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How low is too low? Need some advice, pls!

2K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Car_guy 
#1 ·
Hi guys. I've very recently acquired a 2006 Cayman S with Bilstein PSS9s and Fikse 19" wheels. Definitely a "looker" and I love her (more pictures here).

I think the car is a bit too low, though, as I'm scraping a lot on my steep driveway and think this may be more of a problem than its worth. I previously owned a lowered '07 S, so I have dealt with this before. It also looks as though my left front is lower than my right front and I'd like to sort that out, too (both tires are at 31 psi and have very similar tread depth, BTW).

I've attached the best picture I have that shows how low the car is.
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Alloy wheel Motor vehicle


I'm thinking of going up ~10mm all around and would appreciate thoughts/opinions (I know it looks awesome this low, but...). Measurements from the ground up to the highest point on the wheel opening are as follows (19" wheels):

Front
LHS: 64cm
RHS: 64.5cm

Rear
LHS: 67cm
RHS: 66.9cm

As you can see, the front wheel on the LHS (which you can see in the picture) is the lowest of them all and is 5mm lower than the front wheel on the RHS. That side would have to come up an additional 5mm, I assume.

I plan to take the car in, get the height adjusted and get a 4-wheel alignment. Recommendations on reasonable heights to set the PSS9s at for a blend of practicality and looks would be greatly appreciated. If someone has these same measurements for a stock 19" setup w/ & w/o PASM that would be good to know as well. I'm also unsure what to expect with the general "softness" of the ride if I come up ~10mm. Will the shocks need to be adjusted for rebound to retain the same feel?

Thanks in advance for any help / advice you can provide.
 
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#2 ·
It's a looker alright - very nice! I had the exact same problem when I bought my '07 CS - the PO had installed Billstein PSS9's and lowered it way too much, to the point that he was scraping the underside of the nose every time he went in or out of his apartment garage. When I bought the car from him I had to put a 2x4 in the street to ease the transition to my drive way (and of course the first time I went on a drive I came home to find someone had tajken my 2x4!). I've always felt that the driveability of the car in motion is more important than how it looks when parked, so I made the decision to raise it about 1 inch all around, and have nor regretted it at all. All that damage being done to the underside of the plastic nose detracts from its looks, and more importantly negatively affects the car's value. And as for handling - the ride height does nor affect the softness or harshness of the ride at all - it's only impact is on (a) the amount of negitive camber in your wheel alignment, and (b) a slight raise of center of gravity. Remember that the PSS9's are adjustable, so if softness is a concern you can always dial in what pleases you. My advice is do what I did - get a set of Billstein spanners and adjust the ride height yourself so that you clear the driveway transition. You want left and right to be the same with the weight of a driver inlcuded, and the proper rake has the rear a bit higher than the front (like you have it now). I bought the Billstein wrenches from Turner Motorsporst - about $55. It's an easy DIY project. Then go for an alignment to properly set toe and camber.
 
#3 ·
I’ve been working through a similar situation trying to find an acceptable ride height for my 2008 CS. Acceptable to me means significantly lowered, but with a minimum of dragging. I do take care when approaching steep driveways, etc.

Working with PSS9’s, but no other changes other than alignment settings. Measuring from ground through center of wheel up to lowest edge of lip. I stand an aluminum yard stick at the center of the wheel and with my digital camera level with the lip, take photos. I found that his makes it much easier to record and read measurements. My original goal was to eliminate the huge gaps over the front tires. Was happy with the look when it was down by1.25 F and down 1.12 R., but still had to come up some more. Note that rear toe-in is much more sensitive to height changes than is the front.

Attached image shows a portion of a spreadsheet I built to track my changes and enable close predictions of how adjustment at one corner affects others. My current height settings are clearly listed.

PS - Remember that changing the rake as I did will affect the aiming of your headlights. And if your car has factory Bi-Xeon like mine, there is an automatic headlight leveling system to deal with, too. I’m testing a 95% solution to this problem now and expect to post details in the near future.

Text Font Line Yellow Number
 
#4 · (Edited)
Thanks for the guidance, guys. I do think I'll look at raising a bit, if for no other reason to even it out from side the side.

Car_guy: your -1" front measurement of ~25.7" is 65.3cm. That's 8mm higher than where my highest front is / 13mm higher than my low front. Your -1 rear of 26.9" is 68.4cm or 14mm higher than my rears.

I am considering going up 10mm all around which would get me very close to where you are now.
 
#5 ·
Just checked my measurements. I'm at 65mm both sides front, 66mm left rear and 66.5mm right rear. As I mentioned before this is to clear the driveway transition, but is still lower than stock. After I made the adjustments I had the suspension aligned and corner balanced, so I suspect one of the reasons for the uneven rear height is the results of the corner balancing.
 
#6 ·
Thanks - this is a great calibration for my next move although there's no way I could get to 66 at the rear. An additional complication is that the PO put 295s on the rear instead of 265s; they would definitely rub and I think I need additional margin from where they are now if/when I track the car.

I wonder if the difference in my fronts are due to corner balancing, too? You'd think the LHS would be higher to compensate for the driver's weight, but it's probably more complicated than that.
 
#7 ·
You're probably correct. I'm using factory wheels and tires and have experienced zero tire clearance issues, even when setting considerably lower. My problem was limited to dragging of the plastic air deflectors under the front of the front wheel wells. However, I can imagine how different wheel offsets and/or larger tires could create clearance issues when lowered too much.

I put it off corner balance until I settled the ride height question. In the meantime I tried for a balance ofaesthetics, dragging, and close left-to-right heights.
 
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