[tapengl]

I read few threads which mention lowering the car would affect the handling.
I assume they mean in negative way. But why ? I thought the lower the better handling.
Can someone explain ? So far I have Hotchkis sway bars and is ready
to be installed to my stock 328i coupe. I like the look of been lowered(not slammed)
and is willing to sacrifice the comfort a bit but not handling.

[moveswiftly]

Majority of times if the car is lowered the right way AKA maintaing balance in the front and rear. the cars handling improves. Why? because the car has a lower center of gravity , allowing less air resistance, and A more responsive feel. You're handling can't go bad with aftermarket springs from H&R. Your comfort will be sacrificed because with a lower center of gravity the car seems to feel pot holes and uneven surfaces more often as compared to stock suspension system.

[cn555ic]

Originally Posted by chesterfan1230

Majority of times if the car is lowered the right way AKA maintaing balance in the front and rear. the cars handling improves. Why? because the car has a lower center of gravity , allowing less air resistance, and A more responsive feel. You're handling can't go bad with aftermarket springs from H&R. Your comfort will be sacrificed because with a lower center of gravity the car seems to feel pot holes and uneven surfaces more often as compared to stock suspension system.

I agree lowering the car will give better handling because the car has a lower center of gravity and reduces the roll in the car, but as for potholes and uneven surfaces, in my case I would disagree...I installed FK coilovers and compared to my stock sport suspension, it actually handles the bumps and imperfections on the roads better and I am still running on the RFT tires as previously with sport suspension...I think the upgraded KONI shocks set to 50/50 between firm and soft did the trick...The sport suspension shocks were too stiff IMO...

[aut0sh0cker]

FYI actual ride height has nothing to do with feeling the road... unless of course the bottom of your car is dragging pavement...

What really changes the car's handling dynamics are your springs/shocks setup

[scheherazade]

What happens is people lower the car, but they neglect the side effects that lowering has on the suspension settings.

Camber, toe, etc, can go out of whack when you lower a car. If you lower it enough, you might have to get some extra hardware to get your wheel geometry properly set. Camber plates, different/adjustable linkages, etc.

Some people "SLAM" their car, and don't 'fix' the wheel geometry problems that they created. Then they have improper tire wear, and poor cornering/poor traction issues.

They feel like they improved handling by getting really low, but they really just screwed things up.

Also, some things are not all bad but have a bad reputation.
For example, a car can lean in a turn and it HELPS keep traction. The lean will absorb some impulse [from a sudden turn] that would have otherwise broken traction.
You'll see this on winter/snow races, where cars have no sway bars and they lean like crazy.

Where you don't want lean is when you change direction quickly. You'll have a 'whip' effect when your car leans one way, and then quickly leans the other way. You store kinetic energy by leaning one way, and when you lean the other way you release the stored energy as more lean velocity, causing you to break traction when your car reaches the moment of maximum lean.
It's actually something that drifters do on purpose, i.e. it's the non-e-brake way to start a slide.

Same thing goes for low profile tires. They 'feel better' in turn-in-response, but that quick response is also a large impulse. The flex in a larger tyre smooths out that large impulse, and helps keep traction.

-scheherazade

[tapengl]

Thanks guys. it all make sense to have a properly lowered car that improve handling. I will keep working on coming mods

When E92 is lowered with coilover, what alignment factors get affected ?
camber for sure, but does it affect toe in/out and others ?

Would 1" to 1.5" lowered in height make that much difference in alignment ?
Apparently I want to save few bucks if I can get away with it.

[cn555ic]

when doing any suspension work, alignment should be done

[scheherazade]

Originally Posted by tapengl

Thanks guys. it all make sense to have a properly lowered car that improve handling. I will keep working on coming mods

When E92 is lowered with coilover, what alignment factors get affected ?
camber for sure, but does it affect toe in/out and others ?

Would 1" to 1.5" lowered in height make that much difference in alignment ?
Apparently I want to save few bucks if I can get away with it.

If you change camber, you need to match it with a new toe.
A wheel that leans tends to pull in a certain direction as it rolls. You need to adjust toe so that the wheel will roll true.

Height change will affect camber because the wheel will 'lean' (-camber usually) a bit with the new height.
You can either adjust your camber to undo the new lean that the drop put in
Or you can adjust your toe so that the new camber rolls true.
Or you just do a combination of both to have a setting that suits your needs.

Typically :
autocross - you want lots of -camber
track - you want moderate -camber
street - you want a little -camber
drag - you want no -camber

For each setting, you want a proper matching toe setting.
If you want to know what is a lot or a little -camber, you need to talk to people that track their 335's and pick their brain.

There are other considerations too.
For example : if you want a car that turns easy, you can adjust your geometry to reduce the centering force. So you can have a car that "turns with a flick of the wrist", but you can't let your hands off of the wheel. This would also involve caste angle changes.

-scheherazade