Actually, the engineers do not lower the cars mainly due to clearance issues--can't have the general public scraping all over the place. A car with a lower center of gravity will usually handle better, all other things being equal. With that said, lower it with Tanabes or RSR downs. You won't have any issues if you roll on your stock wheels. I am on Tanabes and I drove for about 6 months on stock wheels and had no issues whatsoever (no rubbing). The car handled better but not mind-blowing better (compared to coilovers). Tanabe's spring rate are practically identical to stock springs so the ride is very similar. If you go one size up, just make sure you do your research on offsets and tire sizes. When I changed my front wheels to 20x9 with +39 offset and tire size 245/35/20, I got a slight rub in the front if I hit a dip in the road too fast (over 40mph)--No rubbing on speed bumps, full lock turns, or ramps. You may get the occasional scraping of your bumper if you enter a steep ramp that is preceded with a dip...but this is the life of a lowered car. I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

very nice! Atomic Silver is my favorite color, stands out alot and changes in appearance depending on the lighting

 

Hey, thanks a lot for this detailed input here!

I was contemplating going up a tire size on stock wheels, and also the Tanabe springs.. seems like this combo could possibly cause some bottoming out rubbing from time to time. Would this be on the inner or outer tire? Just curious if this could be corrected with spacers, or if custom offset wheels are needed.

I know going with 20's though you would have a slightly larger tire diameter than on a 19, so it wouldnt be an identical setup to what I am considering, but darn close. You never ran a larger tire on your stock wheels with the Tanabes by chance did you?

From your experience though, I may stick with stock tires if I add springs. Or maybe better yet keep the stock springs and just upgrade the tire size down the road. That would fill in the fender gap a bit and likley improve the ride and handling at the same time without worry of rubs!

Thanks again for sharing

 

Thanks my friend, this is my favorite color too (obviously)!!

Lexus throws larger metallic flakes in one coat, then finer metallic in another coat, so it reflects the light differently on a sunny day vs cloudy days or night time!!

They really put a lot into these paints, and the end result shows!

 

Spacers would actually move your tires outward giving you a more negative offset. Say your offset is +45 and you add a 5mm spacer. Your new offset would be +40, moving your wheel and tire closer to the fender. If you keep your offset and rolling diameter (wheels+tire) similar to stock, you will have no problems with rubbing. If you want to retain stock ride quality, I would stick to Tanabe and stock wheels. The biggest difference in ride quality came from changing to 20 inch wheels and lower profile tires to keep rolling diameter similar to stock, (and not from the springs).

Spacers would push your wheels out to the fenders giving you a better and more flush look if you choose to just lower with stock wheels. There's a thread on spacers. I don't know the measurements for front and back.