Lowering the car
 

Looking to give the car a bit of a drop. Only problem is over dips I mean mean dips that the car drops low, the front tires rub (the inside fender plastic part). Im running tires that are some 1" larger then the stock setup. Its not a problem unless there is someone else in the car with me and I hit a nasty dip.

Becuase im running the bigger tire the car looks raised and its killing me. I had bought a set of progress lowering spring 6 months ago and never got around to installing them. Now im thinking a set of coilovers would be ideal for my needs, much higher spring rates so no more rubbing. I would only drop the car 1" to get rid of the wheel well gap. I know alot of people go nuts and do a huge drop and wing up ridding like crap because theres no suspention travel. I would still have pretty much all of the suspention travel but also have stiff springs, and I could lower the car more to get rid of the wheel well gap for summer.

Does this make any sense? Or should I just go with a really stiff set of normal springs. I had also played around with the idea of just removing the fender liner, that should free up some room right.

If you're already rubbing and you still want to maintain full suspension travel and not rub, with all due respect, I'd say you're screwed. If you drop it an inch, and still maintain full travel (can you do that?) at the most compressed, the tire's going to be a full inch higher into rub territory than it already is. I suspect it would take a painfully, impractically stiff spring to keep it from compressing that much, and, well then, you wouldn't be using all your suspension travel.
As usual, I'm talking out my ass, so somebody who knows more about suspension, please, set the record straight.

I need to know what tire size you are running, but I'll try to help....

First thing...NO COILOVERS...at least not style like ground controls.....Full Coilovers like Teins, maybe....

The ones like ground controls with the simple threaded sleeve WILL drop the car too low even at the highest setting...I've seen it personally on 3rd gens.....

My suggestions would be some racing beats with tokico blues or whites....a stiffer spring/strut will help it from bottoming out(and rubbing)...

Don't remove the fender lining..it helps protect a LOT of components from water

205/55/16 I know a few msp owners that run this setup with no problems the racing beats and struts should do it.

Racing beats have a .75" drop which is nice but they have only a slightly higher spring rate. The struts I can see helping enough on there own, at least over the smaller bumps. Just wanna have the spring rate to back it up, that was why coil sleves were my first thought, they run some 3x the stock spring rate. This way instead of dipping 4"'s over bumps I would only dip 1-2 which leaves plenty of room for the drop.

Im gonna measure up the clearence I have in the morning and see around what I need to run fine. Upping the spring rate came to mind becuase with the car filled with people I get a nice tuck.

Dont the skunk 2's from 1-3"'s the lowest should be fine, I thought.

what those coilovers SAY they drop and what they ACTUALLY drop are 2 different thingsq

if you are rubbing now - any lowering will make it worse.

Perhaps you need to look at getting the tire size fixed first.

Why are you running 205/55-16's? A 205/45-16 or even a a205/50-16 will give you better handling since you'll have the same tread width but a lower profile yielding less tire squirm and you'll reduce your overall tire/wheel diameter as well.

When I installed the complete MSP suspension system on my car it made a substantial improvement in handling and, as you said, it gives ~ a 3/4" drop.

Don't P5's Run 195-50-16's Stock ????

I think you should reduce your tire size

These are just winter tires that I got a really good deal on. So im not changing them, when I care about handlling, the summer, I put on my always good 205/40/17's. I would like to point out that these tires are much nicer then the stockers or just about anything Ive had on before. They have very stiff sidewalls and are stock on BMWs. My ride with them is much stiffer then even with my summer tires. The summer tires are a summer only tire so they stick to the ground better, just because there a softer compound.

P5's come stock with 1cm smaller tires and a stiffer suspention. They have no problems with rubbing at all when running 205/55/16's, and they're lower then me, same for the msp's on winter tires.

Hi i have just joined your killer website i live in the caribbean and own a 2001 mp3 i have on 18in rsgt rims by aerospeed and 205/35/18 tires with the stock suspension and it rides fine the other day i went for a ride in the same type of car with the same same rim and tire and the guy had his car fitted with the tein coilover suspension suffice to say i am sving towards the us1400 dollars its going to cost me to get them