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Lower and wider

NedHan79

Well-known member
Joined
8 Nov 2018
Messages
1,096
What are people's opinions and experience with lowering springs and wheel spacers? I have an early 3.4 with an aero kit in midnight blue and the gt3 style split rims. I'd like it to sit lower to look more like a gt3 and maybe space the wheels out a little for added effect.
Anyone experience with this and which stuff to use?
 
I went a more OEM route that no-one ever seems to talk about i.e. there was a 5mm factory spacer option applied to the early GT3 cars (as I understand) - hence you can get a set of 4 5mm factory spacers and pair these with the slightly longer (red collared) factory GT3 wheel bolts

5mm is obviously a lot more subtle than the 15-20mm most choose to apply... and the OEM route is a little more costly... but equally there are reasons why wheels are tucked slightly inside the wheel arches...


Lowering a car 10, 20 or 40mm all fits within the ultimate "factory" range - more often it is road condition, sleeping policemen, kerbs and public carparks that determine the best ride height - personally I would be nervous lower than the 20mm drop on my own car - as it sits, my bottom lip scrapes ever so slightly leaving the office car park on my worn down summer tyres, no issues now its wearing its fresher winters....
 
Hi demon. I was looking at lowering it 30mm as I seem to have plenty of space in the arches. I was maybe thinking about 7-10mm at the front and 10-15 at the rear. I don't think 5 would make much difference to the appearance. Do you have any pictures of yours?
 
I'm a terrible source of comparative shots I'm afraid (never consider angles... or figured out how to photograph a black car!)

the following 2 photos maybe give a little comparison though - both are with 5mm front and rear spacers - carpark shot is 20mm lowered, other one is 10mm lowered...
(thumbnails when clicked should open to a full page version)

If you then look at page 13 of coullstar's thread there is an equivalent photo at 30mm lowered...
- each subsequent drop of 10mm below factory standard is surprisingly apparent


http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=124107&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=240


 
I see what you mean about each 10mm making a difference. I like your wheels. Would have been my choice but the ones I have are freshly refurbed so they'll stay where they are. I've always had trouble getting photos on here. Seems to be hit or miss with the ones I can upload.
Think I'll still go for the 30mm springs though I'm not sure about the spacers
 

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Mine is non-aero kit, lowered 30mm on H&R springs (Koni shocks), runinng X74 alignment, and I have absolutely no issues with grounding... be that over high speed compressions, or speed humps.

7iImjcg.jpg


Ideally, I'd have liked it another 10mm lower, but didn't want to spend silly money on decent quality coilovers.

Spacers...

Rear:
Assuming you're on stock et65 10" rears, you have loads of room to play with. I'm running a 15mm spacer (with longer bolts), so et50 equivalent, and there's still loads of room. Without having the rear arches rolled I think I could go another 5-7mm without fouling. Once I've found somewhere that can roll my rear arches, I'll go to c.et35-38.... which would be the equivalent of a 27-30mm spacer with a stock wheel. I know of people running et38 11" rears... though you'd be limited to a 265 tyre on something that extreme (which isn't my style).

Front:
Depends on your front wheel spec. Mine's currently on et50 7.5", with a 7mm spacer, and the front wheels are too tucked in. I'll be moving to et50 8.5", so 12mm further out... I'll then add a spacer to get the stance right if needed.

Summary; 15mm spacers all round are nothing excessive.
 
Im on M030 and its a good compromise for looks and all round use. With an aerokit the car needs to be on at least the M030 suspension if not around 30mm, as you are looking at.

Im going to around 30mm as well which I will admit is a lot to do with looks as well. As my car is not a daily Im not bothered about a little impracticality.

As for spacers 15mm on std rear wheels is easily accommodated. Front you could probably get away with same but 10mm is probably about right. I hate the tucked wheels look, always have and always will. Probably why I am one of the few people that really doesn't like the e-type Jag look. Compare that to the Eagle Speedster which looks so much better IMO.

You have to watch with the balance, I try to keep track increases even across the axles if possible. If not a little more up front if possible.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Stotty if your moving to bigger spacers, I'd be interested in the ones your taking off. I'm assuming you'll have to go bigger with studs as well. What you have now seems to be the idea that I was having. Think that and 30mm drop would be close enough for me. I was under the impression that my car had m030 suspension as the dealer said it had but it's not listed in my extras in the service book. Also I think it sits very high
 
I have no experience with 911's of any sort so I just have to assume it's standard height. I only really want it to look more like a gt3. I'm open to spring suggestions too
 
NedHan79 said:
Thanks for the input guys. Stotty if your moving to bigger spacers, I'd be interested in the ones your taking off. I'm assuming you'll have to go bigger with studs as well. What you have now seems to be the idea that I was having. Think that and 30mm drop would be close enough for me. I was under the impression that my car had m030 suspension as the dealer said it had but it's not listed in my extras in the service book. Also I think it sits very high
I won't go to bigger spacers... I'll fit wheels with a more appropriate off set.

You can pick up spacers on ebay with longer studs pretty cheap... I think I paid c.£75 a pair for mine.

If you're going to lower the car I think 30mm is a good target. GT3 is lower than that, but needs to be stiffer as a consequence. You can retain a pretty decent ride/handling balance at -30... my car is a daily, still does the motorway stuff well, and the B road stuff very well.
 
Sorry stotty. I picked you up wrong. I was at work so only glanced over the posts. I'm thinking 10mm at the front and 15mm at the rear. It should look well when it's dropped by 30mm.
I'm just doing my homework atm and will start to gather stuff up over the next while. I think I need bushings at the front so I'll have to look into that. I'll probably get all that I need and just do it all in 1 go.
Where's good for bushings? Standard or poly?
 
If you're on an 8 or 8.5 front wheel 10mm will be ok.

I only have standard bushes in mine. It's a daily, and I don't want it to be too harsh. I am having uprated ARBs fitted next week, along with adjustable engine mounts, and expect that will be it for handling mods.
 

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