i've never lowered my car and am just wondering if there are certain things to watch out for... like how are you supposed to handle speed bumps ...dumb things that eventually become part of how you normally drive?

 

there are some advantages and disadvantages of lowering your car. Lowering makes it look better, and gives better handling, but driving over bumps requires you to go slow and turn your car to avoid it getting scratched.

 

It matters how low you go, and if you have a bodykit. I have the H&R Sports that lower ~1.5", and I have very few problems. When pulling into a parking space, you may have to be careful of the curb so it doesn't scratch your front lip, or if you have a bodykit it may actually hit it. I don't think you would ever have a problem with the doors swinging out and hitting a curb. Backing in to a parking spot, if the curb is ridiculously high, it may hit some tailpipes or bodykit if you lower it a lot. Myself, I just find a parking spot that is bigger, and park so that the front (or rear, depending if I back in) is a few inches from the curb. Now for speed bumps, once again unless you lower a lot or have the bodykit, no real problems, unless the bump is a mountain. I go over them slightly sideways, so that both front tires are not on the bump at the same time. Know what I mean?
I hope this helps. I'm glad I have mine. What brand are you thinking of getting?

 

You just have to be careful with how you drive....There are times where there isn't much that i can do and I hit...and pay the consequences...all I can say is be careful..
Ed

 

BE CAREFUL. Just take city driving slower, and you shouldn't have too much trouble at all. The worst I ever did in my 'Teg was scrape up the underside of my air dam which you can't even see.

Just don't get a girlfriend who's got a steep driveway. I gots a friend who has to park in the road, lowered car or not.

 

Just watch out when you have a lot of friends in your car. This is what happened to me when I was coming down a steep driveway.

 

basically you drive a little slower than you normally do (due to weird road conditions) and take ramps/driveways angled so one tire touches before the other (instead of head on with both tires).

i do the ramp/driveway technique on speedbumps too...otherwise, your front suspension bounces when your front tire go over the bump (rear too). if you have a kit, you could potentionally scrape the front lip and then crush the side skirts if you don't take the bump one wheel at a time.

of course, the lower you are the more extreme and important are the above comments.

 

Believe it or not but I have the Apexi Coilovers with a 3" drop with little or no scrape. There should be no problems with normal everyday driving. Just be careful when you see a pothole or going up/down a steep driveway. After a while, you get used to the height of your car then you should be able to judge what you can or cannot make it over. For speedbumps, just go one tire over at a time (at an angle and slowly).

IOW, use common sense and just be careful!

 

The idea behind going over speed bumps/angled driveways is (and correct me if I'm wrong) to have one front tire (let's say left side) going over the trasition at the same time as the opposite side of the rear (would be right side in this case). This way, the undercarage will not scrape/ high centering won't happen. Same could be for the bumpers, too.

 

thanks for the info. i was originally thinking about the apexi coilovers, but i'm not too sure right now. either that or the ground control/koni shocks setup... hopefully santa will see this post

 

Since you live in Florida then adjustability is not an issue for you. But since I live in NJ, I needed the adjustability for the winter. As a matter of fact, I am raising my TL back up soon for the coming winter.