How to live your life with a low car ?

[TINOM]

So since im going to get my drivings licencse soon i was wondering when i drop my car ( i guess its going to be coil because bags cost alot ) so how do you guys do it ? I mean i live in a good neighborhood but when it comes to my street that takes me to my home its shit as hell. I really do hope tey pave it soon, yes its not paved and i really thing to buy another house closer to the main street butjokes aside how can you normaly drive or atleast kinda normal with a static car ? And when i get it shoud i really stance the fuck out of it or no ? Sorry for the dumbquestions its just im now to this, heck i havent even started i relly hope my dad gives me permision to stance the Alfa GTV and drive it as my own but hey if not still i am deffenently planing in owning a stanced car and still i want to know how to live with it
P.S. sorry for my bad english and thanks in advance .

[thegriffin]

hi mate! I am in the same boat as you AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY NO ONE HAS REPLYED TO YOU!
I am just about to get my licence and I have a e24 bmw and a e30.
the e30 is on coil and is 80mm off the ground.
I live in Australia so the roads are heaps worse but here is the advice-
if you run super stiff coils (cost effective) you will end up smashing through all the rubber mounts and intern will eventualy destroy your suspension! that is the quickest way around it! NO BS
when people say to you "my car is super low and stiff and I love it" this is the translation "my car hurts my ars but I put up with it so my car handles like its on rails and it looks cool!"
what you need to understand is that there is an "OVER DONE" stage with suspension then it no longer becomes a daily!
my car is so stiff it feels the bumps between pavements yet I run 15x7 65r tyres!

how good your suspension is isn't do with how stiff it is but how quickly and efficiently it is able to rebound on all for corners whilst self leveling. hense why you get shity suspension In muscle cars that through you all around the shop!
basically go and buy a set of mid priced adjustable coilovers!

[thegriffin]

hi mate! I am in the same boat as you AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY NO ONE HAS REPLYED TO YOU!
I am just about to get my licence and I have a e24 bmw and a e30.
the e30 is on coil and is 80mm off the ground.
I live in Australia so the roads are heaps worse but here is the advice-
if you run super stiff coils (cost effective) you will end up smashing through all the rubber mounts and intern will eventualy destroy your suspension! that is the quickest way around it! NO BS
when people say to you "my car is super low and stiff and I love it" this is the translation "my car hurts my ars but I put up with it so my car handles like its on rails and it looks cool!"
what you need to understand is that there is an "OVER DONE" stage with suspension then it no longer becomes a daily!
my car is so stiff it feels the bumps between pavements yet I run 15x7 65r tyres!

how good your suspension is isn't do with how stiff it is but how quickly and efficiently it is able to rebound on all for corners whilst self leveling. hense why you get shity suspension In muscle cars that through you all around the shop!
basically go and buy a set of mid priced adjustable coilovers!

[GrantLDN]

I'm on coilvoers but don't face any issues due to ground clearance but some of the jap / american guys, I imagine just get on with it, be patient and be prepared for stuff to break.

Plan your route also if you are going to be on the floor.

[Back_in_Black]

I'm driving low in germany.. Streets are okay, until you come to the countryside.. My normal work route is awesome.. But since they rebuilt a part of it, i have to drive on one of the shittiest one i ever drove on.. I can drive there around 60km/h.. xD but believe me, it's worth the hastle.. (Is this word right?)

[DutchieSaxo]

i understand you're eager to drive your very own car and slam it, but don't get your hopes up to much. it's not that big of a deal tbh. so unless you pay a shitload for quality coilovers or go all out on a air set up; you're gonna give in a lot of of comfort to drive low. so that's a choice you have to make. if you're a broke ass student like me, there isn't much of a choice.

it also depends where you live, and even more important: how much you're willing to let go to drive a car really low. i can go quite low in the Netherlands because of the roads are in decent shape compared to others. Speedbumps are always a PITA, but hey thefuck did you expect.you;ll need to make a decision if it's worth it to go retarded low because it looks good compared to your ability to drive the car around all the speedbumps in your region. you'll find it out in time by trial and error.

by the way most cars aren't designed for being slammed, so be prepared to brake stuff regularly. as an example; my Saxo went trough 3 brand new axles shafts within in a year. Also think about leaking sumps, lower control arms, increased wear on bushings/ bearings, banged up subframes and so on.

on the other hand, a car looks a thousand times better when it's slammed. and feels more responsive because it has a stiffer suspension; main reason why i do it.

