[8250_RPM]

Hey all,

I had every intention of installing the KW HAS kit but find myself not able to take the plunge. As is, here in suburban Houston, I find myself scraping just slightly here and there, mostly at some egresses/ingresses where I don’t have a way to enter at an angle but more straight on. Even with short speed bumps, I have to take it very slowly as the susupension will bounce enough to smack the bottom of the car if not. I really just want to eliminate the front fender gap a bit, no tucking, but am certain that it will cost me my front splitter sooner than later. At stock riding height, I already choose alternate routes so as to avoid possible damage. A front axle lift would be nice (and KW has no plans to offer if for this platform) but seeing as that’s not a viable option at least for a while, I’m accepting the gap (not a major deal ultimately). For those of you who daily yours and have them lowered, are you just dealing with daily scraping? Have you destroyed your front splitters? If so, is it even worth it in retrospect? Thanks.

[farfugnugen]

I’ve got MSS HAS installed and feel your pain. Have to be careful with driveway inclines or uneven surfaces.l here in Florida. Few scrapes here and there but the undercarriage doesn’t look too bad. Price to pay to close up that wheel gap!

[JDUNITNOW]

I have MSS springs also and did not lower at the maximum height. I also have m performance front lip and only scaped a couple of times. Now there a piece under car that will scrape over speed bumps occasionally but that doesn't bother me. Once my car settled, I adjusted them back so I wouldn't have issues. Do the front eibach springs only with just a 20mm drop.

[DO444]

Originally Posted by M3G80Jake

I’m really not giving me much of an answer here, but I live in New York, and the roads over here a terrible. I recently just picked up my car and bought KW HAS springs. Going low comes with its sacrifices, but aesthetically looks amazing and drives better!

So basically, yes he scrapes the hell out of his car and is resigned to whatever damage the road deals lol.

This is exactly what’s kept me from doing anything yet. Admittedly I’ve only had the car a few weeks, but I’ve already almost hit the order button quite a few times… problem is, I like to go fast.

I don’t want my 3M tape in the middle splitter to come apart from repeated 120mph winds, dings and scrapes.

Stock, I also have to be careful as I already bottom out in certain locations I cannot avoid, like the country club.

I’m not going to not take the m3 when I want to play golf… but that’s exactly what I’d have to do since the club in it’s infinite wisdom has made canals in the road every 200 odd feet or so which I already have to drive over at an angle or at 1mph.

I presume they didn’t design the roads with cars in mind, but rather for the benefit of the homeowners and others, understandable but still a bit annoying.

In the end I may not do the cool mods.

[yousefnjr]

I was in the same boat for a very long time OP. I bought the KW kit and it sat on my work bench for over a year while I went back and forth over it same as you. I’ve now had it lowered for 3 or 4 weeks and have been pleasantly surprised so far. The roads here in SF Bay Area are not great, and my driveway is a real son of a b. I have a modest drop on the car, maybe 2 finger gap. Not slammed. I put on some Slip Lo under my front splitter, and I think I’ve grazed that a couple times with no damage. Car is still in great shape.

Have not noticed any difference in ride quality at all thankfully. I drive in comfort suspension 100% of the time, and if I didn’t know the KW was installed, I wouldn’t be able to tell by feel. What I do notice (apart from the look) is that I can’t fit my low-pro jack under the front of the car anymore without first lifting one of the sides a little. Minor pain in the ass. Other than that, all is well.

[MichaelB1969]

Originally Posted by 8250_RPM

Hey all,

I had every intention of installing the KW HAS kit but find myself not able to take the plunge. As is, here in suburban Houston, I find myself scraping just slightly here and there, mostly at some egresses/ingresses where I don’t have a way to enter at an angle but more straight on. Even with short speed bumps, I have to take it very slowly as the susupension will bounce enough to smack the bottom of the car if not. I really just want to eliminate the front fender gap a bit, no tucking, but am certain that it will cost me my front splitter sooner than later. At stock riding height, I already choose alternate routes so as to avoid possible damage. A front axle lift would be nice (and KW has no plans to offer if for this platform) but seeing as that’s not a viable option at least for a while, I’m accepting the gap (not a major deal ultimately). For those of you who daily yours and have them lowered, are you just dealing with daily scraping? Have you destroyed your front splitters? If so, is it even worth it in retrospect? Thanks.

This is exactly why I will very likely not lower mine. Cringing every time I went over something that I might not clear in my 911 got old very quickly. I'll take a bit more gap and a lot less stress!

BTW, just got back from London and all I can think of after reading this post is "mind the gap".

[kiw1]

I'm in the same boat, but it's mostly because of my steep driveway. I was hopeful KW would come up with HLS for the front axel but they confirmed because of how the car is designed it was never coming.

It's a shame the M3 doesn't come with hydraulic suspension but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Bags are an option but it's expensive.

[DoubleDave]

Originally Posted by 8250_RPM

Hey all,

I had every intention of installing the KW HAS kit but find myself not able to take the plunge. As is, here in suburban Houston, I find myself scraping just slightly here and there, mostly at some egresses/ingresses where I don’t have a way to enter at an angle but more straight on. Even with short speed bumps, I have to take it very slowly as the susupension will bounce enough to smack the bottom of the car if not. I really just want to eliminate the front fender gap a bit, no tucking, but am certain that it will cost me my front splitter sooner than later. At stock riding height, I already choose alternate routes so as to avoid possible damage. A front axle lift would be nice (and KW has no plans to offer if for this platform) but seeing as that’s not a viable option at least for a while, I’m accepting the gap (not a major deal ultimately). For those of you who daily yours and have them lowered, are you just dealing with daily scraping? Have you destroyed your front splitters? If so, is it even worth it in retrospect? Thanks.

