why do car scene guys lower their cars to just a few mms off the ground?

londonTiger

My company supplied some goods to a vendor at the trax event in silverstone earlier today. I went to collect the goods and I saw all the cars leave and drive back to London. Countless cars were lowered all the way to the ground with the suspensions squeezed so tightly down that the cars literally bounce on every little uneven tarmac peace on the roads.

Then I had a look at the driver and he was litterally bouncing and shaking in his seat like a bobble head as he was driving. It wasn't just one but loads of them?

I can't understand why these guys would mess up their little cars making them useless on the motorway and useless in the city (speed bumps).

Strider590

Lowing the centre of gravity makes the car more stable at high speed and in corners.........

But most of the time it's done purely for looks.

dibuzz

londonTiger wrote: »

My company supplied some goods to a vendor at the trax event in silverstone earlier today. I went to collect the goods and I saw all the cars leave and drive back to London. Countless cars were lowered all the way to the ground with the suspensions squeezed so tightly down that the cars literally bounce on every little uneven tarmac peace on the roads.

They weren't ALL going back to London, I know quite a few people from up here who go
My son has gone for the last few years but has a baby now so different priorities. He has lowered nearly all the cars he has had, the worst (in my view) was his Corsa which was so low he had to go diagonally over speed bumps and had to park it up for 2 weeks when it snowed as it would have acted like a snow plough.
It also had an exhaust that he paid £500 for (didn't even need a new one) which sounded exactly like mine did when it blew but he claimed it sounded different.
I only drove it once and got some very strange looks. People were looking at it expecting a young lad driving but did a double take when they saw a 45 yr old woman

oliverr

Because they believe it makes their cars look better. Only they think that.

skivenov

To be individual, like all the others.

Joe_Horner

Strider590 wrote: »

Lowing the centre of gravity makes the car more stable at high speed and in corners........

Unfortunately, simply dropping the suspension like that also messes up all those carefully designed (and dynamic) suspension angles, which almost always makes the car handle worse than stock despite the lower CoG.

Seeing as most lowering fans will swear blind that they get better handling, all it really does is show just how much they're talking the talk without really knowing how to crawl the crawl, let alone walk the walk

andygb

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Unfortunately, simply dropping the suspension like that also messes up all those carefully designed (and dynamic) suspension angles, which almost always makes the car handle worse than stock despite the lower CoG.

Seeing as most lowering fans will swear blind that they get better handling, all it really does is show just how much they're talking the talk without really knowing how to crawl the crawl, let alone walk the walk

Exactly so Joe, the car companies - who are not short of brains and money - spend all their time developing a really nice car, then some plonker listens to his mate and thinks (he has never thought about anything in his life - so this is a bad time to start) he can make his car look better (no) and handle better (no).
In actual fact, the only thing which he achieves, is to confirm to others that he is a bigger plonker than they originally thought.;)

worried_jim

Because they've never kissed a girl.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

when setup correctly, it can improve handling with comfort comprimise.

if you do track days often and thats the sport your into fair enough its their money to spend how they wish.

a friend had no issue in the snow with his coil over kit and lowered 40mm.

londonTiger

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Unfortunately, simply dropping the suspension like that also messes up all those carefully designed (and dynamic) suspension angles, which almost always makes the car handle worse than stock despite the lower CoG.

Seeing as most lowering fans will swear blind that they get better handling, all it really does is show just how much they're talking the talk without really knowing how to crawl the crawl, let alone walk the walk

I think the same, suspensions are supposed to smooth the ride, part of that means that all 4 wheels move up and done independantly and keep contact (and have traction) on all 4 wheels despite the terrain.

The way these cars shake up and down I'm sure the wheels loose traction as they bounce.

Although, to their credit they flattened cars are probably fun when corners as they have no body roll due do no suspension what so ever. On my golf when I got fast round the bend it feels like the car is on the verge of flipping over as all the weight shifts to the outside.

scotsbob

Remember also that EEC regulations demand that many cars imported into the UK are having the suspensions raised to comply with EU regulations. This throws out the carefully engineered geometry.

Therefore the first thing the driver of a nice car will do is lower it down after they buy it so it is set up the way the manufacturer designed it.