[thegriffin]

yea but without substantial flex in your suspension if you hit a pot hole at 100kph you will loose control!
for example I am riding on bump stops so I cannot go lower and on a perfect road it sticks and hanldes like its on rails but when its rough the e30 is all over the shop!
I personly say do it but don't over do it!

[MrJereMoose]

If you plan on daily driving a slammed car, don't forget that it is a daily driver first and foremost. It's going to be dinged up, so don't sweat a few scrapes underneath... and expect your front lip to get torn up... If you want a magazine cover worthy daily, either you need to be really careful, or live somewhere where the roads and weather are both friendly to low cars.

There's a couple of things to think about in terms of what you can deal with for daily driving though. If you only commute with it, you will learn the roads, and the potholes, and the high spots, and how to avoid them. If you usually end up going to unfamiliar places with your typical daily driver, take that into account. This is really the value of bags to me... I take a lot of weekend trips and will encounter dirt roads on my way to meetings in the evenings. Knowing the roads, slammed is easy, no knowing... well that ends in busted oil pans in static cars.

[thegriffin]

well said

[OSSHWA]

The easy solution is buy a cheap beater to serve as a daily driver and only drive your low car when you want to, rather than when you have to. My beater is a '97 Civic HX. It's great on gas, I don't care about it getting dinged/beat up and it only cost me $2,000. I've had it now for 3 years and it's been great. It's up to 212k miles and still going strong. Only maintenance I've had to do on it (asides from oil changes, replacing fluids, etc.) is replacing a front axle and replacing the rear trailing arms, both of which were very cheap. I could daily drive my SRT-6 if needed, but I choose to only drive it on my time....aka when I'm going out with friends, taking my girlfriend out to dinner, cruising to a local meet, etc. The Civic gets used for commuting, business trips, visiting my parents a few states away, etc. It also helps to keep mileage off my SRT-6, thus allowing me to keep the car in better shape and increasing longevity. I drive both cars about the same amount annually, but the Civic is the one that deals with the snow and other bad weather we face from time to time.

[fpsthomas]

how i see it, how bad could it be right? there isnt anything that can go wrong as long as you have some buddies that can help out with a tow if needed. slamming your car is just hella fun and hella awesome. if some dude tries to park his stock tosser car worth 20k next to your 1.5k car thats slammed and has some tricked out offset rims everybody will give you all the streetcred.

more often than not you're too scared on what could happen. doo iiiiit

[Greasy63]

I'd like to say, what most say/do "get a daily beater" but why drive a boring car is what I say. I mean why drive a car that you don't love driving in all its glory. Whether the engine purs like a kitten or shakes like a crackhead, is irrelevant to me in that sense. If you've lowered it and put the time in to find the right spec's for you & made it fit then that's fucking awesome and you'll enjoy driving that shit everyday with all the hassles that come along with driving a low car. My wife drives a considerably low 2004 Acura TSX everywhere for work, she complains...... Never about being low just other drivers on the road. I used to drive an very low e30, I broke 3 oil pans in 4 months. It sucked and I was scared driving it to unfamiliar areas but I never thought "oh I should just raise back up" why? Because I'm down for the get down. You have to be down to live low & pissing everyone else off because you can't exit/enter a driveway like normal (boring) people. My SRT8 Magnum is very low as well, and I never had a "performance" car before, no one cared when I slammed my e30, but everyone almost hates me for going as low as I am in this domestic modern muscle car if you will. So be prepared for the **** as well. That's part of being down af for your shit, it's all about commitment to me. If you're down then go for it.

[darius76]

These are some pretty rides

[Sammie222]

Hey I've been in Estonia for a while driving a low car. That's ok there and I'm safe.

[BozoBubble]

Happy to hear you're starting so early with the whole "moar low" thing. My advice is to buy extra oil pans and #YOLO it. If it breaks, you can fix it. If it's uncomfortable, you can learn to live with it. There are very few things you can really do to truly ruin your car, IMO.