I honestly don’t remember the last time I bought a car and actually left it alone for this long. Its been two and a half weeks of driving a bone stock car! This is ludicrous and has to stop! Okay well in that time I have been doing some parts collecting.
I knew I wanted to drop the car, and after some seat time I knew I wanted to stiffen up the rear as much as possible. I ended up going with the RS*R Springs with an advertised spring rate of Front 2.40kg/mm and Rear 2.80kg/mm. Which offered a high spring rate for the rear than most of their competition that I found.
Of course increased spring rates and a lower stance will only go so far towards improving the look and feel of the car. The factory 175/65/15 tires had to go, and so did those narrow steel wheels and hub caps! Reasonable is usually not a word that people use to describe me when talking cars, but I had a plan this time. The wheels had to meet a few criteria. First they had to be from a reputable company. Second they had to be a unique design, no knock off shit. Finally they had to be reasonably priced. As much as I would love to put wheels on the car that rival the sales price, this had to stay a true daily driver. Enter the Sparco Trofeo (built by OZ Racing) in a 16″ x 6.5″.
The final piece of the puzzle was the rubbers. Toyo Tires was once again the choice. I again tried to stay on the reasonable side and went with Extensa HP and upped the size to a 205/50/16. These are slightly taller than stock by about a tenth of an inch. The real upgrade comes by way of the increase in width. The width increased by almost and inch and a quarter. Far more rubber on the ground than stock.
The spring installation was pretty straight forward. Although more of the cowl had to come apart than I imagined it was still one of the easier vehicles I’ve done.
To handle the moving of the TPMS sensors, as well as the mounting the new tires on the wheels and fixing the alignment the car went to Rennwerks in Campbell, CA.
The end result is a car that handles and rides much better although it does have a slight bit of rubbing in the rear. I have clearanced the rear quarter panels via angle grinder, but still have the occasional contact on large bumps.
