I hate em! I hate em! I have always hated them but now that my car is lowered on H-sprot springs I hate them even more. On my way to work there are 3 large speed humps (bigger then the bumps) and I have to slow to 10mph to go over them without hitting the front end.

So my question...is there so other way to go over them? I cannot take another route into work to avoid them. I don't mind the bumps 100% but the people behind me get pissed when I crawl over them. They don't seem to notice my car riding low

 

Take it at an angle.

Pull up to it slowly, and turn your wheel to the left, making your right front wheel the only one to go over it, then your left will follow... while you're bringing the left over, cut to the wheel to the right and finish going over it.

It's hard to explain, but i rode in a lowered miata for 3 years, and he was a pro at speed bumps. You can figure out your own technique, just try angles, not going straight over it.

Wow, did that help at all? I'm just going to assume you were taking it straight on... and i know from experience, that brings on some big scrapes. And people WILL get pissed at you, because they know they can blast right over them. Don't worry about them, they're not fitting the bill for your car being damaged from a stupid speed bump

 

I'll have to try this angle thing in traffic

 

oh, jeez. look what you've done now, samantha.

 

hahah i have the same problem getting to college. Not only do i have H&R springs (1.2 drop) i also have much shorter tires on my 15s (another .5 drop). So i certainly scrape on the speed bumps. But in all honesty im just scraping the air diverter that hangs down off the front bumper. Have you thought about dremeling that off? I know a few people have done that. The rest of the undercarriage sits much higher than that, so i would confidently guess that that part is what you are hitting.

 

Dremeling it off sounds like a good idea. I might do that the next time the car is in the air. That way I can let it get nice and rough so I know what to trim off

 

angle approach worked for me pretty good in the past. Kind of a beeyatch in traffic though.

 

After three+ years of driving my lowered MINI around I have almost ground that thing off.

If I lower my '06 I'm definitely going to be cutting that diverter off.

 

You could also just keep it like i did. I know that its the only thing being touched by the bumps....so i know that the scraping isnt that bad. To me its like a warning device....Letting you know you are getting close to the undercarriage.

Although its a bit embarassing driving in front of the cafeteria building at 5mph making loud scraping noises during lunch time

and yet.... i want to go lower

 

Thank you all for the advice. I actually think I will keep it on as RallyMINI has a reminder when I am going to fast. I just hate the sound because it sounds like me hitting my expensive Aero kit

 

Yeah just take it at an angle.. I'm already used to it becuase my old car was just inches off the ground.. You'll see you don't have to go that slow once you get used to it..
And ignore those behind you. they are not going to pay if you scratch something..

 

My other car is a VW R32 which is very low to the ground stock. VW did RAISE the suspension about 1" for the US market. They know what they are doing. I barely make it over some speedbumps and steep driveways give me the *******. Point is, other R32 owners insist on putting on the Euro springs to lower it.....all I can say is they must do a teeter-totter on a speedbump. Every change from stock is a tradeoff. Believe it or not, the builder usually knows what they are doing...including dialing in too much understeer (safer for most drivers). The only suspension mod I'm considering for my MCS is a slightly bigger rear Antisway bar to cure some of that understeer. The rest I'll leave alone. Beware mods...there is always a tradeoff.

 

Not to mention mods will take you out of the stock class in an autocross.

 

Not all mods. Things like struts, air filters, wheels (when in the right dimensions), tires, exhaust, and plug wires are all legal in stock class

 

I know someone with a lowrider less than an inch from the ground. Rode with him once and as he turned left there was a loud BAM! He had sheared a Botts' Dot off the road Some are concrete and some are plastic; he said the concrete ones shatter.

 

It's just whether or not you think the tradeoff is worth it. The amount of handling and great looks that i get from my springs and struts is totally worth the extra minute or two i have to spend getting over the speed bumps. The trade off goes out the window when i get to the mountain roads for some twisties

 

This is what I am finding now. They were totally worth it . Although I haven't driven with more then 2 people and a tank of gas so I don't know if it will get worse

 

I think you can trim the air diverter off if you like, cus I don't see a reason why it's there.

 

Well I just tried to jack up the front of my car with my standard small jack and it won't go low enough. I then put the rhino ramps I just picked up in front of the car. Still no good...they hit the aero kit. Do I really need to invest in a full size floor jack? If so any out there that people know will fit under my car?

 

Try driving up onto some wooden boards....thats what i have to do. They are small enough to get under the front lip but big enough to lift the car up above the jack.

 

Try to go around to one side where the bump is lower... also get a skid plate :smile:



Ryan

 

Harbor freight sells a full size aluminum " racing jack " for about $90 and they are perfect for our lowered cars . I must know 20 people that have them now . You can buy them online from Harbor freight.

 

A titanium one so it would spray white sparks like in a movie!

 

Air management underneath the car is there for high speed stability, but using such a noisy piece of plastic is just being cheap on BMW's part. Race cars with "sealing skirt" type ground effects have been around since 1970; those use sliding or deformable airdams and sideskirts. Instead of just cutting it off, the airdam could be replaced with a quiet broom-bristle one (needs a little trimming tho): http://www.jcw.com/autoparts/Product...001900/c-10101

Yep, a genuine "JCW" part that'll let your car sweep the streets clean everywhere it goes.

 

Very true....but it is designed to the specs of a stock height of the car. I wonder how the effects are affected with lowering.