I wanted to get coilovers a while ago to slam the car. However, one of my friends has a GTI which he slammed and I can see I do not want to do that anymore.

1) He has to drive slow as ***** to go over bumps or bumpy roads. This defeats the purpose of him even lowering it in the first place to handle turns faster as he winds up scraping. Infact he had to roll his fenders for the STOCK wheels (14" by the way) to fit.

2) This is the biggest reason of them all. Today he calls me up to tell me he got into a wreck. He rear ended some lady after he slid in the rain, but at only 5 MPH. He busted his hood, the headlights, the core support and the grille. Why is this a big deal? Because he lowered his car so much that the lady's bumper over rode his bumper! Dear lord. I can imagine if it was a higher vehicle that he rear ended instead of a 1991 Ford Tempo. Had he not slammed the F outta his car, the bumper woulda been able to do its job.

 

Most people realize the threat of problems before getting into it and know that they will have to watch bumps etc and do it anyway. They do it at there own risk.

What kind of car did he slam and how low was it?

SuDZ

 

Most people realize the threat of problems before getting into it and know that they will have to watch bumps etc and do it anyway. They do it at there own risk.


SuDZ

 

There is a point at which lowering a car any further becomes stupid. The fact the car would scrape the ground in a tight corner would make that obvious.

As for hitting under the old ladies bumper, that'll happen with just about any car, because theres always going to be a bigger and higher bumper out there. Some dumb**** climbed up on my hood in march in an Isuzu Rodeo. ****ed up the hood, headlights, front bumper, the whole deal. And my car wasn't even lowered yet.

 

how about dont lower your car if you cant drive a lowered car???

yeah so i cant make it over most speed bumps and i have to be THAT guy driving slowly over railroad tracks or bumpy roads, but what of it? I dont have the rubbing problems so i can thoroughly enjoy my handling and having that low look i want... it's all about the person. and i dont follow people closely enough that i could rearend them (knock on wood).

 

Lowering your car and slamming it is completely different. I can't imagine driving my car if it was any lower than my H&R's. My handling is alright pretty tight and the pitch and dive has been greatly reduced. I have a front lip that gets scraped from time to time, but I really don't care. The overhangs, from the front wheel to the bumper, are just too long. I wish Nissan could have shoved the engine and tranny deeper into the engine bay so that we wouldn't have so much overhang. RWD's like the BMW and even FWD Hondas have a lot less overhang. I wouldn't close out the thought of lowering your car, but just be sensible about it. If H&R made the OE sport springs, I think that would be perfet for the A32 Maxima. 1" drop, comfy, and relatively good performance. I just dumped a set of those with AGX's on my sister's 90 Accord.

 

I concur. I have H&R's as well and I have to be a lot more careful driving around town than I did when I was stock. It's a drag sometimes, but the twisties make that frustration go away real quick!

 

it's funny that you guys think H&R's are low.. my weapon r's are a 4inch drop all around, i tuck an inch of tire on my 18's in front and 2 inches in the rear if i go as low as possible.

 

You gotta pay to play. Most of us with slammed cars know all the negatives of it. But Maximas have such big wheel wells you're never going to have to roll the fenders unless you put 20"s on. They sit so high stock that slamming it still leaves you pretty high off the ground when compared to Hondas/VW's. And the rear ending thing will happen on any car. It happened on my old stock Camry. I hit an old lady at 10 mph, destroy my grill, headlights and radiator.

 

sounds like ur friend was "snow plow" low.

 

Happened to me with my second civic... I TAPPED a trucks trailer hitch and had to replace bumper, hood, and a headlight. Then the car got totalled by a drunk a few weeks later :/

In my head on accident with a jeep cherokee in which I had my FIRST civic, which was not lowered yet thank god, the cherokee almost went over my civic at stock height (55mph for both of us, head on) had my car been lowered I probably would have been decapitated.

 

and it just looks so damn tight when u slam your ride tho. gotta weigh the negs with the positives

 

Man if he had to roll his fenders his car is slammed all the way down, it is not wise to go below 2.2 inches in a drop, it will also mess up your transmission or you ll have transmission problems. I am just putting this out there, that is what I was told by a performance shop. As far as his car slamming into the ladies car, he slid right into her slammed on the brakes too hard or was tailgating her or just rained so hard that sometimes you cant even see people in front of you. Keep your distance at least a 3 to 4 car distance, an accident will only slow you down in rainy or snowy weather.

 

Yes there is a difference between lowering and slamming. Slamming is when the car is continuously tucked, and is so low that it will scrape going around turns or a bumpy road. I like lowered cars, as I miss the feel of driving my old 1990 camry which was lowered with Intrax and KYB.

My friend on the other hand has a VW GTI which he got coils for. It is slammed so low that he scrapes over tiny bumps. I'd estimate its down 3-4 inches. The lady he rear ended was driving a 91 ford tempo. Not exactly the highest vehicle on the road.

 

Did he use coilovers? Someone that goes to my school has the same car but he just cut his coils. I am just curious how your friends ride feels when it is that low?

SuDZ

 

I was just in NYC last night and I'm fighting back and forth with myself on lowering my car at all. Although I live in MA now, the roads aren't as bad as in NYC. I was in East NY, BK for a funeral and the streets are freakin rediculous.

 

Anything over a 2" drop is flat out dangerous on a Maxima. Sure, it looks good, but the suspension geometry goes completely out of whack. Every inch you lower your car, you end up loosing that much wheel travel. The stock Maxima only has about 4" of upwards wheel travel in the front and 3.5" in the back. You do the math. Riding on the bump stops is not a safe practice. When you hit a bump in a tight turn at a high speed, the suspension quickly bottoms out and there is a momentary loss of control. In the wrong conditions, this can spell disaster. Slamming a car for daily driving is pure rice, IMO. The only purpose is to look good because it sure doesn't help handling.

How many of you have seen imports that are slammed have the rear tires actually come off the ground when hitting little bumps on the highway? I've seen numerous Hondas do this. I'm sure some of the slammed Maximas are the same way.

The only real alternative is to spend the money and get shortened sleeved struts. This is the way to do it. Of course, no one wants to spend $3000 to do this.


Dave