First of all i just wanna say that i m a proud 2IS owner/ CL member (it has nuthin to do w/ this thread, just wanna get it out )

ne way, i been thinkin about lowerin my IS for quite some time now, but i will b moving to NY in 6 months. i know NY is not the greatest place for driving (bad road condition, mad snow in winter, etc)...so should i do it or no???
i really wanna get rid of the 4x4 look but at the same time i would hate to see my baby get hurt

any suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated!!!
thx yall, peace!!

 

oops, i meant "NY or SURROUNDING areas"

 

Thats funny I am from So Cal as well but I have been in NY for a few months. The roads are hit or miss not as nice as CA since thats the only transportation we have. Good portion of streets have pot holes I would be careful on lowering plus winter .. Not so much

 

if you're gonna lower it, try as conservative a drop as possible if that makes any sense. Some potholes are pretty bad, and theres always construction so a lot of debris on the road. I wanted to drop my car too, but after experiencing one winter with the IS already i'm having doubts about lowering. It's really all up to you, because it is your car.

 

As much as i would love to tell you yes i definatly say no. If you plan on living in mabey long island or somethign and nevr come around my neck of the woods then you can get away with it. I could never bring myself to lower any of my cars i have rims to worry about on my tl i went threw 6 stock cracked rims. My is i had 3 cracked nyc has the worst roads.

 

lowering ur car doesnt make that much of a difference with potholes. your wheels are more at risk. i have hit several potholes with the stock wheels (17"/45 series tires) and have had ZERO problems. granted, i am lowered only about 1" all around, but you get my drift. so if ur on stock wheels go for it. it looks 1000x times better.

 

you will bottom out on some driveways in queens and LI if you lower it too much. based on your signature pic, i'm pretty sure your INGs front lip will take a beating regardless whether its lowered, or not.

 

That was one of my concern about lowering, after driving for awhile, that's a HELL + NO. NYC is horrible for your IS if you lowered. Potholes all over the place no matter where you go... even expressways have them...

 

My IS is dropped and I don't really have any problems. Sometimes you have to be careful when you pull in and out of some driveways and parking lots but it's the same in a lot of other states, other than that you won't really have problems. You mighe want to be careful with your rims because I bent one of my rims from my Benz before and one from my IS350. All of my cars were lowered and I never had problems. The snow in the city gets plowed off the roads pretty fast and we only have a few days with a lot of snow in the winter. I drove a corvette, m3 and camaros in the winter with summer tires and that were lowered and it wasn't that bad. You will get used to it.

 

i have eibachs and 20's in NY and its really not that bad.

 

Just amp up your PSI levels (I'm at 41 on 19.8.5/9.5) and you'll be fine. After a week of driving the same roads you'll remember the potholes and know to avoid them. The highways are improving dramatically so it is getting better.

 

Wow your moving here from Fullerton? Im moving out of NYC back into Brea right next to fullerton. I hate these roads. It's so stupid driving on these metal slabs. If you drive to JFK or Laguardia to pick up anyone visiting from Cali make sure you don't take 278 no matter what the costs. You can't come from Cali and expect the roads to be "not so bad" sure it's not so bad for us New Yorkers because we've seen worse, but after living in Cali myself i know for a fact its TERRIBLE here. There isn't a single piece of land in Cali that has half the damage over here. Just my 2. Cents.

 

My IS250 AWD with stock suspension was sometimes too low for the pot holes, and some unexpected bumps that I already scrapped my front bumper pretty bad. So, I wouldn't lower my IS in NJ/NY area, but if you think you can stay away from pot holes, and those deadly paved roads, it's up to you.