I bought BC Racing coilovers for my IS250 AWD, but I really don't know a whole lot about anything aside from that I want to lower my car.

Here's my car now (pre-tint, but that's irrelevant):


And here's a general idea of my ideal drop for it (stolen from somebody else on the forums):



I don't want to drop it to the ground or hide the wheels at all or anything like that, but I'd like to eliminate the gap. How much would you say I should drop it by? And what exactly is the dampening & how does that work? Anything else I need to know before having them installed?

Thanks. Noob questions, I know.

 

When you first adjust height, get it about a 1/4 inch above where you will want it, as the springs will settle a little bit.

The damping adjustment, put simply, will affect how soft or firm the ride will be. Daily driving is better towards the soft end, for more spirited driving, go more stiff.

After getting them installed make sure everything is tight, your preload on the springs is correct and then just get an alignment. Make sure you use a shop who is familiar with coilovers and suspension installs if you go that route.

 

That's good advice, I'll keep that in mind. For the dampening, I figure I'll put it a bit towards the soft end, but how easy is it to adjust once installed? I don't really know what I'm doing & I don't want to waste too much money having to keep taking it into a shop until I get it perfect...

 

remove wheels take adjustment tools... and it's a 15 min job each wheel to adjust the height...

 

well since i was the 1st to get these bad boyz i just wanna say set your damp to to 5front and 3 rear but you can play with the damps if you want but do that before you put your trunk pannels back together. also for the drop on 19's i would go 25 inch from the ground to the top of your fender front and 25 1/2 rear i leave the half cause of people sitting in the back seat. hope that helps and here a piic of my drop

 

laobo979,

For your front 5 and rear 3, are these settings on the soft side? What is the range, 1 - 10? Thanks.

 

yeah they are the soft side if you go up then it get a bit stiffer. the range are 1 being the softest to 32 being hardest

 

how long does it usually take for the springs to settle?

 

Depends on driving conditions and how hard you drive it. Usually about 2 weeks to fully settle.

 

^^^^ He is on it!

 

wow!? this soft and no rubbing?...what is your spring rate?...still don't know why im not lower than your, stiffer than your, and my fender liner has a hole already due to my rubbing.

 

The lower you are usually the stiffer you need to make it to avoid too much wheel movement into the fender.

It all depends on a lot of variables; wheel and tire size and weight, ride height, road conditions, spring rate, damping...etc. It all comes down to personal trial and error and preferences

 

Dont know what the spring rate are on my as they were the prototype one. I dont know what to say love67 i really dont rub and i look all the time underneath my fender and no marks and no hole.