How low is too low?

[decoyslikecurves]

Heres one for the track guys, and people who like their 86's to actually handle, rather than skip all over the road like many of the drift guys 86's do.
Please dont spin shit, and I dont believe for a second that there is no such thing as being too low so dont even say it http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

When setting up the suspension for a car, How low is too low?
I am getting coilovers for the front with hts shocks all round and 220mm unsprung springs for the rear. The springs are in 8kg front and 6kg rear.

I know that the trd race springs I used in my old hachi were 245mm unsprung, and these are slightly stiffer so less sag. I always wanted it to sit just that little bit lower, hence the 220mm rear springs (and of course the front is adjustable).

How low is too low? If it hits bumpstops all you do is cut them, and the hts shocks are capable of handling springs that stiff and low so Im wondering if the 25mm drop in height over the trd race springs will be too much?

[upgarage]

the lower you go on the rear the more the diff angle changes.therefore the lower you go the more you need adjustable trailing arms and pan hard rod.

[sic86]

I don't think 25mm will be to much. I use to have a Lancer which I lowered 60mm and I can still drive that most places.

Cheers

[decoyslikecurves]

when I said 25mm drop in height, that was added over the already dropped trd race height springs. It more like a 80mm or more drop overall...

[upgarage]

yeah quite a big drop in height compared to stock.
at the moment i've just got a panhard rod in the back so centralise the diff.

looking at getting adjustable arms later on though

cant really compare the ae86 to a lancer as theyre a totally different car with totally different suspension setup

[Monster]

I've got custom K-MACS on the rear- lowered 2.5" and 90% stiffer than OEM. I have 14x6 with 195/60/14 and the guard sits just below the top of the tire.
The fronts I've got '315mm Whiteline Control Springs' the 315mm refers to the sill to center distance, i'd like it about 1/4" lower but for everyday driving, the car is just tall enough to avoid speed humps.

[mumblezzz]

8/6 is way too stiff if you want your car to "actually handle" I'd go for a 6/4-3.5kg with a 30mm drop. It doesent really matter how high the car is. You can always fix the geometry fuckups with RCA's and adjustable panhards etc. Besides, who give a *i was pwned by swearing filter* how your car handles if you drive around with your roof in the clouds. Dump that shit on the ground.

[DRFTAE86]

If u plan to carry ur car on a trailer anytime in the future, Just be careful about ur car height.....
I didnt realise my height was a problem till my 86 got stuck on the end of the tralier while taking it off. (The gearbox was touching the tralier floor) http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/ph34r.gif
Lucky a bunch of other drifters at calder helped lift it up and push it off.

(it didnt get stuck puttin it on cuz the ground was uneven and reduced the ramps angle. But wen i was taking it off it was on flat ground and the angle of the ramps was too much compared to the height of the car) http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/blink.gif

Learn from my mistakes.... http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/smile.gif

[Daniel-AE86]

rule of thumb is your shocks must have full travel,

Stiffness and harshness often comes from lowered cars with short springs and struts not converted. This situation causes 'bottoming' of standard strut cartridge and more often the strut casing itself. This is the MAJOR reason we want to convert to 'coil-over' with a 35mm~40mm cut and converted casing to drop the car more than 1.5 inches. (It usually doesn't seem like it bottomed because it is cushioned by bump stop foam often) but the fact is you've run out of travel.

[evil86]

SHIT MAN DEPEND WHERE YA GO IF ITS LOWERED BY 80MM OR SO AY JUST B CAREFUL

[slydar]

just right, he he

[Daniel-AE86]

http://www.club4ag.com/faq%20and%20tech_pages/Tech%20Photos/HTS2%20Chart.jpg

[DRFTAE86]

Originally posted by mumblezzz@Jul 20 2005, 10:06 PM
8/6 is way too stiff if you want your car to "actually handle"
I'd bet Hibino would beg to differ. http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/smile.gif

[mumblezzz]

I'm sure he does. But we are talking about a street car here. I find those springrates tend to skip over large bumps when cornering. Might work fine for a dedicated track D1 car.

[slydar]

8 and 6 is very compromised for street driving. ive had 7s in the front and braking coming into bumpy corners the wheels can skip over the ground compromising your braking. id say if youre going that hard you NEED a fixed back bucket. otherwise you just get flung around and bounce off the seat.

ride height.. depends on youre focus. i doubt it will be too low. my old car was pretty low but i drove it everyday.

the lower you go at the back the more you will notice tramping.. but with hard rear springs and good shox like youll have i dont think itll be too bad.

good choice on the hts im really of the oppinion these days youre mad to use anything else.

as long as you can get youre front LCAS to be pointing down towards the outside of the car at the front with youre rcas, and the back is not lower than the front i think it can work.

you hear alot of people who seem to think they "know what theyre talking about" sprouting off when they see pics of ppls cars saying stuff like "oh thats to low for handling, you must be some dumb kid" but there are alot of really hardcore huchis here and in japan, that obviously mean business, that are slammed.

take my alter ego bretts car, ants gold car, andys (shanes old) car, ect.

theyre all very low. think andys might have traction brakcets, but the other two dont.

slam it.

just my oppinion.

[Daniel-AE86]

true, they think that you just cut the springs shorter http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/biggrin.gif
But i hope you understand what im trying to say - hts are shorter in size, therefore your car can be lowered without bottoming
Bottoming is when your spring is doing all the work, like driving with almost dead shocks, it can be scary.
DONT forget to use roll center adjusters, its used to compensate for the front lower arm's position and restore the proper geometry for the AE86 suspension.

[rthy]

I don't personally beleive that there is such a thing as "too low for good handling" if you do it right, correct the diff angle, adjust the pan-hard if needed, cut the bumpstops, correct all 4 roll centers and shorten the front stuts to allow full travel. Mines lowered 60mm and I still have like 100+mm of travel in the front, that's more than the ride height.