I searched and couldn't find too much for what I was looking for.

A friend of mine used to have a G37 and threw some Tanabe springs on. He really liked it but since I got the car, I didn't really think I was going to lower it.

Now, I'm thinking I want to. My friend is insisting, I can just put some Tanabe springs on and call it a day, but I always thought just changing the springs and not the coilovers would hurt the suspension or car.

Is that true? Can I just put some springs on and call it a day? Could it be hurt? Is there anything else I would have to do? Would I need spacers?

Thanks for your help, I'm sure this is pretty common knowledge, but not for me

 

Come on dude, I know you know how to search.

Anyways, yes, you COULD just put some springs on the car. First off, I don't know if Tanabe makes standalone lowering springs for the G37. There are three main ways to lower your car. The cheapest is to put springs on the car that are shorter, and stiffer than the OEM equipment. This means the lower you drop, the harsher the ride, as they need to increase the spring rate to prevent you from bottoming out. Springs will decrease the life of your struts, as the struts will be in compression more and the damping will have to be harder. It won't immediately cause them to blow out, though. At any rate, if you blow out your struts, you can always switch to aftermarket koni yellows or something similar. Major spring manufacturers would be swift, H&R, eibach, and tein.

Coilovers provide many forms of adjustability that are not possible with springs. A coilover replaces the spring AND the strut. The coilover body provides adjustable damping, as well as adjustable ride height. This means you can tighten up your car's suspension for track use (full stiff), then soften it for the ride home from the track (less damping). Coilovers are more expensive, but allow you full adjustability. This is what I have.

The third method for lowering your car would be an air suspension. This is the method I'm least familiar with, basically, you replace your springs with inflatable bladders, then run air lines from a compressor/air tank to the bladders. You can increase, or decrease your ride height at will, but the damping is tied to the relative compression ability of air at a particular pressure. **I recently learned that you CAN adjust the dampening. This doesn't really surprise me, you still use struts, after all. So yes, you can adjust height AND dampening with an air suspension.

Any of the methods above will lower the car. The important thing here is how to lower the car without damaging other equipment. When you lower the car, a natural byproduct of the lowering process alters your wheel and tire angles relative to the ground. This is camber and toe. Lowering the car typically increases the amount of negative camber, meaning the part of the tire that meets the road is farther away from the car than the top of the tire is. This can cause wear along a specific patch of the tire and will reduce tire life. Toe is how much the driver/passenger tire on front or rear angles in towards each other (negative toe), or away from each other (positive toe).

The car comes from the factory with a small amount of negative toe (good for keeping the car straight), and a small amount of negative camber (good for cornering). Increasing this causes excessive tire wear. You can lower your car, which increases the negative camber, and bring it back into spec by installing a camber kit. A camber kit is an aftermarket A arm (front), or camber arm (rear), that allows more adjustability than the OEM equipment. There's no hard and fast rule for determining exactly whether or not you will need a camber kit. Since I run premium tires, I don't want to be buying new sets all the time.

Tentatively, if you drop your car more than an inch, you will probably need a camber kit. The front of the car has absolutely no provision for adjusting camber from the factory, the rear of the car has SOME camber adjustability, but this is typically maxed out when you drop it beyond 1".


There you go, now you're an expert. Please use the search feature next time.

 

Wow!!

Thank you! That was much more then I was expecting and really appreciate you taking the time. I think I was searching for the wrong keywords...I don't know, but I think this is prob the best explanation I could ask for.

Thank you again, I will search better next time

 

Hit the "THANKS" button. Thanks!

 

Lol, I will they don't have it on the mobile version which is how I mostly look at this site

 

Anthony strikes again
Another "paste-worthy" reply sir, you need to save all these gems in a special place for quick replies next time. Maybe we can just set up a sub folder of GoFightNguyens' superbly detailed explanations

 

Aw, shucks.

 

Click the post header, then click thanks. Boom, two explanations, one thread.

 

You sir...are a gentleman & a scholar!

 

Why is it that everyone that asks about lowering springs asks if you need spacers? What am I missing here?

 

As you lower, the wheels tuck into the fender a bit more, but probably the main reason IMO would be now that you're going to be dropped you might as well be flush too

 

From my understanding, Tanabe springs don't drop the car very even. This is why you see people creating spring combinations. If your friend has the same drivetrain as you (AWD or RWD), then it will be easy for you to decide, if not, do some research. Lowering springs by the same manufacturer will drop these cars differently, for example, look at the Swift springs for the sedan. The AWD and RWD cars drop differently. The worst thing you could possibly do is lower your car and hate how it looks and how it rides.

 

You can if u want a sh1tty ride and waste tires. Springs nearly always require a camber kit all around. I got eibachs sitting in the gayrage because I'm too cheap to buy the camber kit. I should have bought a tuner friendly car!!!

 

The G is pretty tuner friendly, it just costs an arm and a leg. To be honest, the RWD G coupe has a pretty healthy aftermarket selection.

Jack, did your sig previously say should've bought a 335? Now Gen Coupe? All over the map, regretting cars you bought and didn't buy, lol.

 

My buddy totaled his G taking an off ramp too fast. But he got Tanabe springs in just the front

From everything I'm reading, I think I will just wait until I can afford KW V3, unless others have a suggestion. I don't really car about the look as much as I do the handling. Don't get me wrong, I do care about how it looks, just not as much as the handling aspect and the ride comfort.