I was thinking about getting the TRD springs to remove the huge gap in the wheel well. But there's a problem with that: I live in San Francisco - notorious for big and steep hills, small sidewalks, huge potholes, and steep driveways. I've scraped and bottomed-out a few times here on STOCK springs!!! Yes, I'm careful, but sometimes you can't avoid it around here. In addition, I live on a street that has pretty large speed bumps. For these reasons, it's not the best thing for me to lower the ground clearance of my tC. But I still want to get rid of that gap...

Browsing around here, someone suggested getting bigger rims instead. Interesting.

1. What size rims would I need to fill that gap? 19-inches?
2. Would the ground clearance still be the same?
3. Would a combination of springs and bigger rims reduce the gap withough lowering the ground clearance (i.e 18-inch + TRD springs)?
4. At what point does rubbing become an issue?

TIA for your help fellas.

 

i drive around sf all the time... i have tein stechs and trd shocks... as well as a kit, on 17" rims. you just gotta be careful and hit steep driveways, hills, etc. at sharp angles. you should be fine with TRD springs.

also, about the bigger rims... if you get bigger rims without dropping your car you overall ground clearance will increase alot... it will look like your car is offroading. i think if you got TRD springs with some 18" rims that youd be okay, the ride height will be close to stock.

 

1. You will fill most the gap with 18" rims on TRD springs. Keep in mind, however, that increasing the rim size, generally decreases the recommended tire profile. Going with 19" will warrant a smaller profile tire (30) to keep the Revs per mile and speedometer settings approximate.
2. Nope. the ground clearance is mostly determined by the spring size / coilover setting.
3. Nope. see #2.
4. Not sure, I think rubbing becomes an issue when you drop your car maybe 3" or more.

I would recommend coilovers so that way you have the flexibility to adjust your ride height higher or lower depending on your comfort level.

You should check out this web page to get better comparisons on tire sizes.
http://1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

Hope this helps.

AROQ

 

rubbing becomes an issue becuase of how low the drop is along with choice of tire width and rim offset.