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YOUR RESEARCHLowering springs
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Fill roads, i chose wheels
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I'm happy with my ride quality and since I spend most of my time driving on Toronto's infamously pothole-filled roads, I chose wheels that cost a fraction of the OEM ones.
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When I was researching a lowered suspension I read tons of posts from people that installed lowering springs on to stock struts and had problems with the struts giving up rapidly.
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I run 19” wheels with 225/35 fronts and 265/30 rears lowered on Bilstein B8 struts and H&R lowering springs and I have no rubbing or issues whatsoever.
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I am running 7mm Elephant Racing spacers on the front and am happy with the look and handling.
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Fill roads, i chose wheels
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I'm happy with my ride quality and since I spend most of my time driving on Toronto's infamously pothole-filled roads, I chose wheels that cost a fraction of the OEM ones.
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Suggestion
I'll stick with my 18's ** My winter tires tires have a different aspect ratio than stock (larger) I don't know the #'s offhand (they're Pirelli Soto Zero's) but they definitely look larger overall (higher sidewalls) and fill the wells nicely.
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Suggestion
For the rears, I have gone with the 265/30/19 on the 9.5" Niche rims, which is a good fit (25.3", 0.2% smaller) and run 15mm spacers which fill the wheel well nicely with zero rubbing issues.
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When I was researching a lowered suspension I read tons of posts from people that installed lowering springs on to stock struts and had problems with the struts giving up rapidly.
Replace niche it would be $300 hit not $ thousands
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Also having seen first hand the damage a pothole can do to an OEM wheel on my wife's A3 (both tire and rim destroyed) I chose to save my Turbo Look wheels for track days and if I do need to replace a Niche it would be $300 hit not $ thousands..
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Suggestion
I would look to replace your struts with Bilstein B8�s sport struts to match the springs (if you don�t want to go coilovers) and get more appropriate sized tires.
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Suggestion
For the rears, I have gone with the 265/30/19 on the 9.5" Niche rims, which is a good fit (25.3", 0.2% smaller) and run 15mm spacers which fill the wheel well nicely with zero rubbing issues.
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I run 19” wheels with 225/35 fronts and 265/30 rears lowered on Bilstein B8 struts and H&R lowering springs and I have no rubbing or issues whatsoever.
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How can I tell if I have lowering springs or if the originals were cut down on a 2002 996 Carrera? My car is low and my tires are rubbing on the aftermarket 19 inch rims
It�s low
The springs are black. I have been bottoming out on dips in the road. My plan was going to be to get some coil overs. I really want to keep the 19 inch rims but the tire hits when you turn sharp. You can barely get a finger in there between the tire and wheel liner.The tires are 245x40x19 front and 265x35x19 rear
I would say those tire sizes are too big... I run 19” wheels with 225/35 fronts and 265/30 rears lowered on Bilstein B8 struts and H&R lowering springs and I have no rubbing or issues whatsoever. I’ll be going up to a 275/30 rear when this set is done.
The overall diameters of the tire sizes you listed are way too large. Your fronts are 26.7” (stock is 25.1ish”) your rears are 26.3” (stock is 25.3”).
As for the springs on your car, pull a wheel off and post a picture.
Lowering springs also usually have Letter/# designations on them (as well as Manufacturers ID)... As was said above, pull a wheel off and it should be quite obvious.
It looks like they are H&R 29513 lowering springs and according to their website, it is a 1.25 drop. So I will be ordering some new tires and I may wait on the rears as I just got them right before I stored the car for winter. It still bottoms out. I am thinking about going with coil overs and it looks like there are a lot to choose from. Are there better/ stiffer lowering springs that might help with bottoming out or is that probably the rear shock is bad?
Those are the stock shocks which were not designed to work with those springs (of course they work, but not as designed - the shocks/struts also wear much faster). Get yourself some Bilstein B8's or Koni's that are designed for lowering springs...
When you say �bottoming out� what exactly do you mean? Are your tires rubbing in the wheel wells when you hit bumps or is your cars under carriage scraping on the ground when you hit bumps?
I would agree that those stock shocks with lowering springs are not the way to go. H&R lowering springs and proper shorter sport struts are a fantastic street set up. The combination of your tires being too large and improper struts for those springs are going to give you problems.
"
B
y the way. The g"uy who sold me the car said these brakes were larger than stock? Any thoughts on the brakes being different?"
They look like standard black calipers to me... (standard brakes) They're definitely Porsche/Brembo calipers, but it doesn't look like a "big brake" kit. Just measure the rotors and compare to stock sizes...(front =318mm
rear = 299mm)
It feels like the shock is bottoming out in the rear. It is a hard hit and I feel it mostly in the passenger side. I looked under the driver side and there are no wear marks in the wheel well. I did not check passenger side. I was a bit concerned as the middle of the wheel well has a metal seam right in the middle and if I am bottom out, that�s going to slice the tire.
