RKSTRAT

Seems very low to me.

Need to be very careful of parking blocks.

Also slightly inclined driveways can cause
major damage.

I have only had one incident……but it was very
expensive.

I feel that the car is very delicate in this respect.

Amazing how you guys can drive a modded lowered car under
daily conditions. The stock clearance makes me very nervous.

swaangin

Funny you mention parking blocks because on stock ride height, my bumper took a nasty pull from the bottom because of the heavy duty screws from the parking blocks, put a small dent in it (not visible unless you look under the car).

I have lowered the car on RSR springs, when I park near parking blocks, I make sure to just keep my distance (never happened again) and for driveways, you have to angle the car and go slow. I haven't had an issue in a long time and I'm from NJ. The RSR down drops the car an inch, close to stock but eliminates most of the wheel gap. You get used to it

RKSTRAT

Thanks. I posted today because I found myself
a few inches from a parking block. It was a close
one. But when I park too far from the blocks,
it looks like I don’t know how to park. Most times
I need to get out and take a look, just to be extra
careful.

swaangin

Yeah definitely, but I also noticed on the front end of the IS, it's very flat. I've had my bumper get stuck on sidewalks or flatter concrete surfaces and it will just scratch the bottom front end but the bumper itself won't be damaged-- you'll notice all IS's have damage under the front bumper, that's unavoidable as most sports sedan would too. Don't worry about it too much

The parking block with the screw sticking out really messed up my bumper the most but I never replaced it, still looks fine

whoismiked

You could do what I did and install a front lower bumper fisheye camera combined with Beatsonic front / rear interface which gives you a button on your dash button panel that allows you to click a button and turn on the front camera (or rear) anytime you want. It has saved my bumper countless times and I can pull right up within mm's of parking blocks with ease

https://www.beatsonicusa.com/cameras/cs5ep.html

ShrinkDoc

Another option (2014 FSPORT AWD) is to get larger diameter tires. I run 255/45/18 rears and 225/50/18 fronts. It fills the wheel well and raises the car by 1.5-1.75 inches. Since changing size, the issue of running into objects has been eliminated. The car ride is smoother, no actual change in mpg, slight change in speedometer, no rubbing.

E46CT

The IS has very short overhangs, particularly in the front. So being low isn't that big of a deal, providing your low is reasonable. My personal tolerance is Lexus F Sport or Tein HTech (RSR half down) or equivalent. Any lower and to me it's kid / scrape city.