Question For Those Who Have Lowered

My '99 Boxster has very little clearance over cement parking stops and parking spaces that end in a sidewalk and it has a stock suspension. How do you folks who have altered your suspension so it is lowered handle this? Do you run into things more or have you learned to accommodate a lower car in some way?

[chaudanova]

Running quite low, with a MKII GT3 front bumper and carbon fiber lip, my front is pretty low... I tend to park a bit far back from the concrete bumpers... You learn to adjust to driving with the car so low..

[jmatta]

My car sits about 1.5" lower than stock. It is not a daily driver, so most obstacles are avoided, such as parking bumpers and curbs (you learn quickly to give plenty of room).

Biggest downfall is I still occasionally scrape the bottom of the nose on drive entries/exits...dang!

You're not going to clear most parking lot curbs with a stock bumper at stock ride height, let alone with a lowered car and/or GT3 bumper. Just part of owning something other than an SUV.

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

Running quite low, with a MKII GT3 front bumper and carbon fiber lip, my front is pretty low (not pictured in sig)... I tend to park a bit far back from the concrete bumpers... You learn to adjust to driving with the car so low..

Wow, you're a brave man running with that lower lip on your bumper. I've got the MK1 GT3 bumper and I've only put my lower lip on one time - in the garage. I couldn't possilby drive with it on.

My car is slammed pretty low with coilovers. When parking you just have to be VERY clear as to where the front of your car is and park it so that you don't hit the sidewalk or concrete stops. I don't have a problem with this, you learn to judge it. On steep inclines or dips I just take it slow and at an extreme angle. I don't have any problems.

Kirk

[blue2000s]

onshore - It's safe to assume that if you scrape on things with the stock suspension, it will get much worse when lowered. These cars have alot of front overhang even compared to other sports cars, which means that the front end will take alot of abuse on dips and curves. The angle between the road and an imaginary line between the tire and bumper will decide how susceptible the bumper is to scraping.

http://4wdtrailzone.50webs.com/The_Breakover_Angle_explanation.htm

I've got a RoW suspension, I've scraped on driveways, sloping curbs up to driveways and on the occasional dip in the road that they use for water control. There's no way to avoid it 100% of the time where I live. Others may have roads that were more flat or maybe they can avoid these things, but I'm careful and still have scratched the car.

There are products that you can buy, like the boomerang, to protect the bumper if it bothers you.

http://www.************************************************************/product.asp?pf_id=P900015&dept_id=4086

[chaudanova]

Originally Posted by Kirk

Wow, you're a brave man running with that lower lip on your bumper. I've got the MK1 GT3 bumper and I've only put my lower lip on one time - in the garage. I couldn't possilby drive with it on.

Kirk

Haha, yeah Kirk, I know what you mean... Running with the lip is not the easiest to live with around town. I've gotten used to it, but it definitely makes me want to pick up a SUV or something with more ground clearance for a daily driver...

[Cartel]

I too fall into the general consensus of becoming accustomed to how I respond while driving my car around town as it is my daily driver. As much of a pain as it may be which is not much so I believe, it is well worth the daily hassles. When my vehicle was equipped with springs I would struggle going over speed humps and now that I have coilovers installed I am hesitant to go over them and I will not attempt to do so. The performance trade offs significantly outweigh the inconveniences, therefore, I put up with it and am extremely happy at the end of the day.

As reference I live on a hill which is rather steep and miraculously I do not scrape but I am sure I will starting next week when we do the final adjustments to my suspension (it's going to be lower).

As a side not I cannot fathom the infeasibility I will be faced with come next year when I opt for the GT3 front bumper, we will see though.

[eightsandaces]

I have the GT3 and spoiler lip on a stock suspension and occasionally scrape. I have found that the angle of attack to a slope and going very slowly when traffic permits, prevents almost all the issues. I can't imagine the car any lower, speaking of which does the m030 suspension lower the car?

[Cartel]

Originally Posted by eightsandaces

I have the GT3 and spoiler lip on a stock suspension and occasionally scrape. I have found that the angle of attack to a slope and going very slowly when traffic permits, prevents almost all the issues. I can't imagine the car any lower, speaking of which does the m030 suspension lower the car?

The M030 does lower the stance of the vehicle and If I am not mistaken the RoW M030 sits higher than the regular M030.

For those with the GT3/spoiler combo I would be interested in seeing pictures of your vehicle. Sorry, I have no intentions of highjacking the thread either. You can send me pictures via PM if its no trouble on both parties ends. Thank you.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by eightsandaces

I have the GT3 and spoiler lip on a stock suspension and occasionally scrape. I have found that the angle of attack to a slope and going very slowly when traffic permits, prevents almost all the issues. I can't imagine the car any lower, speaking of which does the m030 suspension lower the car?

There are two M030 suspensions. The US M030 came as an option in North America and doesn't lower the car compared to the stock US suspension. The rest of the world (RoW) suspensions are 10mm lower in back and 20mm lower in front than the US cars. There's both a standard and M030 versions of the RoW suspension. The front of the car will be even lower than 20mm because of the increased drop at the front relative to the rear.