Well, thinking about getting round to lowering my car.

Now I know there are a trillion threads about this etc but none of which I read seemed to explain what I needed to know.

So I see a lot of people go for superlows on the front and lows on the rear, however after looking at my car I think that would be a horrible combo for my wheel/tyre combo and the current ride height.

I thought that my car was at standard height and don't really have any reason to think otherwise, though when it's parked on a flat surface it really looks quite low already, mainly in the front.

I already have problems with the fronts scrubbing the guards (only the plastic inner part)

So my question is, is the way my ride height and springs are normal? Eg. they all came from factory like that? I just thought it was odd being FWD and having greater clearance in the rear wheels.

And if I was just to put lows in the rear should that just level the car out? I don't want it to be slammed, just level, as it's already pretty low compared to other cars.

On a side note, my car had a tow bar installed when I got it, which I removed as I have other cars for towing, could the reason for the rear being higher be due to it having up rated/heavy duty rear springs installed & shocks along with the tow bar?

If people have any pics of their 2nd gens before or after lowering that would be great to compare to.

Thanks,
Don

Your front springs are either modified or have sagged

Your front springs are either modified or have sagged

Or you have non standard wheels that you haven't mentioned. I put standard size TJ mags (1 inch bigger diameter, but lower profile tyres) onto my TS, they scraped when hitting a bump with the wheels cranked over, with standard suspension.

Original steel TS wheels = 205 X 65, 15 inch.
TJ alloys = 215 X 60, 16 inch.

So obviously there isn't much clearance there, lots at the back though.

I imagine that on the standard suspension the rear is higher when unloaded because the rear springs are softer than the fronts, and you may want to carry a load in the boot.

I did sort of mention them ;) I'm running 16" 3rd gen wheels with regular profile tires, same size as your Max.

Hmm not keen on weighting the suspension just for the ride height though haha

That said, you are probably right as I only have about 10kg in the boot with my sub and amp.

So would putting some king lows in the rear drop it to a more level height you think?

My TR also only came with 185x75x14's as standard :P

IF your factory tyres are 185/75/14, that's a rolling diameter of 633mm
215/60/16s have a diameter of 664mm.
that's probably why the gap looks like the front is lowered.

Correct, although it was still quite similar in terms of height when on factory steelies.

And I still thought it looked low then :P dunno maybe I'm just not used to low standard cars haha

I forgot to mention I took the 16 inch alloys off the V6 TS because of the scraping, they are now on my TL with no problems.
If you are running 16s on the front of your TS you are doing better than me and can't really lower the front.

With rims I run factory third gen rims with 205/55/R16 tyres no issues what so ever. They are a low profile tyre and same size as a 145/75/R14. But no clue why people don't replace and change tyres to suit the car they put the rims on.

I forgot to mention I took the 16 inch alloys off the V6 TS because of the scraping, they are now on my TL with no problems.
If you are running 16s on the front of your TS you are doing better than me and can't really lower the front.

Nah not interested in lowering the front anyway, there's no way I could. The clearance is just ok atm.

And yeah Sparky, I know, I wanted 215x55x16's to keep the rolling diameter super close, however the difference in price was to great for my budget, I'd rather live with the larger profile and have a decent tire and brand rather than having to go for a cheapo tire in the low profile.

Even the 60 profile doesn't really give me any issues, just an occasional scrub. :P