What often happens after adding lowering springs onto stock struts, it ends up blowing them out prematurely. When I was researching a lowered suspension I read tons of posts from people that installed lowering springs on to stock struts and had problems with the struts giving up rapidly. I would look to replace your struts with Bilstein B8�s sport struts to match the springs (if you don�t want to go coilovers) and get more appropriate sized tires. That will make a world of difference.
I just ordered new front tires and they will arrive tomorrow. I�ll post pics once I get them on the car. I was able to get the Firestone Indy 500 in 225x35x19 for $124 each. So I�ll be selling two fairly new Goodyear LS2 run flats
If you're going to run a 225/35/19 front with a 265/35/19 rear tire.... you’re probably going to run into even more problems. Your front tire/wheel will be 25.2” in overall diameter while the rear will be 26.3”.... 1.1” difference front to rear in overall diameter is no bueno especially if you have a C4, that’s going to wreck your front dif.
Then the rears are clearly too big too. Use
THIS
site to figure out what comes closest to the stock 225/40-18 and 285/30-18 sizes and keep the percentage difference in height (and circumference) as close as possible.
Also if going to Bilstein B8s, which seem to go by a few monikers, but a B8 is a B8, the external stock bump stop is NOT used on the front struts, but is on the rear. I've had mine on for a while now and only just got the correct answer on this question from BIlstein tech recently. They are a good setup for lowering springs for sure. I'm happy.
Here's the deal.
You are running a wheel called a Niche Targa. The widths and offsets are as follows:
19x9.5 - 45et
19x8.5 - 47et
These are OK (I personally wouldn't run them due to the crazy weight and less than ideal rear width but... ) shouldn't cause you an issue. The problem is, you are running a completely too tall of a tire. In combination with the offset of your wheels is causing an issue. Unfortunately the narrow width of the rear 19x9.5 prevents you from running the correct size tire. Which would be 315/25/19.
You should look into running a 265/30/19 for the rear. This will solve your too tall of a tire problem. The 265 will be within 2% of the OEM tire size, which is OK. You might be able to run 275/30/19 as well (Right at the edge of 3%).
For the Front you should run: 225/35/19 This is within less than 1% of the OEM tire size which is great.
This should fix your rubbing issues 100%.
I picked up the new front tires today and they are definitely smaller. As I was mounting them, I noticed they had a 2018 date code so I called Firestone and they will be sending me some newer tires as I did not want new old tires. That was nice but still a pain as I have to go back and do a swap again.
This was the old tire
New tire
New mounted tire
I have been looking to get the 275 30 19 tires and it�s a pain trying to find someone to mount these. Firestone said no way. NTB says they can but leave the tires for a while and the specialty tire shop charges $40 to mount and balance. This is crazy. I�m not sure the 275 will even fit on these rims.
I tried to find a junk tire to mount and see if it would fit but no luck yet getting a tire to try.
Personally, I�d stick with the 275 on the 9.5� wheel. For will depend on offset, but I recently put 295s on my 10� wheels and not sure if it was a good move, alas I haven�t been able to drive much to test.
I spoke to a tire guy today and he suggested going to the 235 35 19 front and he said the 275 30 19s would be good. I told him I found a deal on some 285 30 19 and he was all excited. He wanted to mount them up right then and so he could see them. I don�t think they will fit too well on my rims. He�s got me thinking I should get the 235s vs the 225s I just bought.
I had rims that are 19x8.5 and 19x10. The rears have an et40 not sure in the front. They have a 235 and 295 on them and i also have a b8 suspension. In the rear i rolled the fenders, trimmed the bumper and had the camber at 2.5* and it still rubed. The front is also at 2.5* camber and they wore through the liners. I run 18s now.
^^^ Wow, that was an experiment gone awry! I think the consensus is that 19's that fit don't give you a very good ride due to the extremely low profile necessary to avoid rubbing... I'll stick with my 18's ** My winter tires tires have a different aspect ratio than stock (larger) I don't know the #'s offhand (they're Pirelli Soto Zero's) but they definitely look larger overall (higher sidewalls) and fill the wells nicely.
Your consensus on ride quality with 19's is wrong, at least in my experience. I have 19's with an extremely low profile 315/25/19, am lowered on Bilstein B8 w/ RUF springs, and my ride is fantastic. I would say MUCH smoother than stock vs, when I had 18" MY02's, Continental All Season tires, and a worn out stock suspension.
