells up pretty good for stock height.

Legit the only picture I have with the 18s ^.

Stock height with 16s worked real nice on dirt.

The car’s frame is really damn low though and that front overhang doesn’t help either.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 10:48

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Yeah, I could see that. I think its the front bumper that makes it look so much higher. You should look into skid plates like off roaders use lol.

And yeah thats about the only angle and lighting that does real justice for my paint lol. The paint on my front bumper and drivers side front fender are complete trash, the giant dent in my rear passenger quarter, both rockers are rusty, and my rear bumper the repaint didnt adhere properly and its peeling off in places. Plus my headlights do not keep water out. I will sort out my issues but its slow moving and body work is hard.

sony1492 > 10mmSocket 08/03/2017 at 10:53

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+35 18x8 front, 18x8.5 rear with a 1.25 inch spacer all round. Bringing the effective offset to around +3.(which is why I used the word fitment, to explain the rear tires rubbing a hole in the wheel well not really anything else about the car) The car has sat lower before but that photo was taken in the middle of winter where I needed to attack my driveway with extra vigor and didnt want to crack my second subframe. Wiring harness was indeed moved into the engine bay.

sony1492 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/03/2017 at 11:00

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I feel you on the bodywork part, I was able to do -decent- dent repair but once it got into bigger stuff it was all over.(made wider front fenders and basically had to recreate the line going through the front wheel while keeping it the same looking on both sides. It will never be perfect)

sony1492 > Milky 08/03/2017 at 11:03

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18's +35 but I put a 1.25 inch spacer on so the offset it is closer to +3. I kinda want to buy a lip just so I see how low the car really is.

gmctavish needs more space > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 11:32

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I’ve had two lowered cars. One was an 86 325e on cut h&r race springs, I bought it like that. It scraped on absolutely everything, mild parking lot ramps, speed bumps, anything really. The muffler got ripped off by a speed bump, and I never put it back on. Then the oil pan cracked when I bottomed out simply going across a bumpy intersection. After I replaced the oil pan, which is the worst job I’ve ever done to a car, I returned it to stock ride height.

The other was an 83 533i, on spax springs and konis. I’m not sure how much it was lowered, maybe 1.5" or so, but it never scraped on anything.

Milky > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 11:57

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Guarantee you’ll scrape going into any parking lot.

sony1492 > Milky 08/03/2017 at 12:12

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There’s basically a ditch between the county road and the driveway that will bottom the car out if you take it wrong so parking lots are the least of it. Buying Cosmetic stuff for that car is basically a pipe dream due to the constant need for bushing, or ball joints, or tires, steering rack, or another diff the list goes on forever and I can’t justify rims or a lip yet. But I can dream

sony1492 > gmctavish needs more space 08/03/2017 at 12:17

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I can’t imagine the oil pan job, you have to lift the motor? Or some impossible to reach bolts

Milky > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 12:49

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Some day my friend ... some day.

gmctavish needs more space > sony1492 08/03/2017 at 18:13

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Yeah you have to lift the motor, and get the pan out and the new one in between the motor and the subframe, and scrape the old gasket off, and deal with like 30 bolts. 0/10, would not reccomend.

sony1492 > gmctavish needs more space 08/03/2017 at 19:41

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Fuuuuuck that