Keep it simple. A set of wheels with a lowered ride height is enough to radically transform the aesthetics of a car. When executed properly, little else is required. The key importance here is the fitment.
By fitment, I’m not talking about slamming a car with wheels that poke out. Nor am I talking about sunken wheels with large wheel gaps. It’s the balanced medium that only the wise pursue.
I was eager to see how the Work XD9‘s would look on the car, however, my preliminary guestimate of the coilover heights were off. I will admit to finding the task of dialing in the ride height laborious and tedious. Unfortunately, there is no way around it. Accept what needs to be done and get busy. I had to jack up the car and take the wheels on and off over a dozen times before all 4 corners were properly set.
In the beginning, this is what the fronts looked like when the car was first placed back down on the ground.
WAY TOO LOW. I don’t see how anyone could prefer that kind of ride height. All the kids nowadays are engaged in a competition to see who can have the lowest and most unusable car. I can state this with certainty: sooner or later, every one of these people will grow up and move past their ways. It is perfectly excusable to go for this style if you’re in your teens or early 20’s. Just have fun but remember not to try too hard…
Anyway, I was eventually able to complete all the grunt work and the car was sitting at my approved height – a touch under 25″ floor-to-fender all around. I probably raised the fronts up a good inch to inch and a half from its initial setup before I was content. The rears sit under 25″ when there is a full tank of gas (I forgot how big the tank was, it ate up nearly $70 worth of gas to fill).
Much better. Purposeful function begets true beauty. I only drove the car around town briefly, but so far, there has been no issues with rubbing. I can roll over railroad tracks with ease, and I don’t have to block traffic to slow down for them. Best of all, I can drive the car as it was designed to be driven. It is blasphemous to “stance” out a sports car like the RX-7 and render it into a handicapped poser-mobile. I’m going to hold my tongue on the social commentary, as I can go on and on about this topic. I’ll save it for another post :-)
The XD9’s are 18×10″ all around with +18 offset in the rear and +38 in the front. The tires are Federal RS-R’s in 255/35/18. This is my ideal fitment.
holy fuck. good shit eric.. your car is fucking beautifulllllll. i hope you drive that thing hard ;)
I don’t plan on beefing it everywhere, but I do want to take it out for a mad half-hour every now and then ;-)
I have not been to your site in a very long long time. This is the first time back and I am pleasantly surprised that you got back into an FD. Loving the progress that I have seen you make on the car already. Ken also finally has pictures of my red supra with Shine products on it so he can use them. I’ll be keepin my eyes on this car as i expect good things from it. You seem to always do things the right way and I admire that in your builds.
Thanks Brian! You came back in good timing as this project is just apexing from months of prior work.
How has your Supra been? I am eager to see where the “HWY DMN” is today ;-) Maybe I can catch you in person one of these days.
Things wih the supra are going great. I was on my way to the bodyshop to get my new shine parts put on when I got T-boned. While I was waiting for the repair work to be done, my wife decided to surprise me with a full repaint and shaving my rear wiper, antenna, spoiler holes etc. as a wedding gift. I have yet to change things since, but that’s because I need a job and we are recovering from moving and our wedding. I would be so down to meet up some time to check out your ride and talk cars.
Sorry to hear about your accident, but at least you got something good out of it. A full repaint is no small thing, that’s for sure.
Do you know if there’s a car event or anything coming up?
Nice build! Did you have any trouble fitting those wheels with that offset? From the pics it doesnt seem the fenders were rolled/pulled.
The fenders were all rolled completely flat with 0 pull. This was done at the body shop prior to repainting with a hammer, not a roller.
Hi Eric,
Very nice fitment, done proper I say.
Couple questions; how high is the car from the ground at the cars lowest point (excluding the exhaust)
What height are your adjustable shocks set to?
Do any of the tires rub on any part of the car? so like…. front tyres when fully locked to one side….they dont rub on the inside of the fender by the window washer container/radiator over flow bottle or the likes?
And with the rear….they don’t rub on the top of the fender or anything?
Loving the look of your car and want similar fitment just don’t want any hassles with rubbing of any kind.