I really want to lower my car but...

[monterey]

I scrape everywhere already. Is there something with the geometry that I don't know about or if I simply drop my car, it will scrape worse. Also, I got 19x10 wheels with 20 offset. The fronts seem to poke out slightly. Is this going to give me a problem if I drop the car. I really want to lose my fender gap. Someone said something about a -2 camber? Do I need to buy something to achieve this or will stock parts work? I'm thinking about going with the bilstein damptronic B16 coilovers.

[Banana Hammock]

In terms of scrapage, are you approaching dips and stuff correctly or just Leeroying it? Taking it slow and going extra wide gets me through the majority of the time. I only scrape when I'm going too quickly. Knowing then to call it quits and taking a different route is sometimes required.

When I lowered my car on KWs, I bought brand new top hats for the front. There's a little nipple thing on the front top hats that you have to break off to allow a bit of front camber adjustment I didn't do this so I'm stuck with no camber adjustment in the front. The rears have a bit of adjustment from factory.

[Spun Crankhub]

Ill just elaborate on what Pasghetti said above, its about how you drive. Im lowered on Clubsports and have 19's for street driving and 18's for the track. On my 19's I can go out my driveway at a less than optimal angle and not scrape, but on my 18's the angle has to be 45 degrees or sharper otherwise my front bumper will scrape.
PS driving in SF is a different animal, lets just say tax dollars up there appear to go to everything but road improvements.

[SpartaEvolution]

Originally Posted by pasghetti

are you approaching dips and stuff correctly or just Leeroying it?

[BayE30]

Its hopeless here in SF, the roads are shit with huge dips everywhere. I am riding on 19" wheels, lowered on BG springs with stock EDC shocks, and the ride sucks. Now if im in San Jose, its all good, ride is nice not much scrapeing.

[kimiraikkonen]

Originally Posted by monterey

I scrape everywhere already. Is there something with the geometry that I don't know about or if I simply drop my car, it will scrape worse. Also, I got 19x10 wheels with 20 offset. The fronts seem to poke out slightly. Is this going to give me a problem if I drop the car. I really want to lose my fender gap. Someone said something about a -2 camber? Do I need to buy something to achieve this or will stock parts work? I'm thinking about going with the bilstein damptronic B16 coilovers.

So if you are exiting a driveway (straight ahead being 0 degree)....what angle to the right are you pointing the car to? Are you at 60-80 degrees? Unfortunately, even at 45 degrees, you may still scrape.

[timothy2001]

Originally Posted by pasghetti

In terms of scrapage, are you approaching dips and stuff correctly or just Leeroying it

Yeah, I got a good laugh out of this too.

[monterey]

i have to go into my driveway at an angle now to not scrape but im NOT even lowered yet. i think im doomed if i drop my car. i might have to sacrifice ever parking in my driveway and garage at work ever again.

[GVIFlyer]

Originally Posted by monterey

i have to go into my driveway at an angle now to not scrape but im NOT even lowered yet. i think im doomed if i drop my car. i might have to sacrifice ever parking in my driveway and garage at work ever again.

That's me. I have a stock height Competition Package car, which is .6 inch lower than the base car, but I still have to be very careful not to scrape. I had the 3M clear bra extended under the front fascia so that if I ever do screw up, I can peel it off and start over.

[1MOREMOD]

I have to use ramps to get out of my driveway so I dont rip off the front bumper. Angle smangle.

[pbonsalb]

I am on H&R springs and scrape on driveways or similar uphill or downhill short transitions regularly. I had ziptied my broken up undertray and wings together but my car is an 08 and I lowered it in 2013 so I had to replace it this year. Now I am scraping the $325 in new parts.

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I am on H&R springs and scrape on driveways or similar uphill or downhill short transitions regularly. I had ziptied my broken up undertray and wings together but my car is an 08 and I lowered it in 2013 so I had to replace it this year. Now I am scraping the $325 in new parts.

Pick up Slambo aluminium custom undertray!

[jd501]

There's a 911 GT2 in my condo's garage that parks on the lower level, and turns around and reverses up and down the ramps.

I had H&Rs on my E46 and bought them as soon as I got the E92, but they've been sitting in my closet for two years now as I'm terrified of damaging $700 performance splitters.

[DSilk]

My car is lowered, and it scrapes (and yes, I am very careful to miss holes and obstructions and to enter and exit ramps at an angle). An aluminum undertray won't help at all, since the parts that typically scrape are the front splitters and the underside of the bumper cap. Plastic parts can be repaired and repainted, but I would be wary of putting CF splitters on a lowered car unless you like making frequent and costly replacements.

[tbone28]

Check out cup kits

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1416286

[ase2dais]

To OP
I'd leave the suspension alone... I've dropped my earlier e46 M3, first year was fine, after that I felt the suspension was awful and regretted it. My e92 is still unmolested, and just doing spacers, oversizing tires and lower tire profile from 35 to 30 did the trick.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

To OP
I'd leave the suspension alone... I've dropped my earlier e46 M3, first year was fine, after that I felt the suspension was awful and regretted it. My e92 is still unmolested, and just doing spacers, oversizing tires and lower tire profile from 35 to 30 did the trick.

+1

I used coilovers on my last car (not a BMW). Hated it, made the ride awful. Then I realized, when you change a single component that wasn't designed to work properly with other suspension components, it just made ride quality worse.

Depending on what you use (lower springs only), it'll actually make handling even worse.

[Megabrode]

I'm not sure exactly what accounts for this, but this is my first M3 that doesn't look like it needs lowering. Stock height, non-ZCP, non-EDC with a one-finger gap in the rear and one and a half in the front. It's probably the whole package with aftermarket wheels, super wide tires, and recent rear spacers. For now it's perfect in my eyes with no added risk of scraping or degraded ride. That's not to say I don't scrape from time to time. Inevitable.

[ByeFelicia]

Dont want to thread jack, but seeing as OP does live in SF.

To the SF locals that are lowered a fair bit out there.

Are there any roads you absolutely avoid?

I for the most part can drive most of it but will def turn around on the very steep hills as I fear my car getting stuck at the crest like so lol...

[Mr. BMW]

I never understood the need for lowering. My car barely makes it into my driveway at stock the height. I would not want it any lower.
Unless its strictly a track car, why lower and then have to worry about bottoming out or driving on bad roads???

[Shiza]

Air suspension

[yidgyi]

I was skeptical about lowering my car because I had oversized tires by accident and everyone asked what coils I was running and didn't believe me when I said it was stock. (Had great looking fitment in the rear, front was ok. 265/35 front 295/35 rear wrapped in MPSS.) Since then I bought BC Racing's new DR series coilovers and Apex Arc8's in 18x10 squared wrapped in Toyo R888R 275/35 with a 5mm spacer up front.

I had to raise the front height by half an inch because the thick R888R tires kept smacking the top of my wheel liner and it sounded terrible to the point where I thought my coilovers were hitting my wheels. Also had to run -3 camber up front and -2.7 in the rear. Now, my car sits lower but I can still go over speed bumps and my drive way straight as if I were stock and I don't rub(I did see some slight wheel rub marks in the rear when I went to Washington DC with two people in the rear seats. DC has a lot of potholes that I couldn't avoid all of them.) If I were to do it all over, I'd skip all the research of coilovers and go straight to either Airlift suspension or a custom made airbag suspension that a local race shop fabricates.