I have the same Niche Targa rims on my 2001 C2, which is lowered on H&R Street Performance coilovers. I was running the 225/35/19 Firestone Indy 500 on the front and found that the tire was stretched a bit much to fit the 8.5" rim, so recently switched to 235/35/19, which fit the rim much better IMO and are 25.5" (1.55% bigger than stock). I am running 7mm Elephant Racing spacers on the front and am happy with the look and handling.
For the rears, I have gone with the 265/30/19 on the 9.5" Niche rims, which is a good fit (25.3", 0.2% smaller) and run 15mm spacers which fill the wheel well nicely with zero rubbing issues.
I actually have half of a set of 18s and I have been searching for a pair to match them. They are the Ruff racing M106 18x8.5 and 18x9.5. They seem much bigger with a 2.5 inch dish and 3.5 dish. If anyone knows where I can pick up another front and rear, let me know as I want to get them and paint them some wild colors to play with.
I only have these because the previous owner gave me these and the others were missing because one was cracked and the other was thrown out by the previous owners wifey.
i agree with dporto. I have h&r 1.5 drop springs snd b8's, i think tne ride sucks. With the 19's its even worse. I have fully been through each shock and put new bump stops on and it still feels like it bottoms out and u r dragging your *** down the road. The good news it it sticks to the track on de days. I do have some heim joint links so im sure that doesnt help the ride.
not really an experiment. Car came with the 19's and i quickly got 18's but wore out the tires late in the season last year. Didnt have the cash for new tires so i put the 19s back on. Should have just parked the car.
Uh, e90steve? See below...
con�sen�sus
/kənˈsensəs/
noun
a general agreement.
"a consensus view"
Similar:
agreement
harmony
concord
like-mindedness
concurrence
consent
common consent
accord
unison
unity
unanimity
oneness
solidarity
concert
general opinion/view
majority opinion/view
common opinion/view
Opposite:
disagreement
minority view
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By definition, a consensus can't be "wrong" because it takes a group to agree to it...You don't have to agree with it, but it's not "wrong". In fact, I think it's fair to say that it's the majority view (see above). Here, I'll use it in a sentence; I've never had 19" wheels on my car, and based on the general consensus that the ride is inferior, I think I'll stick with 18's...
BTW - comparing your sport suspension to a "worn out" stock suspension is sort of like comparing apples to oranges. I will agree though that B8's with lowering springs (I had H&R's) are better than worn out B4's...
Some of you guys are running super heavy 19" Chinese CAST wheels. Of course the ride is going to be worse.
A quality lightweight 19 will feel no different vs. a quality normal weight 18. The heavier the wheel, the worse the ride quality. Brands like Niche, Victor Equip, knockoff BBS, anything on ebay of course are going to ride worse vs a stock 18" wheel. They each weigh about 10-15lbs more than a stock wheel. Ride quality is directly effected by wheel weight.
I run OEM 19" Carrera Classic wheels made by BBS. They weigh close to what an OEM 18" wheel weighs. With B8's, RUF Springs and the 19's it rides fantastic. Even on a 25 profile tire not harsh at all. So a blanket statement that 19's will decrease ride quality isn't true. Yes a crappy quality 19 anchor might ride rough on a worn out 20+ year old suspension running lowering springs, but so will a heavy crappy quality 18.
So true that heavy wheels reduce comfort and performance! Quality, Lightweight, Proper Fitment, and Strong....all equal Not-Cheap. Don't skimp out on your wheels.
'
I agree. I run 19� BBS LMs and can�t tell much difference if any between the ride quality of those and the stock 18� turbo twists... also lowered on B8s and H&R. I think I calculated that my 19� wheels were 15lbs or more lighter overall than the stock wheels.
In my case, my C2 Cab came with 18" Turbo Look 1 wheels in 18x7.5 front (993.362.134.06) which weigh 25 lbs and 18x9 rear (993.362.138.01) which weigh 29 lbs. The 19x8.5 Niche Targa weigh 1 lb more and the 19x9.5 weigh 1 lb less, so I disagree with your statement that these wheels weight 10-15lbs more.
I'm happy with my ride quality and since I spend most of my time driving on Toronto's infamously pothole-filled roads, I chose wheels that cost a fraction of the OEM ones. I looked in vain for a used set of OEM 19" Carrera S wheels, but even those were 2-3 times the cost of new Niche wheels and every set that I saw was cracked and bent from use. Also having seen first hand the damage a pothole can do to an OEM wheel on my wife's A3 (both tire and rim destroyed) I chose to save my Turbo Look wheels for track days and if I do need to replace a Niche it would be $300 hit not $ thousands..
