OK here's the thing. my dad says that lowering the car is bad. his reasons are because 1) you will scratch the underside of your car 2) the factory made the car at it's stock height for safety reasons; they wouldn't make something without a reason behind it 3) the "springs" will eventually settle in over the years lowering the car even more than normal 4) basically, it ruins the car...

now, i've argued with my dad for some time now, but he's still not convinced. from what you guys know, what should i say to my dad to convince him that lowering the car is not going to "kill" the car?

 

There are ecompanies making aftermarket springs just for your car. I don't think they would invest all that time and money, and eventualy built a succesfull buisness with a product that was unreliable and ruined the car.

 

Well ... what about companies that make altezzas then? Don't they ruin the car?

[/sarcasm]

 

Just tell your dad that its for better Handling.
It safer. Less Body Roll
Quicker Stop...Make up somethin...
Then again don't listen to me, I'm not good at this kind of stuff.
I'd probrobly say something like."I need them so i can take curves a lot faster"

 

Justification

 

It will scratch the underside of the car huh...and what stones don't do that already? So why not ask him then why bmw's come so much lower than most cars, he is right though they made it that high for a reason, but that don't mean you can't change it. If you have control and can drive it's not a problem.

 

Tell your dad, lowering if done properly will not damage your car. Look on the eibach, H&R, etc sites for more details.

1. If you run over speedbumps or curbs you will scratch your car too. Lowering the car an inch or so will not change that. Look at how low the corvette is.

2. The stock ride height is for the most comfortable ride. Look how low corvettes are. The max is built as a family car not a sports car.

3. Springs settle in the first few weeks, then they stop settling unless you do not buy quality springs.

4. it cannot ruin the car (unless you cut the springs), bad driving runs the car!

 

the Maxima has tons of ground clearance when lowered compared to other cars. My car, on the other hand... 2.5" of ground clearance lol

my Thermal exhaust is all scuffed up :\

anyway, the other guys answered the question - lower vehicles have a lower center of gravity, less body roll, and better handling at the expense of ride comfort. As long as you match the higher rated springs with higher valved shocks, you have enough suspension travel and will not run into problems as your father may think.

 

Well atleast your dad did not say what a nissan dealer service man said "Lowering your maxima and putting low profile tires on it will mess up your differantial and tranny because its not ment to be modified" Then he pointed at a lowered 4x4 blazer with low profiles on stock rims and said" thats why that need $3000 worth of repairs" I just walked away and bit my tongue

 

1. that could happen w/o springs but theres more chance with
2. he right about #2
3. I doubt thats true, if anything I think it'll be the shocks that would cause that
4. trust me if you have a 4th gen lowering can ONLY MAKE IT LOOK BETTER ....TRUST ME! 4th gen wheel gap ISN'T your friend and its damn ugly!

 

yea when i asked my dad he was like no, why do you want do that, leave the car alone...all the stuff you're probably getting...so after my birthday i accrued some money and while my mom was out of town, went out, got springs, put em in, put on a muffler, and then had no money left...but i had the lowest 5th gen maxima [w/out ground controlz] for a while...best part was, nobody even noticed till i told em...then i heard it...but its all good
atw

 

thanx for all the advice guys. funny thing is, i already lowered my car on Ground Controls/KYB AGX and my mom hasn't noticed. as for my dad? he hasn't driven in my car yet... we'll see.

 

 

Just to add. I remember reading recently that most cars already in production was initially designed with lower ride heights to begin with.

It's only during the final production phase that the height is increased to fit the demand of the consumers. This process was done to assure the car's adaptability when taking into account the

a) type of wheel/rim combination (which differs in every market)
b) how the car would handle when fully loaded (and thus, theoretically lower than stock ride height)
c) overall looks when a+b is combined

Additionally, there's more than several thousand people out there who lower their cars more than the average Maxima enthusiast and even they don't really have problems with their cars. As one noted, it's about your driving style.

Lowering your car also increases ride safety in terms of handling and less uplift during high speed runs.

I think your dad also has the mindset of most adults who aren't into performance. Low cars = bad. I wouldn't blame him, most cars that have been lowered properly really look good and unless you compare it side by side with a stock version you wouldn't notice that it had aftermarket suspension to begin with.

Chances are your dad has seen one too many "ricers" out there and has thus, since, made the generalization he made.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Im with this guy the facts and but the facts. Compare other cars to your own.

 

The factory height has a lot to do with legal headlight and bumper height - when cars hit, bumper to bumper is best.

 

You Dad is right in alot of ways.

Have you seen the underside of most "lowered" cars? ie... Rice mobiles riding on 1 coil etc???? They are all bashed to hell. Alot of kids think ultra low stiff riding cars are cool. But don't realize that if done incorrectly, it usuallly ends up shaking the car apart in the process. Also ultra low cars usually have suspension alignment problems that the kids just ignore too. Most of the time, it makes the car handle WORSE because the camber is too severe to get any decent tire contact.

 

Some photo samples of zero, negative and positive camber.

 

This is an example of a "show-car only" drop.

http://img.sportruck.com/feature/negative/4.jpg

 

You'll have to let us know if he ended up changing his mind. The thing with Maximas though is more than likely he wont even notice a huge drop if you go with conventional springs. I mean for the most part the drop ends up looking how it should have come out stock. It doesnt look bad or over done at all.

SuDZ

 

gotta agree with that...surprisingly our cars don't "slam" without bags or coilovers....even the Sprints on my 3rd gen are low, but no scraping since!

 

Maxima's are just performance sedans with a 4x4 wannabe attitude

Seriously. Look at a stock Maxima and compare it to a tastefully lowered Maxima. I'm sure even your dad will appreciate how the lowered one will look.

 

well lets be specific now...stock 4th gens are 4x4 wannabes...us 3rd gens are a little more appealing in the stock suspension department

 

so my car lowered about 2 inches or so... it's not like those "lowered" cars? i just had my car aligned and everything is cool. so how would i argue with my dad on this case?

 

Here's a thought.

Tell your dad that you took the lowering springs out and is now riding on stock springs. Let him drive it and let him comment on the handling and all that.

If his comments are good "see! i told you it would be better this way"... make a comeback with "dad, i lied, i didn't take the springs out"

I know it's a lie and all but sometimes that's how you get some people to admit they're wrong.

 

Just tell your dad that if you leave it stock, you will most likely get pulled over by me and beat down for your fugly wheel gap... j/k Tell him it's unsafe for your Max to ride so high off the ground because you can't see other cars since it's so damn high off the ground!