I had my car on AST springs for a while and took a road trip to Houston while I still lived in San Antonio. I don’t know how anyone in that town drives a lowered performance car. Those roads are brutal, I scraped the plastic air deflectors under the car everywhere.

I pulled out the AST springs…I hated them…and went to front only Eibach springs. It gave me a lowering stance that is noticeable but functional. I had very few instances where I would scrape the air deflectors and so far I haven’t scraped at all in the Seattle area.

[8250_RPM]

I generally avoid the Houston area as much as possible. The roads are terrible and gives me acute anxiety when driving either of my cars. They’re that bad. I once saw an older lady who was flying in her C7 and I was just waiting on the bottom to drop out. The road conditions didn’t seem to give her any pause. I guess she’s used to it.

As of now, I’m probably 70/30 in favor of leaving the setup be. Mostly, it doesn’t bother me. The offset was more annoying and I’ve fixed that.

The car handles pretty well but surprised how bouncy it can be at the same time.

[8250_RPM]

Great feedback so far by the way…really appreciate you guys chiming in.

[Psychos1s]

I lowered my F80 with the KW HAS and immediately regretted it. I actually had the shop raise it an inch a few months later to give me more clearance. It gave me too much anxiety and found myself not enjoying driving it since I had to tiptoe around everywhere I went. Plan my route ahead of time. I even would use Google Map's streetview to look at driveways ahead of time, e.g. taking my wife to her hair salon that I hadn't been to before. Right before I sold it I did remove the carbon fiber front lip and that did help quite a bit. The real key is front clearance. I only had 2.5" of clearance with the CF lip and then had 3.5" without it. In comparison the stock G80 with the OEM lip has 6.25" of clearance. My R8 with no wheel gap has 7-8" of clearance in the front because it goes up. Image below of a random R8 for a visual. I wish BMW would do something like this.

I've decided to embrace the stock height and enjoy it. I've owned my car for a little over 6mo and have yet to scrape. Bigger speedbumps or crazy store entrances, I do take it at an angle but otherwise I feel completely free. No anxiety whatsoever!

I do feel that the G80 with 19's in front and bigger tire sidewall does help me ignore the front gap more. Having low profile tires and the gap on my F80 just compounded the problem.

[JeetG80x]

As much as I would love to, I will not lower mine. Montreal has one of the worst roads out there. Sacrifice the stance for the better good.

[Tethys]

I lowered my M8 Comp, I will not lower this car after having that one lowered.

[Indo Rider]

No lowering for me either. Looks good, but not worth the headaches mentioned. Plus, fitting wide sticky tires is way higher of a priority for me, so I'm not going to do anything that works against that

[Zamorskii]

I find stock hight perfectly attractive and don’t mind the gap at all.

[nearwater4me]

Mine is lowered on MSS HAS v2 at the lowest setting on the front.
I haven't had much trouble driving with it on GA roads, but going over the speed bumps I scrape the $hit out of my AT mud flaps.
No issues with body panels/underbodies scraping. (No OEM or aftermarket front lip on mine)

[Vishal50028]

H&R sports here. No major issues unless you have a crazy driveway curb (my sisters house) or big speed bumps. If this was a daily driver, I may not have lowered it.

[cubanbimmer3]

So if you guys are going to only go with one or the other, lowering vs front lip, which one are you going with?

My G83 has neither, and it has been great not having to worry much about it. My G80 coming in is having MP HAS installed at the port. I was planning on adding a front lip in the future, depending on how much anxiety the lowering was giving me on a daily basis, but based on this thread, it’s seeming like maybe one or the other is the better option (given that this will be my daily).

[Chad11491]

I lowered on the Eibach front springs for the G80 and I'm happy as is. It closed up the wheel gaps to make them even, and with spacers it looks good to my eyes.

I couldn't really go any lower due to the angle of my driveway, and it prevented me from running a front lip, which I wanted to do, but I'll probably run the Alpha N front corners to square off the front end. The plus side is I don't scrape anywhere, on anything, it rides and drives like stock, and it got rid of the 3.5 finger gap in the front.

[Nate.G82]

I haven't and probably won't lower mine. I got used to the gap and at the very least I don't have to worry too much about bumps and some driveways here. Just isn't worth the sweat for appearance. She still breaks necks with the gap.

[8250_RPM]

Originally Posted by cubanbimmer3

So if you guys are going to only go with one or the other, lowering vs front lip, which one are you going with?

My G83 has neither, and it has been great not having to worry much about it. My G80 coming in is having MP HAS installed at the port. I was planning on adding a front lip in the future, depending on how much anxiety the lowering was giving me on a daily basis, but based on this thread, it’s seeming like maybe one or the other is the better option (given that this will be my daily).

I added a lip right after wheel spacers and it immediately made the front end look, to my eyes, complete. The lip is the ultimate reason I’ve held off from lowering. It compliments the front so well.

[Nate.G82]

Originally Posted by 8250_RPM

I added a lip right after wheel spacers and it immediately made the front end look, to my eyes, complete. The lip is the ultimate reason I’ve held off from lowering. It compliments the front so well.

What lip did you get? I've been looking into getting one for mine.