Body kits and ground clearance
 

I dont know if this has been asked, couldnt find with a search.

I know that a MS bumper has a lower lip than the stock bumper and is easier to get hung up on curbs, but what about the side skirts?

I was just curious if the skirts have a lower clearance than the cars under body? The door sills are rounded towards the underside of the car, and I would like to know if the MS side skirts simply square off that edge or does it actually protrude lower than the frame rails? I cant lower my car or have anything lower than stock or it would not be able to get in and out of my driveway.
Was a nightmare when I first bought it because I was so worried about bottoming out. There is about 1.5" inches of clearance at the crest of my driveway *cough*!

If your worried about damaging the body kit because of your driveway issues, then do not install it...its that simple. Anyway, if you leave your rx8 in stock height with the MS body kit installed, then it won't really scrape that much, unless if its lowered.

And miss out on all the fun ;)

I got stuck in a parking lot today....the "in" speed bump was ok...but the "out" one was a no go :) Had to back out the in driveway with a lot of irate soccer moms trying to come in ;)

even at stock height, aftermarket front lips in general are lower or extend forward where car angle on approach must be considered. my car is low, I get in trouble personally coming down a slight incline, to an abrupt level surface. the cars lip and side skirt distance to ground shrinks to nothing. my local walmart lot exit angle is an exampe. its impossible.

selective driving habits are always in play, at least for me that is.

good luck on your selection.

at stock height, the mazdaspeed front bumper is 131mm above the ground. my girlfriend has a SUPER steep driveway and i scraped my lip trying to go up it, so i park on the street from now on.

Its not ideal, but you could make a ramp that extends the driveway out to the street.

or when you redo your driveway down the road make it less of an incline, or make it like those driveways in cali where in pictures they look like they are at 175 degrees :)

Wow so at stock height it is just barely lower than the stock bumper. I just went and checked mine and I would say it is about 6" from the ground at the lowest point on the front. So nobody has to go convert, 131mm would be about 5.16 inches.

I have actually scraped my front at one casinos parking garage because I came at it to fast(5-10 mph lol, not 'fast'). So now I have to stop right at the incline and slowly go up that part there, and I am not lowered one bit.

http://cfupload.stevesdomain.net/images/dc5114af05.jpg
http://cfupload.stevesdomain.net/images/23a243e010.jpg

The worst is when the street is flat, driveway goes from a slight incline to a steep decline. That's when your sideskirts start making bad sounds.

yeah I hear what you all are saying. I am renting however, so its not my driveway to fix!
I have enough clearance to crest the bump at the top at stock ride height, but if I stop over the crest, I can open the door and put my finger under the car. Its less than 1.5".

I think you guys know what I was talking about, but just to explain it one more time - stock car has no side skirts, instead, just has a rounded edge that curves towards the underside of the car, at which point it sticks out about 1/2" directly down where the painted panel meets the underbody. My question was if a side skirt actually is lower than that frame line, or if it just squares off that rounded edge? That frame line is where many car hoists would raise the car to do tire or suspension work so it wouldnt make sense to me to have the skirts lower than that point?

I think more or less you guys have already answered this but I just wanted to clarify in case anyone misunderstood!

Thanks for the responses!

My brother used to have a slightly lowered G37S that would high center itself on the crest of my driveway. I was so nervous bringing the car home for the first time!!

:biggthump

Like i said before, id use some kind of ramp that you keep in your trunk, or stash somewhere close to your driveway. Im unsure about the sideskirt height but the front is 131mm, i think the sideskirt squares out the car so you are going to scrape.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg39/...jpg&res=medium

I have to go up my Drive and speed bumps side ways. other than that it's a ok. It scapes over slight in climbs but i always try to avoid them. by parking/going somewhere else.