I have a 2011 G37X sedan. I have never lowered any of my cars and am new to the idea and process. I have simple questions like...

How much should you lower your sedan without impacting handling?
What are your options for lowering the suspension?
Is it an expert, novice, moderate modification?
Can you lower the suspension that is on the car now or should you buy aftermarket?

I am new to this and would like to learn. Thanks!

 

I'm by no means an expert at this but I can only tell you what I know from my own experience/car.

How much should you lower your sedan without impacting handling? MY 2013 G37S sedan was lowered with Eibach Pro Springs...dropped about 1.25" in front and 1.75" in back as we cut the spring mount rubber 1/2"....after a professional alignment I have noticed no negative impact to how my car handles, rides...I'm quite happy as I got the look I wanted without sacrificing ride quality.

What are your options for lowering the suspension? I went with springs but coilovers are a great way to go...as you can dial in your rides suspension height as well as ride quality on some of the more expensive setups...generally, coilovers will improve handling but might sacrifice a little ride quality for the street and give you a harsher ride.

Is it an expert, novice, moderate modification? I'd say this is a moderate to expert modification...certainly need the right tools and a professional spring compressor comes in handy if changing your springs.

Can you lower the suspension that is on the car now or should you buy aftermarket? Other than cutting the rear spring mount...a rubber cone that the spring sits on (top side)...you can get 1/2" out of this...you have to either buy springs or coil overs.

Hope that helps.

Michael

 

I have an X as well. For our cars I would not try to lower the stock suspension. You're going to have three choices I suppose, lowering springs, coilovers or air bags. I went with swift springs first, I think they actually provide the perfect stance on the X's. Since I wanted a stiffer rife I went to coilovers after that which also,allowed me to go much lower. Too low actually and I scraped all over the place, adjusted them up and am in better shape now.

With a spring compressor it's not a bad job. I'm a bit lazy so I didn't do it myself though I would agree with the moderate to expert assessment posted above.

 

I'd say moderate, on par with changing rotors and pads. Rears are ridiculously easy.

Fronts are more work, but it's mostly taking parts off and putting them back on.

Another option is DIY the rears, remove the fronts and have a shop compress and remove the springs and reassemble the shocks with your springs. I did this on another car several years back and the shop charged me $50.

I only needed to compress the springs to remove them. The new springs were short enough to not need compressed when reassembling.

 

Toughest part of the install is elongating the toe slot for the toe kit and removing the lower front strut (coilover) nut. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

 

Then read and research. There's no better way to do it. Spoonfed answers have no nuance, and give you no sense of accomplishment. They also don't facilitate any camaraderie, if that matters. At best, take them as a jump-off point into deeper research.

That said... Here's some advice:

If you lower your car, the OEM wheels will look silly tucked so deeply into the wheelwell. Given that situation, you'll be looking for new rims, or wheel spacers.

 

Do you have to use a camber kit or will you be ok with out it

 

^ depends on how low you want to go. drops up to the eibach prokit (-1.5"F/-1.2"R) is usually able to get back within spec after an alignment. this was also the case for my setup. anything lower will almost certainly need a camber kit to get back close to spec.